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Faculty
Terence Johnson
Assistant Professor of Data Science
School of Data Science
Terence Johnson is an economist specializing in market design and development economics, using machine learning and other tools to design or improve the performance of markets. He joined the School of Data Science as an Assistant Professor in 2022.
Johnson studies how the structure of markets shapes inefficiencies that hamper economic performance, particularly in developing countries. He uses tools from game theory, mechanism design, and machine learning to measure the impact of market failures, and then design and test new solutions. His projects have ranged from reducing monopoly power in the market for sanitation through auctions in Senegal to empowering female entrepreneurs through mentorship and grants in Kenya to measuring the cost of corruption in public procurement in Tanzania.
His projects have been funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Jameel Abdul Latif Poverty Action Lab (JPAL), and his scholarly work has appeared in the American Economic Journal: Applied, the Journal of Economic Theory, the Journal of Development Economics, the Economic Theory, World Bank Economic Review, and the Oxford Handbook of Market Design. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a B.S. in Economics, Mathematics, and Political Science from Syracuse University.
Education
- Ph.D., Economics, University of Maryland, College Park
- B.S., Economics, Mathematics, and Political Science, Syracuse University
Data Science Domains
Analytics; Systems; Design; Data + Society
Areas of Practice
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning; Business, Markets, and Policy
Methodologies
Economics; Poverty And Development; Targeting
Selected Publications
- Brooks, W., Donovan, K., Johnson, T.R., Oluoch-Aridi, J. (2022). Cash transfers as a response to COVID-19: Experimental evidence from Kenya. Journal of Development Economics, vol. 158, 102929
- Brooks, W., Donovan, K., Johnson, T.R. (2020). Is There a Cost-Effective Means of Training Microenterprises? World Bank Economic Review, vol. 34, pp. S63–S67
- Johnson, T.R. (2019). Synchronized matching with incomplete information. Economic Theory, 67, 589–616
- Brooks, W., Donovan, K., Johnson, T.R. (2018). Mentors or Teachers? Microenterprise Training in Kenya. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 196-221
- Brooks, W., Donovan, K., Johnson, T.R. (2017). Mentorship helps Kenyan microenterprises profit. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 196-221
- Johnson, T.R. (2013). Matching Through Position Auctions. Journal of Economic Theory, 148, pp. 1700-1713
- Bandyopadhyay, Iskakov, F., Johnson, T.R., Lee, S., McArthur, D., Rust, J., Watson, J. (2013). Can the economics job market be improved? The Handbook of Market Design, Oxford University Press, Chapter 7.