Susan Athey is the Economics of Technology Professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Her research focuses on the economics of digitisation and the intersection of causal inference and artificial intelligence, with applications spanning timber auctions, internet search, online advertising, news media, labor market transitions, health, and digital technologies for social impact.
Among the first economists to focus on technology markets, Athey served for six years as Consulting Chief Economist at Microsoft Corporation and has held board positions with multiple private and public technology firms. She was also a long-term advisor to the British Columbia Ministry of Forests, where she helped design and implement its auction-based timber pricing system. At Stanford, she was a founding Associate Director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), where she continues to serve as a Senior Fellow, and she is the founding Director of the Golub Capital Social Impact Lab at Stanford GSB. Prior to joining Stanford, she was a professor at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
From 2022 to 2024, Athey took leave from Stanford to serve as Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division. She was President of the American Economic Association in 2023, having previously served as Vice President and as an elected member of its Executive Committee.
Athey is the recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal, awarded by the American Economic Association to the economist under the age of 40 who has made the most significant contributions to economic thought and knowledge. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Duke University and her PhD from Stanford University, and she holds an honorary doctorate from Duke University.
