Susan Athey, PhD ’95, the Economics of Technology Professor Economy at Stanford Graduate School of Business, has been awarded the R. K. Cho Economics Prize, recognizing her as “a leading voice in economics, shaping both research and policy agendas worldwide.” The award, presented by South Korea’s Yonsei University, is for economics researchers who have contributed to the development of scholarship and education.
Throughout her career inside and outside of academia, Athey has focused on applying her findings to answering complex economic, technological, and social questions. Her recent research has covered a wide range of subjects, including machine learning, artificial intelligence, women in technology, and designing markets for vaccines. She is the founder of the Golub Capital Social Impact Lab, which works to improve the effectiveness of social sector organizations through technology and social science research.
“I’m very motivated by the need to serve, to help other people be productive,” Athey said in a recent Stanford Business profile. “It’s exhilarating and intoxicating when people have questions they need to know the answers to, and you have the ability to answer them.”
Athey is a professor of economics (by courtesy) at Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences and a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Science and a recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal, awarded by the American Economics Association to an outstanding economist under 40. In 2022, she served as the chief economist at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. Athey was the 2023 president of the American Economics Association.
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