David McAdams, Professor of Business Administration

David McAdams is Professor of Business Administration at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University. He is also Professor of Economics in the Economics Department at Duke. He earned a B.S. in Applied Mathematics at Harvard University, an M.S. in Statistics from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in Business from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Before joining the faculty at Duke, he was Associate Professor of Applied Economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He has also worked as Special Assistant to the Director, Bureau of Economics, Federal Trade Commission.

Professor McAdams' primary research interests are microeconomic theory and game theory, with a special focus on strategic interactions between buyers and sellers, including auctions, pricing, negotiations, and relationships. His work has been published in the leading journals of economics, including Econometrica, American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Economic Theory, and Journal of Econometrics. Currently, he is an associate editor of Journal of Economic Literature, International Journal of Industrial Organization, and International Journal of Game Theory.

Professor McAdams is author of "Game-Changer: Game Theory and the Art of Transforming Strategic Situations" (W.W. Norton, 2014).

Professor McAdams teaches the economics elective "Game Theory for Strategic Advantage" in the Daytime MBA program at Fuqua, as well as the PhD elective "Market Design I: Auctions" in the Economics Department.

Professor McAdams' consulting work focuses on two areas: (i) “market design / bidding strategy consulting” for those designing or participating in an auction market (e.g. FCC spectrum auctions, electricity procurement auctions, B2B exchanges); and (ii) “game-theory consulting” for firms (from startup to Fortune 50) facing mission-critical strategic challenges or opportunities.

Contact Info:

Office Location:	Fuqua School of Business, Durham, NC 27708
Email Address:
Web Page:	http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/faculty/david-mcadams

Teaching (Spring 2025):

• MGRECON 784.301, ART & APPLICATION GAME THEORY Synopsis

  Fuqua GM, TuF 10:30 AM-12:45 PM

• MGRECON 784.302, ART & APPLICATION GAME THEORY Synopsis

  Fuqua GM, TuF 01:45 PM-04:00 PM

Education:

M.S.

Stanford University

2001

Specialties:

Microeconomic Theory
Microeconomics
Industrial Organization
Game Theory

Research Interests:

Professor McAdams' research interests focus on microeconomic theory and game theory, with a special focus on strategic interactions between buyers and sellers, including auctions, pricing, negotiations, and relationships. His work has been published in the Econometrica, American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Economic Theory, and Journal of Econometrics. Currently, he is an associate editor of the International Journal of Industrial Organization, Review of Economic Design, and Journal of Economic Literature.

Curriculum Vitae  Bio

Recent Publications   (More Publications)

1. Avery, CN; McAdams, D, The economics of epidemics: introduction to the special issue: The economics of epidemics: introduction to the special issue: C. N. Avery, D. Mcadams, Review of Economic Design, vol. 28 no. 4 (December, 2024), pp. 631-637 [doi]
2. McAdams, D; Day, T, The political economy of epidemic management, Review of Economic Design (January, 2024) [doi]  [abs]
3. McAdams, D; Song, Y; Zou, D, Equilibrium social activity during an epidemic, Journal of Economic Theory, vol. 207 (January, 2023) [doi]  [abs]
4. Jackson, MO; Malladi, S; McAdams, D, Learning through the grapevine and the impact of the breadth and depth of social networks., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 119 no. 34 (August, 2022), pp. e2205549119 [doi]  [abs]
5. Day, T; Kennedy, DA; Read, AF; McAdams, D, The economics of managing evolution., PLoS biology, vol. 19 no. 11 (November, 2021), pp. e3001409 [doi]  [abs]