Background
Willig, Robert Daniel was born on January 16, 1947 in Brooklyn. Son of Jack David and Meg Willig.
Willig, Robert Daniel was born on January 16, 1947 in Brooklyn. Son of Jack David and Meg Willig.
Bachelor, Harvard University, 1967. Master of Science in Operations Research, Stanford University, 1968. Doctor of Philosophy in Economics, Stanford University, 1973.
Lecturer Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, 1971-1973. Technical staff Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, New Jersey, 1973-1977, supervisor department economics research, 1977-1978. Professor economics public affairs Princeton University, since 1978.
Task force on future of postal service Aspen Institute, 1978-1980. Deputy assistant attorney general United States Department Justice, Washington, 1989-1991. Consultant in field; research fellow University Warwick, England, 1977.
Organizing committee Telecom Policy Research Conference, 1977-1978. Research advisory board American Enterprise Institute, 1980-1988. Member New Jersey Governor's Task Force on Market-Based Pricing of Electricity, 1987.
Board directors Consultants in Industry Economics, Inc., 1992-2005, Competition Policy Associates, Inc. 2002-2005, member Defense Science Board Task Force on Antitrust for the Defense Industry, 1993-1994, Transportation Research Board Task Force, 1995-1996. Advisor Inter-American Development Bank, 1997-1900.
Senior consultant Compass, 2006-2008. Senior consultant, Compass Lexecon, since 2008.
(This classic text presents an integrative theory of what ...)
(Leading articles: Freemarkets and Fettered Consumers by D...)
(Great vintage industrial education book!)
Author: Welfare Analysis of Policies Affecting Prices and Products, 1973, Contestable Markets and the Theory of Industry Structure, 1982. Editor: Handbook of Industrial Organization, 1986, Can Privatization Deliver: Infrastructure for Latin America, 1999, Second Generation Reforms in Infrastructure Services, 2002. Contributor articles to professional journals.
Member editorial board Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press Series on Government Regulation, 1978-1989, American Economic Review, 1980-1983, Journal Industrial Economics, 1985-1989, Utility Policy, 1989-2001.
From the outset, my work has focussed on welfare theory, on industrial organisation, and on their combination. As first inspired by the example of my Doctor of Philosophy mentor, James Rosse, my interest in industrial organisation has been motivated by the rich set of policy issues concerning the relationship between government and business, and the public interest performance of the private and quasi-private sectors. One necessity for the analysis of such issues is a welfare economics that is at once rigorously based on understandable values and amenable to practical application.
My work on welfare theory has been motivated by this need, and I have been pleased to obtain useful results on con
sumer’s surplus, the welfare evaluation of changes in product variety and quality, social welfare dominance methods, and techniques for assessing the welfare impact of changes in prices of intermediate goods in complex economies.
My work on public utilities was motivated by the question of whether optimal pricing is consistent with open entry in natural monopoly markets, and whether potential entry can enforce socially desirable behaviour. Contestability theory was the natural generalisation of this line of research to other market structures. Contestability has turned out to be an extremely rich area for research, as well as an extremely controversial one.
Fortunately, the steam now seems to be abating, and careful empirical and theoretical evaluations as well as valuable extensions, are replacing heated rhetoric. It has been gratifying to participate in applications of state-of-the-art work to reforms in the practice of regulatory and antitrust policy. Pressing policy issues have been a powerful stimulus to research, while industrial organisation theory is proving, in some significant areas, to be an effective guide to policy formulation.
Advisory board B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation, Princeton University, 1978-1989, Competition and Regulation Network Industries, since 2009. Fellow Econometric Society (program committee 1978-1981). Member American Economic Association (nominating committee 1980-1981).
Married Virginia Mason, July 8, 1973. Children: Jared Mason, Scott Mason, Brent Mason, Alexandra Mason.