Business & Policy Initiative
Research that drives change.
The Business and Policy Initiative at Simon Business School fosters high-quality research about the interaction of public policy and business strategy.
Supported in part by The Bradley Center, the initiative is a hub for thought leadership on antitrust and merger policy, financial regulation, monetary and fiscal policy, health care policy, and labor market policy. The initiative seeks to inform public policy by promoting dialogue between researchers, policymakers, industry leaders, students, and alumni.
Jeanine Miklos-Thal, Director of the Business and Policy Initiative at Simon Business School, Introduces this new thought leadership initiative
AI, Competition, and Antitrust Workshop Webinar
Watch keynote speaker Professor Thibault Schrepel delve into the subjects of AI, competition, and antitrust issues.
Meet the faculty behind the initiative







Recent policy research by Simon faculty
Simon Business School is committed to elevating academic research. Our faculty are thought leaders and subject matter experts, producing research that to helps organizations better confront complicated business challenges.
The Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Accounting & Economics, and the Journal of Monetary Economics were all founded at the University of Rochester, and we continue to lead in research. Our renowned faculty have been published in a wide breadth of noteworthy publications, including The NY Times, The Register, Inside Higher Ed, the Journal of Financial Economics, The Economist, and many more.
- Antitrust and Competition Policy
- Miklos-Thal, Jeanine and Greg Shaffer. (2022): “The economics of dual pricing in vertical agreements,” Concurrences Review, 2-2022, 06194.
- Prager, Elena and Matt Schmitt. (2021): “Employer Consolidation and Wages: Evidence from Hospitals,” American Economic Review, 111(2), 397-427.
- Miklos-Thal, Jeanine and Greg Shaffer. (2021): “Pass-Through as an Economic Tool: On Exogenous Competition, Social Incidence, and Price Discrimination,” Journal of Political Economy, 129(1), 323-335.
- Miklos-Thal, Jeanine and Greg Shaffer. (2021): “Input Price Discrimination by Resale Market,” RAND Journal of Economics, 52(4), 727-757.
- Lu, S., Serfes, K., Wedig, G. and Wu, B. (2021): "Does competition improve service quality? The case of nursing homes where public and private payers coexist," Management Science, 67(12), 6493-6512.
- Ellickson, Paul, Paul L.E. Grieco and Oleksii Khvastunov. (2020): “Measuring Competition in Spatial Retail,” Rand Journal of Economics, 51(1), 189-232.
- Ellickson, Paul, Peter Arcidiacono, Carl Mela and John Singleton (2020): “The Competitive Effects of Entry: Evidence from Supercenter Expansion,” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 12(3), 175-206.
- Miklos-Thal, Jeanine and Catherine Tucker. (2019): “Collusion by Algorithm: Does Better Demand Prediction Facilitate Coordination between Sellers?” Management Science, 65(4), 1552–1561.
- Shaffer, Greg and Zhijun Chen. (2019): “Market-Share Contracts, Exclusive Dealing, and the Integer Problem,” American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 11: 208-242.
- Foros, Øystein, Kind, Hans Jarle and Greg Shaffer. (2017): “Apple’s Agency Model and Most-Favored-Nation Clauses,” Rand Journal of Economics, 48, 673-703.
- Ellickson, Paul. (2015): “Market Structure and Performance,” in James D. Wright (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2nd Edition, Vol. 14, Oxford: Elsevier. 9211-9216.
- Health Care Policy
- Brickley, J., Lu, S and Wedig, G. (2022): “Are firms with 'deep pockets' more responsive to tort liability? Evidence from nursing homes,” Health Economics, 31(8), 1590-1617.
- Prager, Elena and Matt Schmitt. (2021): “Employer Consolidation and Wages: Evidence from Hospitals,” American Economic Review, 111(2): 397-427.
- Nicole Robitaille, Nina Mazar, Claire Tsai, Avery Haviv, and Elizabeth Hardy. (2021): "Increasing Organ Donor Registrations with Behavioral Interventions: A Large-Scale Field Experiment." Journal of Marketing, 85(3).
- Brickley, J., Lu, S and Wedig, G. (2021). “Five-star ratings and managerial turnover: Evidence from the nursing home industry,” The Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, 37(2), 278-313.
- Prager, Elena. (2020): “Healthcare Demand under Simple Prices: Evidence from Tiered Hospital Networks,” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 12(4): 196-223.
- Brickley, J., Lu, S and Wedig, G. (2017): “Malpractice laws and incentives to shield assets: Evidence from nursing homes,” Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 14(2), 301-332.
- Financial Regulation
- Orlov Dmitry, Pavel Zryumov and Andrzej Skrzypacz. (forthcoming): “Design of Macro-prudential Stress Tests.” Review of Financial Studies.
- Glode, Vincent, Opp, Christian C., and Sverchkov, Ruslan. (2022): “To Pool or Not to Pool? Security Design in OTC Markets,” Journal of Financial Economics, 145(2), 508-526.
- Kalmenovitz, Joseph. (2021): “Incentivizing Financial Regulators.” The Review of Financial Studies, 34.10, 4745-4784.
- Glode, Vincent and Opp, Christian C. (2020): “Over-the-Counter vs. Limit-Order Markets: The Role of Traders’ Expertise,” Review of Financial Studies, 33(2), 866–915.
- Jackson, Thomas, James Brickley, Clifford Smith, Charlie Hughes, Joel Tabas and Mark Zupan. (2020): “UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER ROUNDTABLE ON Bankruptcy vs. Bailouts: The Case of General Motors and the U.S. Auto Industry,” Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, 32(1), 58-79.
- Glode, Vincent, Opp, Christian C., and Xingtan Zhang. (2019): “On the Efficiency of Long Intermediation Chains,” Journal of Financial Intermediation, 38, 11-18. Opp, Christian C., “Venture Capital and the Macroeconomy,” Review of Financial Studies, 2019, 32(11): 4387–4446.
- Gofman, Michael. (2017): "Efficiency and stability of a financial architecture with too-interconnected-to-fail institutions." Journal of Financial Economics, 124(1), 113-146.
- Macroeconomic Policy
- Kocherlakota, Narayana, "Stabilization with Fiscal Policy," Journal of Monetary Economics. Forthcoming.
- Kocherlakota, Narayana, "The Unavoidability of Low Inflation-Low Output Traps," Review of Economics Studies. Forthcoming.
- Haddad, Valentin, Alan Moreira, and Tyler Muir. (2021): "When selling becomes viral: Disruptions in debt markets in the COVID-19 crisis and the Fed’s response," The Review of Financial Studies, 34(11), 5309-5351.
- Kocherlakota, Narayana, and Song, Yangwei. (2019): "Public Goods with Ambiguity in Large Economies," Journal of Economic Theory, 182, 218-46
- Kocherlakota, Narayana. (2019): “Practical Policy Evaluation,” Journal of Monetary Economics 102, 29-45.
- Kocherlakota, Narayana. (2019): “The Future of the Zero Lower Bound Problem,” Journal of International Money and Finance, 95, 228-231.
- Kocherlakota, Narayana. (2017) "The Decentralized Central Bank: A Review Essay on The Power and Independence of the Federal Reserve," Journal of Economic Literature, 621-636.
- Moreira, Alan, and Alexi Savov. (2017) "The macroeconomics of shadow banking." The Journal of Finance, 72(6), 2381-2432
- Labor Market policy
- Gray, Colin, Adam Leive, Elena Prager, Kelsey Pukelis, and Mary Zaki. “Employed in a SNAP? The Impact of Work Requirements on Program Participation and Labor Supply,” Forthcoming in American Economic Journal: Economic Policy.
- Eliza Forsythe, Lisa B. Kahn, Fabian Lange, David Wiczer. (2022): “Where have all the workers gone? Recalls, retirements, and reallocation in the COVID recovery,” Labour Economics, 78.
- Prager, Elena and Matt Schmitt. (2021): “Employer Consolidation and Wages: Evidence from Hospitals,” American Economic Review, 111(2): 397-427. Jeffrey Clemens, Lisa B. Kahn, and Jonathan Meer (2021): “Dropouts Need Not Apply? The Minimum Wage and Skill Upgrading,” Journal of Labor Economics, 39(1), 107-149.
- Eliza Forsythe, Lisa B. Kahn, Fabian Lange, David Wiczer (2020)Labor demand in the time of COVID-19: Evidence from vacancy postings and UI claims, Journal of Public Economics, 189.
- Hershbein, Brad, and Lisa B. Kahn. (2018): "Do Recessions Accelerate Routine-Biased Technological Change? Evidence from Vacancy Postings." American Economic Review, 108(7), 1737-72.
- Haltiwanger, John C., Henry R. Hyatt, Lisa B. Kahn, and Erika McEntarfer. (2018): "Cyclical Job Ladders by Firm Size and Firm Wage." American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 10 (2): 52-85.
- David Deming and Lisa B. Kahn. (2018): “Skill Requirements across Firms and Labor Markets: Evidence from Job Postings for Professionals,” Journal of Labor Economics 36(1).
- Campaign Finance
- Primo, David M., and Jeffrey D. Milyo. (2020): “Campaign Finance and American Democracy: What the Public Really Thinks and Why It Matters.” Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
- Prabhat, Saumya, and David M. Primo. (2019): “Risky Business: Do Disclosure and Shareholder Approval of Corporate Political Contributions Affect Firm Performance?” Business and Politics, 21(2):205-239.
Events
Financial Policy and Regulation conference

Financial Policy and Regulation Conference
November 14–15, 2025 | Simon Business School
Join the Simon Business & Policy Initiative for a two-day Financial Policy and Regulation Conference featuring the Bradley Lecture on Financial Regulation, delivered by Loretta J. Mester, former president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and adjunct professor at the Wharton School. Mester brings decades of experience in central banking, economic policy, and financial regulation. More details, including the full program, will be shared closer to the event.
Past Business & Policy Events
- -
- -
- -
- -
From the Dean's Corner
Simon faculty are experts on topics ranging from Artificial Intelligence to cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens. Take a deep dive into their
research and hear firsthand insights from subject matter experts in the Dean’s Corner.
AGI: Are We Ready for the Arrival?

Inside Business Education at Simon
Regarded as a world leader in quantitative, economics-based education, our analytics-based curriculum prepares students to lead in the global business marketplace. Our curriculum includes a strong focus on public policy and business strategy.
- STR 428 Strategy Beyond Market
We repeatedly observe top executives caught off-guard when faced with “nonmarket” threats such as proposed government regulations or activist pres- sure. But the concept of strategy beyond markets extends further than reactively responding to threats. Managers also have the opportunity to shape the nonmarket environment in ways that advantage their firm. In this course, we will develop a framework for constructing nonmarket strategies and integrating them with market strategies. We will cover a broad range of topics, including the legislative process, regulation, activism, corporate social responsibility, and crisis management. We will also study the special challenges facing global firms and innovative firms. Class sessions will be highly interactive and will emphasize the real-world applicability of the frame-works and theories we discuss in class.
- BPP 426 Macroeconomics
Macroeconomics is the study of how economies grow and fluctuate over time, and how they interact with one another. In this course, we discuss economic measurement, economic growth, and the business cycle. We also discuss the implication of modern theories of growth and fluctuation for the conduct of monetary policy and fiscal policy. There is a strong emphasis on the international linkage among economies and the implications of macroeconomics for the business environment.
- GBA 441 Business Ethics & Corporate Social Responsibilities
This course deals with business ethics and the social responsibility of business organizations. Through class discussions and case studies, students explore the theory and practice of business ethics and develop their ability to recognize and address ethical issues. The course equips students with analytical skills in ethical reasoning and provides them with a substantive framework to deal with ethical challenges they are likely to encounter in their careers. Topics include corporate responsibilities vis-à-vis employees, customers, and society; insider trading; discrimination in employment and in the sharing economy; advertising and sales tactics; ethics in pricing; bribery; executive pay; intellectual property in the pharmaceutical industry; censorship; health care resource allocation; and environmental responsibilities.
- BPP 432 Basic Business Law
This course surveys the law of contracts, agency, and business associations – with the objective of developing familiarity with selected laws, regulations, legal principles, and legal processes that govern (a) efficient exchange, generally; and (b) how and in what ways managers and entrepreneurs organize and interact to facilitate exchange. Although emphasis will be on United States law, there will be selected reference throughout the course to issues related to international transactions and to pertinent differences in legal systems of countries outside the United States. The course has a distinct transactional focus, with heavy reliance upon contemporary cases, commercial practices, and issues. Particular attention will be given to the impact of the legal framework upon sound managerial decision-making, business risk management, commercial rights and responsibilities, and ultimately business valuation.
- GBA 444 Ethics & Policy in Tech
Tech firms—from start-ups to industry leaders—face a range of ethical and policy challenges. Start-ups may face barriers to entry or regulations ill-suited to their innovation. Industry leaders have to consider antitrust considerations if they dominate a market. And tech firms of all sizes face ethical quandaries on issues such as artificial intelligence, to give just one example. The globalization of business adds to the complexity of these policy and ethical considerations. This course will equip you with the tools you need to consider the policy and ethical environments of tech firms and how they connect with firms’ market environments. The tools you develop in the course will also be applicable to the analysis of other types of firms. Class sessions will be highly interactive and will emphasize the real-world applicability of the frameworks and theories we discuss in class.
- Washington DC Fellowship
The Simon DC Fellowship is an annual award given to a Simon Business School student or team to pursue Washington, DC area-based research or a similar project that focuses on the intersection of government and business.
Connect with us
Discover more about the Simon Business Policy Initiative by connecting with our team. Call or email us today.