James Schummer
James Schummer

MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS & DECISION SCIENCES
Associate Professor of Managerial Economics & Decision Sciences

Print Overview

James Schummer joined Kellogg in 1997 after getting his PhD in Economics from the University of Rochester. His general areas of research include game theory and mechanism design.

Within those areas, Professor Schummer's work ranges from foundational models, yielding qualitative insights, to more practical models, yielding more direct advice. A central theme in his work is the question: Taking incentives into account, how can goods best be (re)allocated? Professor Schummer's past work on auctions is an example of this. He is currently working on voting models, and the allocation of airport landing slots to airlines.



Areas of Expertise
Game Theory
Mechanism Design
Probability
Print Vita
Education
PhD, 1997, Economics, University of Rochester
MA, 1995, Economics, University of Rochester
BS, 1992, Finance, Pennsylvania State University

Academic Positions
Associate Professor of Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2004-present
Assistant Professor of Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1997-2004
Graduate Teaching Fellow, University of Rochester, 1996-1997

Editorial Positions
Advisory Board, Applied Economics Research Bulletin, 2008-present
Associate Editor, Mathematical Social Sciences, 2009-present

Conference Presentations
GAMES 2008, Voting with Money, 7/13/2008
Social Choice and Welfare Conference, Voting with Money, 6/19/2008
Maastricht University Jubilee Workshop on Economic Design and Collective Choices , Voting with Money, 4/25/2008
Conference on Economic Design, Bodrum, Turkey, Credible Deviations from Signaling Equilibria, 7/20/2006
Social Choice and Welfare, Istanbul, Credible Deviations from Signaling Equilibria, 6/11/2006
Conference of Society for Economic Dynamics, Budapest, 6/24/2005
Second World Congress of the Game Theory Society, Marseilles, 7/08/2004
SED Conference on Economic Design, Mallorca, Spain, 6/29/2004
Seventh International Conference of the Society for Social Choice and Welfare, Osaka, 6/24/2004
Decentralization Conference, Duke University, 2004, 4/24/2004
European Meeting of the Econometric Society, Stockholm, 8/20/2003
North American Meeting of the Econometric Society, Northwestern, 6/27/2003

 
Print Research
Research Interests
Collective decision-making, mechanism design, game theory

Articles
Schummer, James and Rakesh Vohra. Forthcoming. Assignment of Arrival Slots. American Economic Journal: Microeconomics.
Abstract
Bikhchandani, Sushil, Sven de Vries, James Schummer and Rakesh Vohra. 2011. An Ascending Vickrey Auction for Selling Bases of a Matroid. Operations Research. 59(2): 400-413.
AbstractLink
Eso, Peter and James Schummer. 2009. Credible Deviations from Signaling Equilibria. International Journal of Game Theory. 48(3): 411-430.
AbstractLink
de Vries, Sven, James Schummer and Rakesh Vohra. 2007. On Ascending Vickrey Auctions for Heterogeneous Objects. Journal of Economic Theory. 132(1): 95-118.
AbstractLink
Schummer, James. 2004. Almost-Dominant Strategy Implementation: Exchange Economies. Games and Economic Behavior. 48(1): 321-336.
AbstractLink
Eso, Peter and James Schummer. 2004. Bribing and signaling in second price auctions. Games and Economic Behavior. 47(2): 299-324.
Abstract
Schummer, James and Rakesh Vohra. 2003. Auctions for Procuring Options. Operations Research. 51(1): 41-51.
Abstract
Schummer, James and Rakesh Vohra. 2002. Strategy-Proof Location on a Network. Journal of Economic Theory. 104(2): 405-428.
AbstractLink
Chun, Youngsub, James Schummer and William Thomson. 2001. Constrained Egalitarianism: A New Solution for Claims Problems. Seoul Journal of Economics. 14(3)
Abstract
Schummer, James. 2000. Eliciting Preferences to Assign Positions and Compensation. Games and Economic Behavior. 30(2): 293-318.
Abstract
Schummer, James. 2000. Manipulation through Bribes. Journal of Economic Theory. 91(2): 180-198.
AbstractLink
Schummer, James. 1999. Strategy-proofness versus Efficiency for Small Domains of Preferences over Public Goods. Economic Theory. 13(3): 709-722.
AbstractLink
Schummer, James and William Thomson. 1997. Two Derivations of the Uniform Rule and an Application to Bankruptcy. Economics Letters. 55(3): 333-337.
Schummer, James. 1997. Strategy-proofness vs. Efficiency on Restricted Domains of Exchange Economies. Social Choice and Welfare. 14(3): 47-56.
Working Papers
Schummer, James and Rakesh Vohra. 2012. Voting with Money.
Schummer, James and Azar Abizada. Incentives in Landing Slot Problems.
Abstract
Book Chapters
Schummer, James and Rakesh Vohra. 2007. "Mechanism Design without Money." In Algorithmic Game Theory, edited by Noam Nisan, Tim Roughgarden, Eva Tardos, Vijay V. Vazirani, 243-266. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Abstract
Bikhchandani, Sushil, Sven de Vries, James Schummer and Rakesh Vohra. 2002. "Linear Programming and Vickrey Auctions." In Mathematics of the Internet: E-auction and Markets, edited by B. Dietrich and R. Vohra, 75-116. New York: Springer-Verlag.
AbstractLink

 
Print Teaching
Teaching Interests
Probability and statistics; microeconomics
Full-Time / Part-Time MBA
Business Analytics I (DECS-430-A)
Analytics is the discovery and communication of meaningful patterns in data. This course will provide students with an analytics toolkit, reinforcing basic probability and statistics while throughout emphasizing the value and pitfalls of reasoning with data. Applications will focus on connections among analytical tools, data, and business decision-making

Decision Making Under Uncertainty (DECS-433-0)

This course counts toward the following majors: Decision Sciences.

Provides frameworks for reasoning about decisions in uncertain environments. Case studies and experiments are used to motivate the importance of probabilistic reasoning to avoid the systematic biases that cloud managers' decision making. Formal probabilistic tools are introduced and their relevance to modern business issues is conveyed via cases, exercises, and class experiments. Some of the applications include: inventory management with uncertain demand, principal-agent models, herd behavior, selection bias, rare events, real options and risk. The course is self-contained, and should be of value to all students, including those with prior exposure to formal probability models.

Pricing Strategies (MECN-446-0)

This course counts toward the following majors: Decision Sciences, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Managerial Analytics, Managerial Economics.

This course provides students with a comprehensive framework for formulating and implementing pricing strategies. Techniques that take account of the often imprecise and uncertain information to which management has access are useded to analyze the influence of costs, demand and competition on the pricing decision. Also discussed are research methods that can complement managerial judgment and the importance of maintaining consistency with other elements of the marketing mix. Special attention is devoted to the design of pricing schemes that segment the market, such as peak-load pricing, product bundling and nonlinear pricing. The course also studies vertical pricing problems (transfer pricing, pricing and distribution), legal constraints on pricing and industrial pricing (bidding). Actual pricing schemes in various industries and selected cases are used for illustrative and analytical purposes.

Executive MBA
Managerial Economics (MECNX-430-0)