I am an economist and game theorist working on social dynamics. I focus on the economic causes and consequences of social institutions, including:

• Social norms 
• Social Learning
• Cultural transmission of preferences
• Group identity 
• Religious belief and organization
• Radicalization
  

This is part of a larger program on the social foundations of economic development.  

Apart from research, I have contributed to this program by co-editing the volume Advances in the Economics of Religion (Palgrave 2019),  and currently serving as Executive Committee member of the Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences, Board Member of the Association for the Study of Religion, Economics and Culture (ASREC), Board Member and Faculty Fellow of the Association for Analytic Learning about Islam and Muslim Societies (AALIMS), Core Associate of the Network for Economic Research on Identity, Norms and Narratives (ERINN),  Associate of Theoretical Research in Development Economics (ThReD), Faculty Affiliate of the Algorithms, Combinatorics and Optimization Center (ACO), the Center for Global Peace & Conflict Studies (CGPACS) and the Religious Studies Program at UC Irvine.

I am Associate Professor of Economics (primary) and Logic & Philosophy of Science (courtesy) at the University of California-Irvine, where I teach game theory and political economy. 

I have held visiting positions at Harvard, Oxford, NYU, Stanford and Warwick.

I was educated at the University of Oxford (DPhil, MPhil, Monash scholar) and the University of Western Australia.

• Elite Identity and Political Accountability: A Tale of Ten Islands (with Christian Dippel), The Economic Journal, forthcoming [Online Appendix]
• Religious Clubs: The Strategic Role of Religious Identity, in Carvalho, Iyer and Rubin (Eds.), Advances in the Economics of Religion, 2019, Palgrave. 
• Education, Social Mobility and Religious Movements: The Islamic Revival in Egypt (with Christine Binzel). The Economic Journal, 2017, 127, 2553-2580. [working paper] Online Appendix Press Release
• Sacrifice and Sorting in Clubs. Forum for Social Economics (special  issue on The Economics of Religion), forthcoming. [working paper]  
• Coordination and Culture. Economic Theory, 2017, 64(3), 449–475 . [working paper]
• Education, Identity and Community: Lessons from Jewish Emancipation (with Mark Koyama and Michael Sacks), Public Choice, 2017, 171(1), 119–143. [working paper]  
• Jewish Emancipation and Schism: Economic Development and Religious Change (with Mark Koyama).  Journal of Comparative Economics, 2016, 44(3), 562-584. [working paper]
• Identity-Based Organizations. American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings, 2016, 106(5), 410–414. [working paper]
• Veiling. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2013, 128(1), 337-370.
• Instincts and Institutions: The Rise of the Market (with Mark Koyama) in William N. Butos (ed.),  Advances in Austrian Economics, 2010, 13, 285-309.

• Radicalization (with Michael Sacks) 
• Identity and Underrepresentation  (with Bary Pradelski)
• Markets and Communities: Tensions and Possible Solutions
• Resisting Education (with Mark Koyama).  [Under Revision] 

• Advances in the Economics of Religion, co-edited with Sriya Iyer and Jared Rubin, Palgrave 2019.

• IMBS Conference on Cultural Evolution and Social Norms, March 2019
• IMBS Conference on Identity, Conflict and Cooperation, April 2018
• INET Conference, Panel on Identity, Norms, Narratives, Edinburgh, October 2017
• IMBS Conference on Religious and Social Norms, January 2012

Course in Evolution and Learning in Games

Syllabus 

Lectures

1. The Rational Agent and Its Limitations
2. The Interactive Knowledge Problem
3. Social Learning
4. Evolution in Games
5. Learning Protocols
6. Deterministic Dynamics
7. Evolutionary Stability
8. Local Stability
9. Cultural Transmission
10. Stochastic Dynamics
11. Stochastic Stability
12. Emergence of Segregation
13. Adaptive Play
14. Bargaining Conventions
15. Games Played on Networks
16. Heterogeneous Agents
17. Fast Convergence

Religion & Cultural Transmission (ASREC Grad Workshop)

Lecture

Note on Replicator Dynamic