I am an Associate Professor at the University of Bern and a Vice President of the Swiss Competition Commission.

My research focuses on applied microeconomic theory, in particular the questions related to competition policy, economics of innovation and contest design.

I maintain a list of conferences (with a focus on IO and theory), including submission deadlines and links.

Email: igor.letina@unibe.ch

Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

Portrait of Igor Letina

Working papers

  1. Market-Bound Research Contests
    - with Oleg Muratov (December 2024)
    - Slides

  2. Startup Acquisitions: Acquihires and Talent Hoarding
    - with Jean-Michel Benkert and Shuo Liu
    - R&R, European Economic Review (revised January 2025)
    - Slides

Publications

  1. Never-ending Search for Innovation
    - with Jean-Michel Benkert
    - Journal of Industrial Economics, forthcoming
    - Working Paper

  2. Research Joint Ventures: The Role of Financial Constraints
    - with Philipp Brunner and Armin Schmutzler
    - European Economic Review, 2024, Vol. 165, 104742
    - Slides

  3. Killer Acquisitions and Beyond: Policy Effects on Innovation Strategies
    - with Armin Schmutzler and Regina Seibel
    - International Economic Review, 2024, Vol. 65(2), pp. 591-622 (lead article)
    - Slides

  4. Optimal Contest Design: Tuning the Heat
    - with Shuo Liu and Nick Netzer
    - Journal of Economic Theory, 2023, Vol. 213, 105616
    - Best paper award, 2021 Conference of the China Information Economics Society
    - Working Paper, Slides

  5. Designing Dynamic Research Contests
    - with Jean-Michel Benkert
    - American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 2020, Vol. 12(4), pp. 270-289
    - Working Paper, AEA Research Highlight

  6. Delegating Performance Evaluation
    - with Shuo Liu and Nick Netzer
    - Theoretical Economics, 2020, Vol. 15(2), pp. 477–509

  7. Inducing Variety: A Theory of Innovation Contests
    - with Armin Schmutzler
    - International Economic Review, 2019, Vol. 60(4), pp. 1757-1780
    - Working Paper

  8. Optimal Search from Multiple Distributions with Infinite Horizon
    - with Jean-Michel Benkert and Georg Nöldeke
    - Economics Letters, 2018, Vol. 164, pp. 15-18
    - Working Paper

  9. The Road not Taken: Competition and the R&D Portfolio
    - RAND Journal of Economics, 2016, Vol. 47(2), pp. 433–460
    - Online Appendix, Working Paper