Economics of Transformative AI Workshop
Organized by Ajay K. Agrawal, Anton Korinek, and Erik Brynjolfsson
Supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
September 18-19, 2025
Stanford University
Format: 20 minutes for authors, 10 minutes for discussants, and 20 minutes for Q&A
Thursday, September 18
8:45 am
Welcome
9:00 am

Genius on Demand: The Value of Transformative Artificial Intelligence

Ajay K. Agrawal, University of Toronto and NBER
Avi Goldfarb, University of Toronto and NBER
Joshua S. Gans, University of Toronto and NBER

Discussant:
Luis Garicano, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
9:50 am

Algorithms as A Vehicle to Reflective Equilibrium:‬ Behavioral Economics 2.0

Jens Ludwig, University of Chicago and NBER
Sendhil Mullainathan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NBER
Sophia L. Pink, University of Pennsylvania
‭Ashesh Rambanchan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Discussant:
Abhishek Nagaraj, University of California, Berkeley and NBER
10:40 am
Break
11:00 am

AI’s Use of Knowledge in Society

Erik Brynjolfsson, Stanford University and NBER
Zoe Hitzig, OpenAI

Discussant:
Avi Goldfarb, University of Toronto and NBER
11:50 am

What Is There to Fear in a Post AGI World

Betsey Stevenson, University of Michigan and NBER

Discussant:
Ioana Marinescu, University of Pennsylvania and NBER
12:40 pm
Lunch
1:25 pm

Science in the Age of Algorithms

Sendhil Mullainathan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NBER
Ashesh Rambachan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Discussant:
Ajay K. Agrawal, University of Toronto and NBER
2:15 pm

Public Finance in the Age of AI: A Primer

Anton Korinek, University of Virginia and NBER
Lee Lockwood, University of Virginia and NBER

Discussant:
Matthew C. Weinzierl, Harvard University and NBER
3:05 pm
Break
3:20 pm

An Economy of AI Agents

Gillian Hadfield, Johns Hopkins University
Andrew Koh, MIT Department of Economics

Discussant:
Kevin A. Bryan, University of Toronto
4:10 pm

AI Agents as Economic Agents

Gili Rusak, Harvard University
Peyman Shahidi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Benjamin S. Manning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Andrey Fradkin, Boston University
John J. Horton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NBER

Discussant:
David M. Rothschild, Microsoft Research
5:00 pm
Adjourn
5:50 pm
Reception and Dinner
Friday, September 19
9:00 am

Transformative AI and Firms

Aaron Chatterji, Duke University and NBER
Daniel Rock, University of Pennsylvania
Eduard Talamas, IESE Business School

Discussant:
Toby Stuart, University of California, Berkeley
9:50 am

Competition Enforcement and AI

Susan Athey, Stanford University and NBER
Fiona Scott Morton, Yale University and NBER

Discussant:
Catherine Tucker, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NBER
10:40 am
Break
11:00 am

Artificial Intelligence in Research and Development

Benjamin Jones, Northwestern University and NBER

Discussant:
Bronwyn H. Hall, University of California, Berkeley and NBER
11:50 am

We Won't Be Missed: Work and Growth in the Era of AGI

Pascual Restrepo, Yale University and NBER

Discussant:
Neil Thompson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
12:40 pm
Lunch
1:20 pm

How Much Should We Spend to Reduce A.I.'s Existential Risk?

Charles I. Jones, Stanford University and NBER

Discussant:
Judith A. Chevalier, Yale University and NBER
2:10 pm

Making AI Count: The Next Measurement Frontier

Diane Coyle, University of Cambridge
John Lourenze Salan Poquiz, University of Cambridge

Discussant:
Carol A. Corrado, Georgetown University
3:00 pm
Break
3:15 pm

Vulnerability-Weighted AI Exposure

Sam J. Manning, Center for Governance of AI
Tomas Aquirre, University of Sao Paulo

Discussant:
Dimitris Papanikolaou, Northwestern University and NBER
4:05 pm

Information, Communication, and Knowledge

Joseph E. Stiglitz, Columbia University and NBER
Maxim Ventura-Bolet, Columbia Univeristy

Discussant:
Wei Li, University of British Columbia
4:55 pm
Closing Remarks
5:00 pm
Adjourn