South African economist
Ilan Strauss
Born 1985Cape Town, South Africa
Institutions University of Johannesburg (UJ),
University College London (UCL)
Rice University Field Digital markets and regulation Alma mater SOAS (Ms.C);
NSSR (Ph.D)
Ilan Strauss , (born 1985), is an economist best known for his work on digital platforms and market power, focusing on the role of algorithms in mediating information quality.
[1] He is senior research associate at
University College London ,
Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose , where he leads their digital economy research team, sponsored by the
Omidyar Network . He is a visiting associate professor at the
University of Johannesburg (office of the
Sarchl Chair ). He previously taught macroeconomics at
New York University (Division of Applied Undergraduate Studies)
[2] and at
Rice University's online MBA (
Jones Graduate School of Business ).
[3]
His work has been featured in the popular press: in
Financial Times by
Rana Foroohar ,
[4] by
Cory Doctorow ,
[5] and published in
Project Syndicate with
Mariana Mazzucato .
[6]
Early life and education
He holds an Ms.C (first class) from
SOAS in Development Economics and a Ph.D. in economics from the
New School for Social Research , during which time he also studied
Bayesian Statistics at
Columbia University under
Andrew Gelman .
[7]
[8]
[9]
Career
Early career
Ilan initially worked in the non-profit sector, working for the Jewish summer camp organization Habonim Dror Southern Africa, before being involved with non-profits in Cape Town townships (the Social Justice Coalition and Equal Education).
Ilan started out his career in development economics, working at the
African Development Bank's research department in
Tunisia , before consulting for United Nation bodies, including writing the Africa section of
UNCTAD's World Investment Report.
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14] He has written several papers and book chapters on foreign direct investment, published with Columbia University
[15]
[16] and UNCTAD's Transnational Corporation.
[17] He consulted on the impacts of
COVID on African economies for several regional bodies between 2020 and 2021.
[18]
[19]
Present work
As part of a multi-year, Omidyar Network funded, research project, Ilan has worked closely with
Tim O’Reilly and Professor
Mariana Mazzucato at UCL's Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, focusing on the role of algorithms in platform's leveraging their digital market power. This research was published in a series of papers under the title:
algorithmic attention rents .
[20]
[21]
[22]
[23] His other branch of research at UCL focused on the nature and role of disclosures for digital platforms in regulating
Big Tech .
[24]
[25]
Ilan has been an economics commentator on the South African economy.
[26] He was on the board of the National Minimum Wage Research Initiative, which helped establish the first national minimum wage in South Africa.
[27]
[28]
[29]
Awards and Memberships
Ilan is the receipt of an
Economic Security Project grant (jointly with Dr. Jangho Yang) looking at the role of acquisitions in Big Tech attaining dominance in artificial intelligence (AI) innovation.
[30]
He is a member of the Coalition for Independent Technology Research.
References
^ Strauss, I.; Mazzucato, M. (2023-11-16).
"Amazon's Algorithmic Rents: The economics of information on Amazon" . UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose . Retrieved 2024-03-28 .
^
"Ilan Strauss at New York University - School of Professional Studies | Rate My Professors" . www.ratemyprofessors.com . Retrieved 2024-03-28 .
^ Stefan De La Garza (2020).
"Dateline Rice for July 20, 2020 (Weekend Edition)" . Rice News | News and Media Relations | Rice University . Retrieved 2024-03-28 .
^ Foroohar, R. (2023-11-06).
"We must stop AI replicating the problems of surveillance capitalism" . Financial Times . Retrieved 2024-03-28 .
^ Doctorow, C. (2023-11-04).
"Big Tech's "attention rents" " . Medium . Retrieved 2024-03-28 .
^ Mazzucato, M; Strauss, I. (2024-02-28).
"The Algorithm and Its Discontents | by Mariana Mazzucato & Ilan Strauss" . Project Syndicate . Retrieved 2024-03-28 .
^ Strauss, I.; Yang, J. (2021).
"Slowing investment rates in developing economies: Evidence from a Bayesian hierarchical model" . International Review of Financial Analysis . 77 (C).
doi :
10.1016/j.irfa.2021.101843 .
ISSN
1057-5219 .
^ Strauss, I.; Yang, J. (2020).
Corporate Secular Stagnation: Empirical Evidence on the Advanced Economy Investment Slowdown (Report). Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
^ Strauss, I.; Isaacs, G.; Rosenberg, J. (2021).
"The effect of shocks to GDP on employment in SADC member states during COVID-19 using a Bayesian hierarchical model" . African Development Review . 33 (Suppl 1): S221–S237.
doi :
10.1111/1467-8268.12524 .
PMC
8207077 .
PMID
34149246 .
^
"WORLD INVESTMENT REPORT 2015" (PDF) . United Nations Publication . 2015.
^
"WORLD INVESTMENT REPORT 2017" (PDF) . United Nations Publication . 2017.
^
"WORLD INVESTMENT REPORT 2018" (PDF) . United Nations Publication . 2018.
^
"WORLD INVESTMENT REPORT 2020" (PDF) . United Nations Publication . 2020.
^
"WORLD INVESTMENT REPORT 2022" (PDF) . United Nations Publication . 2022.
^ Strauss, I.; Mavroeidi, V. (2024).
"印度如何从外商直接投资中获益:来自中国的经验" . Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment .
doi :
10.7916/zd75-7q41 .
^ Sachs, L.; Johnson, L.; Coleman, J. (2018).
"YEARBOOK ON INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT LAW & POLICY 2018" (PDF) . Oxford University Press .
^ Strauss, I.
"Understanding South Africa's current account deficit: The role of foreign direct investment income" (PDF) . United Nations Conference on Trade and Development .
^ Rosenberg, J.; Strauss, I.; Isaacs, G. (2021).
"COVID-19 impact on SADC labour markets: Evidence from high-frequency data and other sources" . African Development Review . 33 (Suppl 1): S177–S193.
doi :
10.1111/1467-8268.12528 .
ISSN
1017-6772 .
PMC
8207065 .
PMID
34149243 .
^ Strauss, I.; Isaacs, G.; Rosenberg, J. (2021).
"The effect of shocks to GDP on employment in SADC member states during COVID-19 using a Bayesian hierarchical model" . African Development Review . 33 (S1): S221–S237.
doi :
10.1111/1467-8268.12524 .
ISSN
1017-6772 .
PMC
8207077 .
PMID
34149246 .
^ UCL (2022-10-11).
"IIPP hosts expert workshop on algorithmic rents" . UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose . Retrieved 2024-03-28 .
^ UCL (2022-09-29).
"Algorithmic Rents and Competition" . UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose . Retrieved 2024-03-28 .
^ Korea Herald (2024-03-04).
"[Mariana Mazzucato, Ilan Strauss] The algorithm and its discontents" . The Korea Herald . Retrieved 2024-03-28 .
^ BBC Mundo (2024-02-01).
"Las "rentas de la atención", el concepto con el que 3 académicos explican la estrategia de plataformas como Amazon y Google" .
^ Mazzucato, M.; Strauss, I.; O’Reilly, T.; Ryan-Collins, J.
"Regulating Big Tech: the role of enhanced disclosures" . Oxford Review of Economic Policy . Retrieved 2024-03-28 .
^ O’Reilly, T.; Strauss, I.; Mazzucato, M. (2023-06-15).
"Regulating Big Tech through digital disclosures" . UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose . Retrieved 2024-03-28 .
^
"READ | A letter from 76 economists says govt can do more to limit the economic harm of Covid-19" . Business . Retrieved 2024-03-28 .
^
"People" . National Minimum Wage . Retrieved 2024-03-28 .
^ Smith, C. (2016).
"Ramaphosa appoints panel on minimum wage" . Business . Retrieved 2024-03-28 .
^
"South Africa sets first ever minimum wage" . wol.iza.org . Retrieved 2024-03-28 .
^ Chao, B. (2022).
"Investing in Research to Inform a New Paradigm" . Economic Security Project . Retrieved 2024-03-28 .