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FLORIAN M. BIERMANN
[email protected]
Homepage
March 2015
Current position: Assistant Professor, International School of Economics at Tbilisi State
University (ISET)
Office address: 16, Zandukeli Street, Tbilisi 0108, Republic of Georgia, Room 6.8
Tel: +995 (32) 50 71 77, then wait for the voice and dial 218
Citizenship: Germany
Research interests: Game Theory, Mathematical Economics, Microeconomic Theory
Dissertation: Title: “Dynamics of Decentralized Matching Markets – Model and Applications”
The Ph.D. degree was awarded by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, in April 2012
Committee: Professor Eyal Winter (primary supervisor), Professor Bezalel Peleg (secondary
supervisor)
Higher education:
2001 BA (Vordiplom), Economics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
2005 MA (Diplom), Economics, Freie Universität Berlin
2005-2006 Member of the EBIM Research and Training Group, Institute of Mathematical
Economics/Bielefeld University
2012: Ph.D., Game Theory, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
References:
Eyal Winter
Professor of Economics
Center for Rationality (Director)
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
[email protected]
Sanjit Dhami
Professor of Economics
Department of Economics
University of Leicester
[email protected]
Avner Shaked
Professor of Economics (emeritus)
Department of Economics
University of Bonn
[email protected]
Bruce Boghosian
Professor of Mathematics
Department of Mathematics
Tufts University
[email protected]
Teaching experience:
As assistant professor at ISET (each course had 14 sessions of 90 minutes length):
Courses for first-year students:
1) Decision theory and theory of the consumer (Micro I) – taught twice
2) General and partial equilibrium and welfare properties of markets (Micro III) – taught
twice
3) Market Failure (Micro V) – taught three times
4) Introductory finance – taught three times
Courses for second-year students:
1) Topics in Game Theory – taught four times
2) Discrete Mathematical Finance
The microeconomics courses are based on the textbooks “Microeconomic Theory” by MasColell et al. (1995) and “Advanced Microeconomic Theory” by Jehle and Reny (2011). The
“Discrete Mathematical Finance” course is based on “Introduction to Mathematical Finance:
Discrete Time Models” by Pliska (1997). The other courses are based on different books and
own material.
Other teaching experience:
2005 as a teaching assistant at Bielefeld University: Seminar on Experimental Economics
2006 as a teaching assistant at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Linear Algebra for
Economists
Completed academic papers:
1) Biermann, F. M., Naroditskiy, V., Polukarov, M., Nguyen, T.-D., Rogers, A. and
Jennings N. R. (2014), “Task Assignment with Autonomous and Controlled
Agents”, Mathematical Social Sciences 71, 116-121 (LINK). A video lecture of the
presentation of this paper is available at Youtube (LINK).
2) Biermann, F. M. and Potente, S. (2011), “The Deployment of Conditional
Probability Distributions for Death Time Estimation”, Forensic Science
International 210, Issues 1-3, 82-86 (LINK)
3) Biermann, F. M. (A Measure to compare Matchings in Marriage Markets (LINK).
This article was awarded the Jacques Nass Prize for Excellence in Political
Economy Research of the Hebrew University (endowed with NIS 40000 / approx.
$12000)
Work in progress:
1) Friendship Markets (results were presented at Bar-Ilan University in December
2014 – full-blown paper expected in February 2015). Joint work with Nikoloz
Pkhakadze and Saba Devdariani.
2) How does information about prices affect smallholder contracting? (Idea of this
paper was presented to an academic audience at ISET in July 2014 – full-blown
paper expected until July 2015). Joint work with Adam Pellillo.
3) Experimental testing of the predictions made by the dynamic model of matching
markets in Florian Biermann’s Ph.D. thesis. A pilot experiment was conducted in
2013. Joint work with James Tremewan.
4) The Organizational Matching Game (draft paper exists but central result still
missing)
Non-academic research:
1) 2014: Lead researcher of the project “Vocational training for job seekers in
Georgia: Technical assistance for the Ministry of Labor, Health, and Social Affairs”,
commissioned by The World Bank (LINK).
2) 2013: Lead researcher of the study “Assessing the Fiscal Impact of the Proposed
Local-Self Government Reform in Georgia” (jointly with Nino Doghonadze, Giorgi
Kelbakiani, and Eric Livny), commissioned by USAID/MSI (LINK)
3) 2013: Lead researcher of the report “Trade Relations of Georgia” (jointly with
Lasha Labadze and Giorgi Mekerishvili), commissioned by the Business
Association of Georgia (BAG)
Media articles (selection out of about 50 authored or coauthored media articles that were
published in Georgian newspapers since September 2011):
1) Georgia’s New Immigration Law: Many Losers and No Winners (with Eric
Livny/published in Georgia Today) (LINK)
2) The New Prescription Rules: Repeating Western Mistakes (with Saba
Devdariani/published in The Financial) (LINK)
3) The Roots of the Georgian Mining Industry (published in Georgia Today) (LINK)
4) Tbilisi – A City for Cars, not for People (published in The Financial) (LINK)
5) The Voluntariness Mantra Refuted (published in The Financial) (LINK)
6) Georgian Decency as a Competitive Advantage (LINK)
7) Why Nations Fail (book review/published in Georgia Today) (LINK)
8) David the Economist (coauthored with Maka Chitanava and published in Georgia
Today) (LINK)
9) Can Georgia escape the biggest Ponzi Scheme on Earth? (with Givi
Melkadze/published in Georgia Today) (LINK)
10) Erekle II. – The Tragedy of an Enlightened King (with Maka Chitanava/published in
The Financial) (LINK)
11) Pawnshop Mentality (with Maya Grigolia/published in The Financial) (LINK)
Presentations (conferences and departments):
Armenia: Yerevan (conference, multiple times), Austria: Vienna (conference) Azerbaijan:
Baku State U., Georgia: Tbilisi (ISET, multiple times), France: Paris (conference), Germany:
RWTH Aachen, Bielefeld U. (multiple times), Siegen U., Israel: Hebrew U. (multiple times), Tel
Aviv U., U Haifa, Bar-Ilan U., The Netherlands: Maastricht U., Poland: Sczeczin (conference),
Spain: Barcelona (conference), Sweden: Stockholm (conference), United Kingdom: Leicester
U., Southampton U.
Languages:
German, English, conversational Hebrew
Abstracts of academic papers:
A Measure of Instability for Matchings in Marriage Markets
This article was awarded the Jacques Nass Prize for Excellence in Political Economy Research
of the Hebrew University (endowed with NIS 40000 / approx. $12000).
Abstract: In marriage markets (two-sided one-to-one matching problems) the number of
blocking pairs which exist against a matching is often used as a measure of instability. We
argue that in many cases this measure is economically implausible. To fix the problem, we
state two axioms which should be fulfilled by sets of blocking pairs whose cardinalities are
taken as measures of instability. We offer economic interpretations both of these axioms
and of the corresponding sets. Furthermore, we show how to compute these sets and prove
some properties which are relevant for a workable measure of instability.
Task Assignment with Autonomous and Controlled Agents (joint work with Victor
Naroditskiy, Maria Polukarov, Alex Rogers, Nicholas R. Jennings) – Mathematical Social
Sciences 71, 2014, Pages 116-121
Abstract: We analyse assignment problems in which not all agents are controlled by the
central planner. The autonomous agents search for vacant tasks guided by their own
preference orders defined over subsets of the available tasks. The goal of the central planner
is to maximise the total value of the assignment, taking into account the behaviour of the
uncontrolled agents. This setting can be found in numerous real-world situations, ranging
from organisational economics to "crowdsourcing" and disaster response. We introduce the
Disjunctively Constrained Knapsack Game and show that its unique Nash equilibrium reveals
the optimal assignment for the controlled agents. This result allows us to find the solution of
the problem using mathematical programming techniques.
The Deployment of Conditional Probability Distributions for Death Time Estimation (joint
work with S. Potente) – Forensic Science International, Volume 210, Issues 1-3, 2011, Pages
82-86
Abstract: The temperature based algorithm known as the Nomogram Method for the
determination of a 95.45% death-time interval can be combined with non-temperature
based (NTB) findings in the so called Compound Method (CM). The impact of such
integration on the probability yielded by the resulting interval has however neither been
described nor exploited. In fact the interval after integration of NTB findings rarely yields
95.45% probability. We present a technique, based on the conditional probability
distribution that can be calculated if the NTB findings are taken into account, which ensures
the probability inside the interval to be 95.45%. The technique was successfully applied to a
set of 53 cases published by Henssge et al. (2000) and led to a reduction of the interval width
up to more than 15% compared to the CM interval, whereas in other cases the interval
length increased in width due to probability content of the CM intervals below 95.45%. A
spreadsheet file in which the method proposed in this paper is implemented can be
obtained upon email request from the author S. Potente.
The Organizational Matching Game
Abstract: In an organization, an employee who loses his function ususally does not get fired
right away but instead is granted a time window to find another position within the
organization. This paper explores strategic issues which are relevant for the employee in that
situation. If the worker's successful application for a new position sets free another
employee, a sequence of job-changes of different players may be the consequence. This
dynamic is modeled here as an extensive form game with matching theory in the
background. The game is proved to have a unique subgame perfect equilibrium which can be
characterized by the property that every employee moves at most one time, a result which
allows for an economic interpretation.