John J. Horton

Bio

I am an economist and the Chrysler Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, jointly appointed to the Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management (TIES) and Information Technology (IT) groups, and a Research Associate at the NBER. My research is primarily focused on issues in information systems, market design, labor economics and organizational economics, particularly in the context of online markets. I am also interested in the effects of AI on labor markets and the potential of AI to improve social science methodology. Email · MIT Sloan · NBER · Google Scholar · ORCID · CV · Bio & press · @johnjhorton

Employment

Chrysler Professor of Management; jointly appointed to the TIES and IT groups, MIT Sloan School of Management, August 25, 2025—Present

Co-founder, Expected Parrot, 2024—Present

Consulting Researcher, Microsoft Research New England, 2024—2025

Associate Professor (with Tenure), MIT Sloan School of Management, 2023—2025

Richard S. Leghorn Career Development Associate Professor, MIT Sloan School of Management, 2020—2023

Assistant Professor, MIT Sloan School of Management, 2019—2020

Visiting Economist, Airbnb, Summer 2016

Visiting Economist, Uber Technologies, Summer 2015

Assistant Professor of Information Systems, Stern School of Business, New York University, 2013—2019

Staff Economist, oDesk Corporation, 2011—2013

Research Intern, London School of Economics, Centre for Economic Performance, Summer 2010

Resident Tutor, Pforzheimer House, Harvard College, 2007—2011

Tank Platoon Leader and Executive Officer, US Army, 2001—2006

Affiliations

Member, Anthropic Economic Advisory Council, 2025—Present

Research Associate, NBER, 2023—Present

Faculty Research Fellow, NBER, 2019—2023

Affiliate, CESifo, 2017—Present

Affiliate, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, 2012—2013

Research Associate, Harvard Kennedy School, 2012—2013

Affiliate, Institute for Quantitative Social Science, 2009—2011

Research

Awards & Grants

Awards

Information Systems Research Best Paper Award, Runner-up (The Death of a Technical Skill), 2026

ACM EC Exemplary Paper Award (Automated Social Science: Language Models as Scientist and Subjects; one of six papers selected from roughly 1,000 submissions), 2026

WISE Best Paper Award (General Social Agents; selected from the full conference submission pool), 2025

INFORMS ISS Cluster Best Paper Award, Runner-up (Production & Consumption of Social Media), 2022

Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Business Analytics, AI/ML “Rising Star” Award, 2021, 2021

ISS Sandra A. Slaughter Early Career Award, 2021, 2021

Experimental Economics, Editor’s Award Winner for 2011, 2011

Becker-Friedman Center on Price Theory, Summer Camp, University of Chicago, 2010, 2010

NSF-IGERT Multidisciplinary Fellowship in Inequality and Social Policy, 2008 - 2010, 2008

Institute for Humane Studies Graduate Fellowship, 2009, 2009

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, Honorable Mention, 2007

Bronze Star Medal, 2004

Army Achievement Medal (for budgeting and spreadsheet work), 2005

Army Commendation Medal, 2004

Combat Action Badge, 2004

Basic Parachutist Badge, 1999

Grants

Microsoft Research, 2023

Schwartzman College of Computing Grant - “Using AI Agents to Simulate Social Scenarios”, 2023

Upjohn Institute, Early Career Award Grant, 2016, 2016

Lab for Economic Applications and Policy, Harvard University, Research Grant, 2010, 2010

Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University, Travel Grant, 2010, 2010

Amazon Research Grant, Web Services, 2010, 2010

Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard Law School, Research Grant, 2009, 2009

Talks

Featured talks

Complete talk archive

Education

Y Combinator, Fall 2025

Harvard University, PhD in Public Policy, 2011

United States Military Academy at West Point, BS in Mathematics, minor in Computer Science, 2001

Teaching & Service

Teaching

Generative AI Action Learning Lab

MIT — Spring 2026 · Spring 2025

Generative AI for Managers

MIT — Spring 2026 · Spring 2025 · Fall 2024 · Spring 2024

The Economics of Information: Strategy, Structure, and Pricing

MIT — Spring 2023

Foundations of Information Technology

MIT — Spring 2023 · Spring 2022 · Spring 2021

Doctoral Seminar, Economics of Information Technology

MIT — Spring 2022

Designing, Using, and Competing with Online Marketplaces

MIT — Spring 2021

Introduction to Programming and Data Science

NYU Stern — Spring 2018 (3 sections)

Introduction to Technology in Business & Society

NYU Stern — Spring 2017 (3 sections) · Spring 2016 (3 sections) · Spring 2015 (3 sections) · Spring 2014 (3 sections)

EC970: Online Work

Harvard College — Fall 2010

API-302: Analytic Frameworks for Public Policy

Harvard Kennedy School — Fall 2010 (3 sections)

Service

Committee on Curricula, MIT, 2025—Present

Dean Search Committee, MIT Sloan, 2024—2025

NBER Digitization Spring 2024 Meeting, Co-organizer, NBER, 2023—2024

Faculty Search Committee, MIT Sloan IT Group, 2022—Present

PhD Program Coordinator, MIT Sloan IT Group, 2021—2025

Departmental: Organizer of IS Faculty Seminar; PhD recruiting committee, NYU Stern, 2013—2017

Reviewing

American Economic Review · The Quarterly Journal of Economics · American Economic Review: Insights · Econometrica · Journal of Political Economy · Journal of Labor Economics · RAND Journal of Economics · Journal of Economic Geography · Journal of Economics & Management Strategy · Management Science · Information Systems Research · AEJ: Applied · MISQ · Marketing Science · Judgment and Decision Making · Clinical Psychological Science · ACM-Electronic Commerce · ACM-Computer Human Interaction · ICIS · CIST