we are pleased to announce the following seminar at Luiss University.
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Speaker: Alfred Galichon, New York University
Title: Optimal Transport for Economics: Applications and Extensions
When: Thu May 29, 14:30
Where: Via Lisbona 7, 00198 Roma
Room: S03A
Abstract: Optimal transport theory has emerged as a unifying geometric framework for a wide range of economic questions that hinge on allocating heterogeneous agents or goods in a cost-efficient way. This talk surveys recent methodological advances and
shows how they sharpen three core empirical tools:
- Discrete choice models – I will show how viewing demand estimation through the lens of optimal transport delivers transparent identification of taste heterogeneity and suggests computationally efficient estimation algorithms that scale to high-dimensional
product spaces.
- Matching models – Building on the Monge–Kantorovich formulation, I will discuss equilibrium assignments in labor and marriage markets, highlighting new existence and uniqueness results when complementarities are non-transferable. Optimal transport duality
provides constructive characterizations of wage/transfer schedules and illuminates comparative-statics of policy interventions.
- Quantile regression and distributional methods – Re-casting quantile regression as an optimal transport problem links conditional quantiles to integral probability metrics. This perspective leads to robust, dependence-aware estimators and facilitates inference
on counterfactual distributions, with applications to wage inequality and treatment-effect heterogeneity.
Throughout, I will emphasize common geometric intuition, outline open computational challenges, and sketch extensions to dynamic settings and strategic interaction. The overarching goal is to demonstrate how optimal transport offers economists a versatile,
tractable, and conceptually coherent toolkit for modeling heterogeneity and market frictions across disparate empirical domains.
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More info can be found at this link:
https://economiaefinanza.luiss.it/research-seminar/optimal-transport-for-economics-applications-and-extensions
The seminar will be in presence only. Please send me an email if you are interested in participating.
Best wishes,
Marta Catalano