Hal Ronald Varian (born March 18, 1947, in

Wooster, Ohio Wooster ( ) is a city in Wayne County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Ohio, the city lies approximately south-southwest of Cleveland, southwest of Akron and west of Canton. The population was 27,232 at the ...

) is chief economist at

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

and holds the title of emeritus professor at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

where he was founding dean of the School of Information. Varian is an economist specializing in

microeconomics Microeconomics is a branch of economics that studies the behavior of individuals and Theory of the firm, firms in making decisions regarding the allocation of scarcity, scarce resources and the interactions among these individuals and firms. M ...

and information economics. Varian joined Google in 2002 as its chief economist. He played a key role in the development of Google's advertising model and data analysis practices.

Early life

Hal Varian was born on March 18, 1947, in

. He received his B.S. from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

in economics in 1969 and both his M.A. in mathematics and Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1973.

Career

Varian taught at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, the University of Siena and other universities around the world. He has two honorary doctorates, from the University of Oulu,

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

in 2002, and a Dr. h. c. from the

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; ) is both a German public research university in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, and a research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 when the University of Karlsruhe (), founde ...

(KIT), Germany, awarded in 2006. He is emeritus professor at the

, where he was founding dean of the School of Information. Varian joined Google in 2002 as chief economist, and has worked on the design of advertising auctions, econometrics, finance, corporate strategy, and public policy. Varian is the author of two bestselling textbooks: ''Intermediate Microeconomics'', an undergraduate microeconomics text, and ''Microeconomic Analysis'', an advanced text aimed primarily at first-year graduate students in economics. Together with

Carl Shapiro Carl Shapiro (born March 20, 1955) is an American economist and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business. He is the co-author, along with Hal Varian of ''Information Rules, Information Rules: A Strategic Guide ...

, he co-authored ''Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy'' and ''The Economics of Information Technology: An Introduction''. According to the Open Syllabus Project, Varian is the fourth most frequently cited author on college syllabi for economics courses. In September 2023, Varian was called to testify in the '' United States v. Google'' lawsuit by the Department of Justice on a memo he wrote in 2003: "Thoughts on Google v Microsoft." with the subject "We should be careful about what we say in both public and private". The DOJ also brought up memos where Varian instructed Google employees to avoid the use of language such as "market share," "scale," "network effects," "leverage," "lock up," "lock in," "bundle," and "tie.", to avoid Google from being perceived as being a monopoly and to avoid scrutiny from antitrust watchdogs.

Personal life

Varian is married and has one child, Christopher Max Varian.Curriculum vitae
(PDF; 122 kB), o
berkeley.edu

References

External links

Hal Varian's Website

Position Auctions
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Varian, Hal 1947 births Living people People from Wooster, Ohio Haas School of Business faculty Google employees Microeconomists 20th-century American economists 21st-century American economists Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty University of Michigan faculty Stanford University faculty Fellows of the Econometric Society MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences alumni UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Distinguished fellows of the American Economic Association Economists from Ohio University of California, Berkeley School of Information faculty Fair division researchers

Early life

Career

Personal life

See also

References

External links