Benjamin Golub

Benjamin Golub
Academic background
EducationCalifornia Institute of Technology
Stanford University
Matthew O. Jackson
Andrzej Skrzypacz
Robert B. Wilson
Academic work
DisciplineMicroeconomics, economics of networks
InstitutionsNorthwestern University
Notable ideas
Research on social learning, financial networks
AwardsCalvó-Armengol International Prize, 2020
Website

Benjamin Golub (also known as Ben Golub) is an American economist who is a professor of economics and computer science at Northwestern University. His research focuses on the economics of networks. He was named the winner of the 2020 biannual Calvó-Armengol International Prize, which recognizes a “top researcher in [e]conomics or social sciences younger than 40 years old for contributions to the theory and comprehension of the mechanisms of social interaction.”

Career

Golub received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the California Institute of Technology in 2007. He received his PhD in economics from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2012. From 2013 to 2015, he was a Junior Fellow at Harvard Society of Fellows, and then a faculty member at the Harvard University Department of Economics, as an assistant professor from 2015 to 2019, and then as an associate professor. He is now a professor in the departments of Economics and Computer Science at Northwestern University, where he has been since 2021.

Golub received the Calvó-Armengol International Prize in a ceremony in Andorra in November 2021.

In 2025, Golub cofounded Refine Technologies, Inc., a company that develops AI tools for providing structural feedback on academic research papers, with Yann Calvó López; he serves as its Chief Scientist.

Research

Golub's research focuses on social and economic networks. He has been recognized for his contributions to the study of social learning, particularly the DeGroot model. Golub's studies highlight the importance of network structure for the quality of learning, and how homophily in social networks causes polarization of opinions. He has also done research on contagion of failure in financial networks.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Golub, Benjamin (2011). Essays on economic networks (PDF) (PhD). Stanford. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 "6th Calvó-Armengol Prize to be awarded to Benjamin Golub". Barcelona School of Economics. 4 November 2019.
  3. ↑ "Calvó-Armengol International Prize in Economics". Barcelona School of Economics. 5 July 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Benjamin Golub". bengolub.net. Retrieved 11 November 2021.[dead link]
  5. ↑ "Current & Former Junior Fellows: Listed by Term". Harvard University Society of Fellows. Archived from the original on 2018-07-30. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  6. ↑ "New Faculty Members: Department of Economics - Northwestern University". economics.northwestern.edu. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  7. ↑ "Benjamin Golub rep el premi Calvó Armengol". Diari d'Andorra. 8 November 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  8. ↑ "El guanyador del Calvó-Armengol demana més capacitat d'anticipació davant dels problemes d'abastiment provocats per la pandèmia". ANA Economia. 8 November 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  9. ↑ "Team". Refine. Retrieved 22 April 2026.
  10. ↑ Cochrane, John H. (24 February 2026). "Refine". The Grumpy Economist. Retrieved 22 April 2026.
  11. ↑ "El doctor en Economia Benjamin Golub rep el 6è Premi Internacional Calvó Armengol". Govern d'Andorra. 8 November 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  12. ↑ Golub, Benjamin & Matthew O. Jackson 2010. "Naïve Learning in Social Networks and the Wisdom of Crowds," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 112-49, February.
  13. ↑ Golub, Benjamin; Jackson, Matthew O. (2012-07-26). "How Homophily Affects the Speed of Learning and Best-Response Dynamics". The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 127 (3). Oxford University Press (OUP): 1287–1338. doi:10.1093/qje/qjs021. ISSN 0033-5533.
  14. ↑ Elliott, Golub, and Jackson (2014). "Financial Networks and Contagion" (PDF). American Economic Review. 104 (10): 3115–53. doi:10.1257/aer.104.10.3115.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)