Philip Trammell
|
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
|
|
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
|
|
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
|
|
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. |
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]
Ethical Consumerism [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]
Decentralized Betting under Heterogeneous State-contingent Preferences [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
LOG IN
No account with this username
Username and password do not match
Email me about new posts
CREATE ACCOUNT
Username already taken
To be emailed about new posts,
enter an email address
enter an email address
ME
RESEARCH
BLOG