Northwestern Computer Science at EC’26

From AI and economic theory to market and mechanism design to behavioral economics, Northwestern researchers are showcasing a variety of work at the Twenty-Seventh Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Conference on Economics and Computation (EC'26). Held July 6-10 in Rome, EC’26 is the annual forum for advances in theory, empirics, and applications at the interface of economics and computation, convened by the ACM Special Interest Group on Economics and Computation (SIGecom).

Faculty members, PhD students, postdocs, and alumni across three Northwestern schools are presenting 17 papers at the event and are featured in several workshops. EC’26 received 1,115 total paper submissions and about one-quarter—290 papers—were accepted to the technical program. The following papers, posters, and talks featuring Northwestern authors were accepted to EC’2026:

Northwestern Computer Science

“On the Impossibility of Information-Value-Free Learning Dynamics: Equilibrium Convergence and Algorithmic Collusion”
Authors: Jason Hartline, professor of computer science; and Chang Wang and Chenhao Zhang, PhD students in computer science
Program: EC’26 paper and Online Learning and Economics workshop poster

Plenary talk: “Truthful Measures of Miscalibration” at Foundations of Data Economics workshop
Speaker: Jason Hartline

Paper: “A Geometric Analysis of Gains from Trade” at Easy Peasy at EC’26 workshop
Jason Hartline and Kangning Wang (Rutgers University)

“Sample Complexity of Peer Prediction”
Authors: Jason Hartline; Matthew vonAllmen, PhD student in computer science advised by Hartline; Abdellah Aznag and Rachel Cummings (Columbia University); and Robin Bowers and Bo Waggoner (University of Colorado Boulder)

“The Complexity of Tullock Contests”
Authors: Yu He, PhD student in computer science advised by Professor Edith Elkind; Fan Yao (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill); Yang Yu (Massachusetts Institute of Technology); Xiaoyun Qiu (Dartmouth College); Minming Li (City University of Hong Kong); and Haifeng Xu (University of Chicago)

Poster: “Robustly Incentive Compatible Task Allocation for Agents with Textually Self-Described Skills” at Game Theory and Mechanism Design with Large Language Models workshop
Author: Matthew vonAllmen

Alumni and former postdocs advised by Professor Jason Hartline

Alum Yifan Wu (PhD ’25) will be acknowledged during the EC’26 awards ceremony for receiving the Honorable Mention for the ACM SIGecom 2025 Doctoral Dissertation Award. Wu, who is currently a postdoc with the EconCS group at Microsoft Research, New England, earned a PhD in computer science and was advised by Hartline. Wu also co-authored the EC’26 accepted paper “Switchback Price Experiments with Forward-Looking Demand,” with collaborators Ramesh Johari (Stanford University), Vasilis Syrgkanis (Stanford University), and Gabriel Weintraub (University of Chile).

Another former student of Hartline, Yiding Feng (PhD ’21), currently an assistant professor of Industrial Engineering and Decision Analytics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, co-authored five accepted papers at EC’26, co-organized the tutorial “Information Design Perspective on Calibration,” and is presenting three posters at the Online Learning and Economics workshop. His accepted papers included:

• “Simple and Robust Quality Disclosure: The Power of Quantile Partition”
  Authors: Shipra Agrawal (Columbia University), Yiding Feng (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), and Wei Tang (Chinese University of Hong Kong)
• “Strengthening Bulow-Klemperer-Style Results for Multi-Unit Auctions”
  Authors: Moshe Babaioff (Hebrew University), Yiding Feng (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), and Zihan Luo (Chinese Academy of Sciences)
• “Contracting with a Mechanism Designer”
  Authors: Tian Bai (University of Bergen), Yiding Feng (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), Yaohao Liu and Mingyu Xiao (University of Electronic Science and Technology of China), and Mengfan Ma (Central China Normal University)
• “Searching for Optimal Prices in Two-Sided Markets”
  Authors: Yiding Feng (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), Mengfan Ma (Central China Normal University), Bo Peng (Shanghai University of Finance and Economics), and Zongqi Wan (Great Bay University)
• “Is This Predictor More Informative than Another? A Decision-Theoretical Comparison”
  Authors: Yiding Feng and Liuhan Qian (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) and Wei Tang (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Yingkai Li (PhD ’22), now an assistant professor of economics at the National University of Singapore, co-authored four accepted papers at EC’26, including:

• “Allocating Resources under Strategic Misrepresentation”
  Authors: Yingkai Li (National University of Singapore) and Xiaoyun Qiu (Dartmouth College)
• “Screening for Choice Sets”
  Authors: Tan Gan (London School of Economics) and Yingkai Li (National University of Singapore)
• “Anonymous Pricing in Large Markets”
  Authors: Yaonan Jin (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) and Yingkai Li (National University of Singapore)
• “Learning and Communication Towards Unanimous Consent”
  Authors: Yingkai Li (National University of Singapore) and Boli Xu (University of Iowa)

Two doctoral students of Professor Samir Khuller at the University of Maryland, College Park—Saeed Alaei and Azarakhsh Malekian—co-authored three accepted papers. Malekian, who was a postdoc in computer science at Northwestern Engineering from 2010-11 mentored by Hartline, is currently a professor of operations management and statistics at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Alaei is a research scientist in the market algorithms team at Google Research.

• “Optimal Mechanism Design with Post-Allocation Signal”
  Authors: Saeed Alaei (Google Research), Ali Daei Naby and Azarakhsh Malekian (University of Toronto), and Ali Makhdoumi (Duke University)
• “Dynamic Learning and Optimal Advertising Mechanism for LLM Platforms”
  Authors: Saeed Alaei (Google Research), Ali Makhdoumi (Duke University), and Azarakhsh Malekian (University of Toronto)
• “Incentivizing Data Collaboration: A Mechanism Design Approach”
  Authors: Saeed Alaei (Google Research), Ali Daei Naby and Azarakhsh Malekian (University of Toronto), and Ali Makhdoumi (Duke University)

Current and former University of Oxford students and postdocs advised by Professor Edith Elkind

Professor Edith Elkind's academic network also has a strong presence at this year’s conference, with current and former students she advised at the University of Oxford presenting several accepted EC’26 papers, including:

• “Mixed Voting Rules for Participatory Budgeting”
  Authors: Anton Baychkov (University of Warwick), Markus Brill (University of Oxford), and Markus Utke (Eindhoven University of Technology)
• Poster: “Utilitarian Guarantees for the Method of Equal Shares”
  Authors: Anton Baychkov (University of Warwick), Markus Brill (University of Oxford), and Jannik Peters (Shanghai University of Finance and Economics)
• “The Complexity of Sparse Win-Lose Bimatrix Games”
  Authors: Eleni Batziou, John Fearnley, and Rahul Savani (University of Liverpool), and Abheek Ghosh (Technical University of Munich)
• “Proportional Committee Elections with Positive and Negative Votes”
  Authors: Sonja Kraiczy (University of Oxford), Georgios Papasotiropoulos, Grzegorz Pierczynski, and Piotr Skowron (University of Warsaw)
• “Proportional Committee Elections with Positive and Negative Votes”
  Authors: Sonja Kraiczy (University of Oxford), Georgios Papasotiropoulos, Grzegorz Pierczynski, and Piotr Skowron (University of Warsaw)
• “Beyond Lower Quota: Avoiding Overrepresentation in Multi-Winner Voting
  Authors: Anton Baychkov (University of Warwick), Martin Lackner (University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten), Jan Maly (Vienna University of Economics and Business), Oliviero Nardi (Vienna University of Technology), and Jannik Peters (Shanghai University of Finance and Economics)
• “Constant Weighted Maximin Share Approximations for Chores”
  Authors: Bo Li, Fangxiao Wang, and Shiji Xing (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University)
• Poster: “Approximate Maximin Share with Subjective Divisibility: Beating the 1/2 Barrier”
  Authors: Xiaohui Bei (Nanyang Technological University) and Ding Ke, Bo Li, and Fangxiao Wang (Hong Kong Polytechnic University)
• Paper: “Where Should Society Draw the Line? A Social Choice Approach to Collective Consent” at New Directions in Social Choice workshop
  Authors: Chris Dong and Niclas Boehmer (University of Potsdam, Germany), Sonja Kraiczy, Rohit Vasishta, and Markus Brill (University of Oxford), and Wesley H. Holliday (University of California, Berkeley)
• “Allocating Public Bads Is Trickier Than You Think”
  Authors: Benjamin Cookson, Soroush Ebadian, and Nisarg Shah (University of Toronto), and Dominik Peters (Université Paris Dauphine-PSL)

Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences’s Department of Economics

“Robust Trust”
Authors: Piotr Dworczak, associate professor of economics, Alex Smolin (Toulouse School of Economics)

“Pareto-Improving Pricing: Why 3 Is Better Than 2”
Authors: Zi Yang Kang (University of Toronto), Piotr Dworczak (Northwestern University)

“Human or Machine? Assessing AI’s Ability to Generate Game-Theory Questions”
Authors: Ben Golub, professor of economics and (by courtesy) computer science; Annie Liang, associate professor of economics and (by courtesy) computer science; and Marciano Siniscalchi, professor of economics

Plenary talk: “What Can Economic Theory Say About AI?”
Speaker: Annie Liang (Northwestern University)

“How Well Do LLMs Predict Human Behavior? A Measure of their Pretrained Knowledge”
Authors: Sukjin Han (University of Bristol), Wayne Gao (University of Pennsylvania), and Annie Liang (Northwestern University)

“Creative Ownership in the Age of AI”
Authors: Annie Liang (Northwestern University) and Jay Lu (University of California, Los Angeles)

“Friend or Foe: Delegating to an AI whose Alignment is Unknown”
Authors: Annie Liang (Northwestern University) and Drew Fudenberg (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Panel discussion "Alignment and Incentives: The Road Ahead" at Incentive-Based AI Alignment workshop
Panelists: Annie Liang (Northwestern University), Brendan Lucier (Microsoft Research), and Alex Smolin (Toulouse School of Economics)

“Bayesian Persuasion with Selective Disclosure”
Authors: Yifan Dai and Drew Fudenberg (Massachusetts Institute of Technology); and Harry Pei, assistant profesor of economics

Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management

“Dynamic Monopoly Pricing with Behavioral Consumers”
Authors: Nemanja Antic, associate professor of managerial economics and decision sciences, and Yuval Salant, Harold L. Stuart Professor of Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences

“The Value of Personalized Recommendations: Evidence from Netflix”
Authors: Guy Aridor, assistant professor of marketing; and Aurelien Bibaut, Winston Chou, Nathan Kallus, Allen Tran, and Kevin Zielnicki (Netflix)

“What is Online Privacy Worth? Evidence from an Information Provision Experiment”
Authors: Guy Aridor (Northwestern University) and Samuel Goldberg and Jialong Li (Stanford University)

“Guarantees in Price Experimentation”
Author: Suraj Malladi, assistant professor of managerial economics and decision sciences

“Space Exploration”
Authors: Suraj Malladi and Ilya Morozov, associate professor of marketing; and Alejandro Martinez-Marquina (University of Southern California)

“The Value of a Little Flexibility in Stable Matching”
Authors: Daniel Freund (Massachusetts Institute of Technology); Sebastien Martin, associate professor of operations; and Jiayu Kamessi Zhao (Stanford University)

“Credible Multiunit Auction Design”
Author: Roberto Saitto, Donald P. Jacobs Scholar and assistant professor of managerial economics and decision sciences