Hi!

I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at Aalto University School of Business in Helsinki

I obtained my PhD from University College London in May 2025

You can find my CV [here]

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Research Fields:

Microeconomic Theory, Bounded Rationality, Behavioural Economics

Email:

alexander.clyde.econ@gmail.com or alexander.clyde@aalto.fi

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Working Papers

Narrow Inference and Incentive Design [Draft]

Abstract

There is evidence that people struggle to do causal inference in complex multidimensional environments. This paper explores the consequences of this in a principal-agent setting. A principal chooses a mechanism to screen an agent. The agent makes choices on multiple dimensions, and infers the effect of each action separately without properly controlling for the other actions. I fully characterize the principal’s optimal mechanism when facing an agent who does such `narrow' inference, and contrast it with their optimal mechanism when the agent is fully rational. I demonstrate when the principal can exploit narrow inference and in what cases they lose out.

Publications

Proxy Variables and Feedback Effects in Decision Making [Link]

Games and Economic Behavior, Volume 153, October 2025

Abstract

When using data, an analyst often only has access to proxies of the true variables. I propose a framework that models decision makers who naively assume potentially noisy proxy variables are perfect measurements. Due to feedback from choices into data, a notion of equilibrium is required to close the model. I illustrate the concept with applications to policing/crime and market entry. In these applications, we see that very small imperfections in the proxy variable can lead to large distortions in beliefs. I show that the set of strategies that can arise as equilibria with arbitrarily close to perfect measurement coincides with a version of Self-Confirming Equilibrium.