Research Interests

My research studies how technology, governance, and market structure affect strategic interactions between firms, affect incentives to innovate, and shape market outcomes. Most of my research settings are industries characterized by two-sided markets, including cable TV, credit cards, Internet, newspapers, telecommunications, and other technology-focused industries. My current research focuses on the effect of AI, robots, and other types of automation on firm strategy, productivity, and labor market outcomes.

Peer Reviewed Publications

• Robert Seamans. 2012. Fighting City Hall: Entry Deterrence and Technology Deployment in the Cable TV Industry. Management Science. 58(3): 461-475. [Lead Article]

• Aaron Chatterji and Robert Seamans. 2012. Entrepreneurship, Credit Cards and Race. Journal of Financial Economics. 106(1): 182-195.

• Robert Seamans. 2013. Threat of Entry, Asymmetric Information and Pricing. Strategic Management Journal. 34(4): 426-444.

• Robert Seamans and Feng Zhu. 2014. Responses to Entry in Multi-Sided Markets: The Impact of Craigslist on Local Newspapers. Management Science. 60(2): 476-493.

• Alicia Robb and Robert Seamans. 2014. The Role of R&D in Entrepreneurial Finance. Advances in Strategic Management (Special Issue on Finance and Strategy). 31: 341-373.

• Victor Bennett, Robert Seamans and Feng Zhu. 2015. Cannibalization and Option Value Effects of Secondary Markets: Evidence from the US Concert Industry. Strategic Management Journal. 36(11): 1599-1614. [Lead Article].

• Jason Chan, Anindya Ghose and Robert Seamans. 2016. Internet and Hate Crime: Offline Spillovers from Online Access. MIS Quarterly. 4(2): 381-403.

• Robert Seamans and Feng Zhu. 2017.  Repositioning and Cost Cutting: The Impact of Competition on Platform Strategies. Strategy Science. 2(2): 83-99. [Lead Article].

• Geraldo Cerqueiro, Deepak Hegde, María Fabiana Penas and Robert Seamans. 2017. Debtor Rights, Credit Supply, and Innovation. Management Science. 63(10): 3311–3327

• Timothy Bates, William Bradford and Robert Seamans. Forthcoming. Minority Entrepreneurship in Twenty-First Century America. Small Business Economics. (Accepted May 2017)

• Yongwook Paik, Sukhun and Robert Seamans. Forthcoming. Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Political Competition: How the Public Sector Helps the Sharing Economy Create Value. Strategic Management Journal. (Accepted January 2018)

• Geraldo Cerqueiro, M. Fabiana Penas and Robert Seamans. Forthcoming. Debtor Protection and Business Dynamism. Journal of Law and Economics. (Accepted April 2019)

  Selected press for published papers:
  ABC, Ars Technica, The Atlantic, Boston Globe, CBS, Daily Beast, Economic Times, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, MSN, The Nation, The New York Times, TheStreet.com, Wall Street Journal, others.

Other Writing

• Samuel Himel and Robert Seamans. 2017. Artificial Intelligence, Incentives to Innovate, and Competition Policy. Antitrust Chronicle. Fall 2017 Vol 1(3).

• Manav Raj and Robert Seamans. 2018. AI, Labor, Productivity, and the Need for Firm-Level Data. In The Economics of Artificial Intelligence, eds. Ajay Agrawal, Joshua S. Gans and Avi Goldfarb, University of Chicago Press: Chicago. Forthcoming.

• Jason Furman and Robert Seamans. 2018. AI and the Economy. In Innovation Policy and the Economy, eds. Josh Lerner and Scott Stern, NBER. Forthcoming

• Ed Felten, Manav Raj and Robert Seamans. 2018. A Method to Link Advances in Artificial Intelligence to Occupational Abilities. American Economic Association Papers & Proceedings

• Jason Furman and Robert Seamans. 2019. AI and the Economy. NBER Innovation Policy and the Economy.
• Manav Raj and Robert Seamans. 2019. Primer on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. Journal of Organizational Design.
• Manav Raj and Robert Seamans. 2019. Automation. Oxford Bibliographies in Management

Popular Media

“We Won’t Even Know If A Robot Takes Your Job” – Forbes, January 11, 2017

“No, Robots Not Be Taxed” – Forbes, March 3, 2017

“Immigrants Can Help Boost American Innovation and Economic Growth” (with Petra Moser) – Forbes, April 25, 2017

“Universal Basic Income Is Not An Innovation Policy” – Forbes, June 6, 2017

“Artificial Intelligence And Big Data: Good For Innovation?” Forbes, September 7, 2017

“Trump’s Focus On Rural Broadband Should Include Community-Owned Networks” Forbes, January 9, 2018

Data Portability And Competition Between Technology Platforms (with Sam Himel). Forbes, March 6, 2018

Artificial Intelligence is on the March. But is Government Ready? Forbes, September 5, 2018

The Competitive Landscape of AI Startups (with James Kosuth). Harvard Business Review, December 21, 2018

Trump’s American AI Initiative Missed An Opportunity To Address Immigration And Data Collection. Forbes, February 12, 2019

A Primer on Regulating Big Tech. Forbes, June 12, 2019

The ACCESS Act Promises to Benefit Consumers. Forbes, October 22, 2019.

Will AI Stimulate The Cooling Economy? Not Any Time Soon. Forbes, October 30, 2019.

The Complicated Relationship between Robots and Workers. Forbes, January 13, 2020.

Stimulus Funds Should Be Delivered Via Mobile Payments. Forbes, April 3, 2020.

Three Policies to Address the Digital Divide. Forbes, May 7, 2020.