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 sort different types of agents into choosing different action combinations. The agents make choices on multiple dimensions, and infer the effect of each action separately without properly controlling for the other actions. I fully characterize the principal’s optimal mechanism when facing agents who do such ‘narrow’ inference, and contrast it with their optimal mechanism when the agents are fully rational.

Publications

Proxy Variables and Feedback Effects in Decision Making [Link]

Games and Economic Behavior, Volume 153, October 2025, pages 408-429

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.