About
Dr. Ghosal is Professor and Department Head of Economics, and Virginia and Lloyd W. Rittenhouse Chaired Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences. He was the Acting Dean, School of Humanities Arts and Social Sciences, from January-July 2023. He is an Affiliated Faculty member at Rensselaer's Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS), and at the Institute for Data Exploration and Applications (IDEA).
Professor Ghosal's current research and policy interests include: (1) Artificial Intelligence Markets focusing on Big-Tech partnerships, antitrust and regulations; (2) Biopharmaceuticals markets focusing on innovation, pricing and FDA regulations; and (3) Antitrust laws and enforcement. Currently he teaches the course "Economics of Biotechnology and Medical Innovations."
Before joining Rensselaer in 2016, he was the Mary and Richard Inman Chaired Professor at the School of Economics at Georgia Institute of Technology. At Georgia Tech., he was the Director of the MS and PhD. programs from 2012-2016. Prior to his position at Georgia Tech., he was a Senior Economist at the Economic Analysis Group, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice (1998-2001). In this position, he worked on mergers and acquisitions, horizontal and vertical market power, tying agreements, joint ventures, regulatory reform, and innovation and efficiency. Some of the markets he investigated include electricity, nuclear fuel, natural gas, coal, information technology, media markets, international mail delivery, and oilfield drilling services.
Professor Ghosal has published two edited books: The Political Economy of Antitrust (Elsevier, 2007); and Reforming Rules and Regulations: Laws, Institutions and Implementation (MIT Press, 2010). He has published in peer-reviewed journals in Economics, Management, and Law & Economics, including: Review of Economics and Statistics; Journal of Law and Economics; Journal of Industrial Economics; International Journal of Industrial Organization; Research Policy; Small Business Economics; Managerial and Decision Economics; Business Strategy and the Environment; Journal of Competition Law & Economics; Review of Industrial Organization; Review of Law & Economics; Journal of Economics and Business; Illinois Law Review; China Economic Review; and Harvard Public Health Review. His research has been published as book chapters by publishers such as: MIT Press; Stanford University Press; Elsevier Science; Edgar Elgar; Routledge; and Springer. His recent writing on "Big Tech Investments in AI Startups Do Not Raise Competitive Red Flags" appeared in the Big Tech-AI Investment Symposium published by ProMarket (University of Chicago).
Dr. Ghosal's international appointments have included Visiting Professor (2010-2018) at the European Business School (Wiesbaden, Germany) where he conducted research and lectured on regulations and business strategy, with emphasis on environmental regulations, sustainability, and innovation in the automobile and other manufacturing industries. He was a Visiting Professor (2010-2016) at the joint Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, Paris) and Korea Development Institute School of Public Policy and Management (Seoul, South Korea) international program on regulatory reform and competition policy. In this position he provided executive education lectures and workshops to international public policy professionals. On topics related to antitrust, competition law and enforcement, regulations, and mergers and acquisitions, he has delivered executive education lectures in Taipei, Lima, Seoul, New Delhi, Amsterdam, and Tokyo. He has taught Summer graduate school workshops at the University of Amsterdam, Ludwig Maximilians University (Munich), and Central European University (Budapest).
Professor Ghosal's grants, contacts and research have included industries such as: automobiles; high-speed rail; healthcare; transportation; information technology; telecommunications and media; energy and electricity; and paper & paperboard.. His externally funded research grants have included issues related to: regional economic and business development; infrastructure investments; public-private partnerships; impact of environmental regulations; regulatory assessments; and innovation and efficiency. The organizations he has received funding from include: U.S. Department of Transportation; Georgia Department of Transportation; Ragnar Soderberg's Foundation (Sweden); Woodruff Foundation; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, Paris); Center for Paper Business and Industry Studies (Georgia Institute of Technology); and Scripps Foundation.
He worked as an expert with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, Paris, 2005-2012) on developing the Competition Assessment Toolkit which served as an international framework adopted by many countries for identifying and revising regulations and their impact on competition. As part of this OECD initiative, Dr. Ghosal traveled to several countries to present training workshops to national government agencies, public policy and regulatory professionals to help with implementation of the framework.
Professor Ghosal has been a consultant for international organizations, governments, consulting firms and companies on issues related to antitrust, regulatory reform, business and economic modeling of markets, industry studies, and statistical and econometric modeling. He has provided project and expert reports, and testimony.
Ph.D. Economics, Warrington College of Business, University of Florida (Gainesville).
M.A. Economics, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi, India.
B.A. Economics (Honors), University of Delhi, India.
Research
My current research interests include: (1) Artificial Intelligence Markets focusing on Big-Tech partnerships, antitrust and regulations; (2) Biopharmaceuticals markets focusing on innovation, pricing and FDA regulations; and (3) Antitrust laws and enforcement.
My CV, downloadable from this website, provides list of publications and scholarly activities.
Some of my publications and related information can be found at:
Repec/IDEAS
https://ideas.repec.org/e/pgh12.html
Google Scholar
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=UGuBP7QAAAAJ&hl=en
Research Gate
https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Vivek-Ghosal-25699096
Teaching
My teaching interests have been diverse covering semester courses I have taught at Rensselaer and at Georgia Institute of Technology. At various international institutions, I have taught executive education and graduate management courses.
Regular Semester Courses
At Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Georgia Institute of Technology
- Economics of Biotechnology & Medical Innovations
- Economics of Regulations & Business Strategy
- Health Economics & Policy
- Microeconomics of Innovation
Graduate Management Course
European Business School (Wiesbaden, 2010 – 2018).
- Graduate management course on environmental regulations, sustainability and innovation.
Executive Education Courses
Joint Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, Paris) and Korea Development Institute, School of Public Policy and Management (KDI, Seoul, S. Korea) international program. (2010 – 2016.)
- Executive education course for public policy professionals on regulatory reforms, competition assessments, and competition policy.
Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs and Competition Commission of India (New Delhi, 2013).
- Executive education course for regulatory and policy professionals on “Competition Impact Assessment.” Lectures on: “Conceptual Background for Developing Assessment Framework”; “Developing the Competition Assessment Toolkit”; “Competition Assessment for Markets for Consumer Goods and Services”; “Competition Assessments: Fitting into Policy Development.”
Development Bank of Japan (Tokyo, 2013).
- Training course for regulatory professionals on "Assessment of Mergers and Acquisitions."
Taiwan Fair Trade Commission (Taipei, 2008 – 2009).
- Executive education course for regulatory and policy professionals on “Regulatory Reform and Competition Assessments.” Lectures on: “Competition and Benefits”; “Competition Assessments and their Implementation”; “Quantitative Analysis of Competition Assessments”; and “Fitting Competition Assessments into Policy Development.”
Maximixe (Lima, 2006).
- Executive education course for regulatory, business and law professionals on “Competition Policy and Law Enforcement in US and EU: Cartels, Merger Control, and Transnational Mergers.”
International Summer School Courses
University of Amsterdam, Economics Network for Competition and Regulation (Amsterdam, 2006).
- Graduate Summer School on “Competition Law Enforcement.”
Ludwig Maximilians University, Center for Economic Studies (Munich, 2003).
- Graduate Summer School on “Industry Dynamics: M&As, Efficiency and Market Power.”
Central European University (Budapest, 2003).
- Graduate Summer School on “Competition Policy in Transition Economies.”
Economics of Biotechnology and Medical Innovations (Econ 4290).
This course is designed to support students who are enrolled in Rensselaer's B.S. in Biotechnology and Health Economics degree program, as well those pursuing a B.S. in Economics (as a Dual or Single Major in Economics). The course is also useful for our students pursuing degrees in biomedical engineering and other areas of biosciences. This course pairs well with the Economics Department's course in Health Economics and Policy (Econ 4170) currently taught by Professor Jason Huh.
In this course (Econ 4209), students learn about markets related to healthcare, insurance, biopharmaceuticals, and medical devices. Examine economic issues, models and quantitative analysis related to firms’ activities in areas such as innovation, R&D expenditures, patenting, pricing, mergers and acquisitions, and competition in markets. Examine the role played by health insurance systems. Study the economic implications of regulations, such as those by the U.S. FDA. Economic and policy aspects will be examined within the context of the U.S. healthcare sector, along with selected comparisons to European national healthcare systems.
Publications
My CV, downloadable from this website, provides list of publications.
The following is a selection of recent publications in Scopus. Vivek Ghosal has 28 indexed publications in the subjects of Economics, Econometrics and Finance, Business, Management and Accounting, Social Sciences.