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Digital Economics & Policy

• Digital Economics & Policy in Focus overview
• Goldfarb and Tucker (2019), "Digital Economics"
• Foster and Azmeh (2020), “Latecomer Economies and National Digital Policy: An Industrial Policy Perspective"
• Fuchs (2018), "The Online Advertising Tax: A Digital Policy Innovation"
• HBR (2019), "How Should We Measure the Digital Economy?"
• OECD (2021), “Tools for trustworthy AI"
• UNCTAD (2019), "Digital Economy Report"
• Garcia Macia and Goyal (2021), "Decoupling in the Digital Era"
• Nadkarni and Pruegl (2020), “Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities for future research”
• Conferences and Workshops
• Resources overview
• 1. Competition Policy
• Data Stewardship, Sharing, Access and Control
• Cross-Border Data Flows
• Data, Firms, and Markets
• Data Measurement
• 3. Artificial Intelligence
• By Organisation

News: The Janeway Institute has launched!

See our first workshop findings.

Topic 1 : Applied Digital Economics & Policy Workshop: Construction and Infrastructure

The Bennett Institute / Janeway Institute Digital Economics & Policy Initiative

Welcome to the Bennett Institute / Janeway Institute Digital Economics & Policy Initiative. As the impact of digital technologies continues to extend across the economy and society, this initiative will convene academics, practitioners and policymakers to shape an agenda for research and policy across different domains of knowledge and practice. The reach of the technologies covered is broad and spans existing policy silos. Our intention is to host a joint endeavour drawing on different sources of expertise and experiences in order to shape more effective policies.

This project will examine the interaction between digital economics and public policy to address the growing size and scope of digital enterprises, the rising challenges to international cooperation and policy development, as well as to help narrow the distance between academic research and public discourse.

Recent Publications

Tracking the COVID-19 Crisis with High-Resolution Transaction Data

This working paper uses high-frequency / high-resolution transaction data from BBVA, the second-largest bank in Spain, to analyse the dynamics of expenditure in Spain during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The transaction data under study captures many salient patterns in how an economy reacts to shocks in real time.

The Idea of Productivity

Ideas fundamentally drive productivity, and hence living standards, over th e long term. Ideas can contribute to innovative products and services, or to new ways of organising production and consumption. A knowledge -based economy is one of v irtuous or vicious circles, with policies playing an important co -ordinating role. This paper highlights key parts of the literature and sets out future areas for research.

Cogs and Monsters: How economics needs to adapt to solve the world’s crisis

Digital technology, big data, machine learning and AI are revolutionizing both the tools of economics and the phenomena it seeks to measure, understand, and shape. Mainstream economics, Coyle says, still assumes people are “cogs”—self-interested, calculating, independent agents interacting in defined contexts. But the digital economy is much more characterized by “monsters”—untethered, snowballing, and socially influenced unknowns. What is worse, by treating people as cogs, economics is creating its own monsters, leaving itself without the tools to understand the new problems it faces.

Coyle asks whether economic individualism is still valid in the digital economy, whether we need to measure growth and progress in new ways, and whether economics can ever be objective, since it influences what it analyzes.

How should the theories, tools and techniques of economics adapt better to understand the nature of modern digital economies? This book explores the enormous problems and opportunities facing economics today if it is to respond effectively to these dizzying changes.

Uber and Beyond: Policy implications for the UK

Following the recent UK Supreme Court judgement on Uber’s employment model and the global legal and regulatory pressures on the broader platform business model, this policy brief explores the implications of these developments for work and productivity in the UK economy.

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Our first workshop covered the policy implications of digital economics in construction and infrastructure markets

Topic 1: Construction and Infrastructure, July 2021

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PhD Program

Year after year, our top-ranked PhD program sets the standard for graduate economics training across the country. Graduate students work closely with our world-class faculty to develop their own research and prepare to make impactful contributions to the field.

Our doctoral program enrolls 20-24 full-time students each year and students complete their degree in five to six years. Students undertake core coursework in microeconomic theory, macroeconomics, and econometrics, and are expected to complete two major and two minor fields in economics. Beyond the classroom, doctoral students work in close collaboration with faculty to develop their research capabilities, gaining hands-on experience in both theoretical and empirical projects.

How to apply

Students are admitted to the program once per year for entry in the fall. The online application opens on September 15 and closes on December 15.

Meet our students

Our PhD graduates go on to teach in leading economics departments, business schools, and schools of public policy, or pursue influential careers with organizations and businesses around the world. 

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The doctoral program in Economics at Harvard University is one of the leading programs in the world. Supported by a diverse group of faculty who are top researchers in their fields and fueled by a vast array of resources, the PhD program is structured to train and nurture students to become leading economists in academia, government agencies, the technology industry, finance and banking, and global policy organizations.

Harvard University and the Department of Economics are regularly ranked amongst the top programs in the world, and the consistency of success among our graduates is inspiring. We have educated several foreign heads of state, Nobel Prize Winners, Clark Medal Winners, MacArthur Fellowship Recipients - many of whom have returned to Harvard to offer their expertise and brilliance in shaping and nurturing our students.  Learn more about where we place our  graduates  and explore our  Program  to find out if a PhD in Economics is a good fit for you. 

Program Requirements

As a PhD student in the Economics program, students will spend the first two years in the program engaged in rigorous coursework designed to develop a foundational understanding of economics. In the following years, students transition to research under the guidance of strong faculty mentorship and participate in field workshops. In the final year, students conduct independent research and complete a dissertation.

The department of Economics at Harvard University is committed to seeking out and mentoring scholars who wish to pursue a rigorous and rewarding career in economic research. Our graduates are trailblazers in their fields and contribute to a diverse alumni community in both the academic and non-academic sectors. We invite you to learn more and apply to the PhD program in Economics. 

Financial Support

Students have access to a variety of funding and financial support opportunities.

• Research Funding
• Teaching Fellowships and assistants
• Additional external and internal resources

Learn more about financial support

Upcoming Events

Seminar in the economics of science + engineering, location: .

Lianyi Hu (Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ) " Robots, Routine Jobs, and Rural Workers "... Read more about Seminar in the Economics of Science + Engineering

ECON 3016B: Graduate Student Workshop in Environmental Economics

Jun Gao (HKS) " Do Renewables Crowd Out or Sustain Gas Plants? " Konstantin Poensgen (Harvard) "Private Provision of Public Services: The Case of Drinking Water in Ghana" (with Louis Becker and Mary Yilma)... Read more about ECON 3016B: Graduate Student Workshop in Environmental Economics

Seminar in Economic History

Ursina Schaede (Tufts)  “The Long Run Effects of Funding for Public Education” ... Read more about Seminar in Economic History

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