Philip Trammell
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ABOUT ME
I am a postdoc at Stanford University's Digital Economy Lab, working with Erik Brynjolfsson and Chad Jones on questions related to economic growth and AI. I have also done work on decision theory and the game theory of public good provision. My doctorate is from Oxford, where I did the MPhil and won the prize for best thesis, and I have undergraduate degrees in economics and mathematics from Brown, where I also won the prize for best econ thesis. When I'm not trying to be productive, I sometimes find myself writing, long-distance cycling, or oversleeping. (CV)
CONTACT
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RECENT DOINGS
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Global Priorities Institute (University of Oxford)
· Doing research in microeconomic theory and growth theory intended to be decision-relevant for those trying to do the most good
· Designed and taught a course in the summers of 2022 and 2023 on Topics in Economic Theory and Global Prioritization (“ETGP”). Course materials, feedback, and other information can be found here
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Patient Philanthropy Fund (Founders Pledge)
· On the management committee of a new fund, inspired by my research, that aims to invest for a long time and then support longtermist philanthropic projects in the future
· Featured in Vox
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Fama-Miller Center for Research in Finance (Chicago Booth)
· Analyzed data for research projects on credit ratings and impact investing
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Banter
· Designed and built Banter, a web platform for understanding political controversies
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NERA
· Performed data analysis central to large financial litigation cases –
primarily the Citibank ISDAFix rate manipulation case, since settled for $250MM
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Attended Brown University
· Magna cum laude (top 20% of class)
· Senior thesis won award for best economics senior thesis
· Worked as a research assistant for several professors, including David Weil, Jesse Shapiro, and Glenn Loury.
At least some of them love me now
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Some other things I've done
· Designed a font, which apparently got over forty thousand downloads at some point
· Biked from New York to Providence (193 miles) in one day
· Pledged to spend only up to a certain cap each year on my own consumption, and give away the rest as effectively as I can [+]
I pledge to consume a maximum of $30,000 per year, plus inflation since September 2017 and 50% of a cost-of-living adjustment between Chicago (where I was in September 2017) and my current place of residence. Following US inflation as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the MIT county-level living wage calculator, my budget for Oct 2024 – Sep 2025 is $45,367. Educational, extraordinary medical, and moderate work-related expenses do not count toward this maximum. I am also fortunate to have inherited savings which, on growing 2% per year, would cover a retirement at inflation-adjusted $30,000 per year. In the event of higher returns, the excess is donated; in the event of lower returns, donations slow until the gap is filled. Anything remaining after my death will be donated. |
ABOUT ME
I am a postdoc at Stanford University’s Digital Economy Lab, working with Erik Brynjolfsson and Chad Jones on questions related to economic growth and AI. I have also done work on decision theory and the game theory of public good provision. My doctorate is from Oxford, where I did the MPhil and won the prize for best thesis, and I have undergraduate degrees in economics and mathematics from Brown, where I also won the prize for best econ thesis. When I’m not trying to be productive, I sometimes find myself writing, long-distance cycling, or oversleeping. (CV)
CONTACT
pawtrammell@gmail.comLinkedIn · Facebook
Anonymous feedback
RECENT DOINGS
Global Priorities Institute (University of Oxford)
· Doing research in microeconomic theory and growth theory intended to be decision-relevant for those trying to do the most good
· Designed and taught a course in the summers of 2022 and 2023 on Topics in Economic Theory and Global Prioritization (“ETGP”). Course materials, feedback, and other information can be found here
Fama-Miller Center for Research in Finance (Chicago Booth)
· Analyzed data for research projects on credit ratings and impact investing
Banter
· Designed and built Banter, a web platform for understanding political controversies
NERA
· Performed data analysis central to large financial litigation cases –
primarily the Citibank ISDAFix rate manipulation case, since settled for $250MM
Attended Brown University
· Magna cum laude (top 20% of class)
· Senior thesis won award for best economics senior thesis
· Worked as a research assistant for several professors, including David Weil, Jesse Shapiro, and Glenn Loury.
At least some of them love me now
. . .
Some other things I've done
· Designed a font, which apparently got over forty thousand downloads at some point
· Biked from New York to Providence (193 miles) in one day
· Pledged to spend only up to a certain cap each year on my own consumption, and give away the rest as effectively as I can [+]
I pledge to consume a maximum of $30,000 per year, plus inflation since September 2017 and 50% of a cost-of-living adjustment between Chicago (where I was in September 2017) and my current place of residence. Following US inflation as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the MIT county-level living wage calculator, my budget for Oct 2024 – Sep 2025 is $45,367. Educational, extraordinary medical, and moderate work-related expenses do not count toward this maximum. I am also fortunate to have inherited savings which, on growing 2% per year, would cover a retirement at inflation-adjusted $30,000 per year. In the event of higher returns, the excess is donated; in the event of lower returns, donations slow until the gap is filled. Anything remaining after my death will be donated.
I pledge to consume a maximum of $30,000 per year, plus inflation since September 2017 and 50% of a cost-of-living adjustment between Chicago (where I was in September 2017) and my current place of residence. Following US inflation as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the MIT county-level living wage calculator, my budget for Oct 2024 – Sep 2025 is $45,367. Educational, extraordinary medical, and moderate work-related expenses do not count toward this maximum. I am also fortunate to have inherited savings which, on growing 2% per year, would cover a retirement at inflation-adjusted $30,000 per year. In the event of higher returns, the excess is donated; in the event of lower returns, donations slow until the gap is filled. Anything remaining after my death will be donated.
Published papers
Trammell, Philip (2021). “Fixed-point Solutions to the Regress Problem in Normative Uncertainty”. Synthese 198(2): 1177-99. [Link]
Working papers
Economic Growth under Transformative AI (with Anton Korinek) [Working paper (GPI, NBER), Podcast & writeup (Hear This Idea)] – Invited at Annual Review of Economics (for publication in 2026)
Existential Risk and Growth (with Leopold Aschenbrenner) [Link]
Dynamic Public Good Provision under Time Preference Heterogeneity [Link]
Altruism in General Equilibrium [Link]
The Extreme Inefficiency of Expanding Variety in Endogenous Growth Theory [Link]
Papers in progress
Labor, Capital, and Patience in the Optimal Growth of Social Movements (with Nuño Sempere) [Link]
Weak Betweenness and Misleading Information [Link]
New Products and Long-term Welfare [Link]
Other
Normative Uncertainty, Normalization, and the Normal Distribution [Link]
Simplifying Cluelessness [Link]
Some informal thoughts
about economics, philosophy, effective altruism, and other stuff I know less about than I think I do
about economics, philosophy, effective altruism, and other stuff I know less about than I think I do
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