Leslie M. Marx - Duke University

Leslie M. Marx, a former Chief Economist at the U.S. Federal Communication Commission, she is William and Sue Gross Research Fellow and Professor of Economics at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

Professor Marx received her undergraduate degree in Mathematics from Duke University in 1989 and her Ph.D. in Economics from Northwestern University in 1994. She has been on the faculty at Duke since 2002, with the exception of 2005—2006, when she served as Chief Economist for the U.S. Federal Communications Commission in Washington, DC. Professor Marx’s research focuses on the problem of anti-competitive behavior by individuals and firms, including collusion and anti-competitive contract provisions. This research improves our ability to detect collusion, teaches us how auctions and other markets can be made less susceptible to collusion, and guides antitrust authorities in understanding what behavior should be viewed as anti-competitive. Her research on auctions has been used in modifying the design of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s spectrum license auctions to make those auctions more robust to collusion. Techniques developed by Marx for evaluating the likelihood of collusion following a merger have been used in arguments before the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Professor Marx’s research has appeared in such publications as American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Political Economy, and Quarterly Journal of Economics. She is currently on the editorial boards for Games and Economic Behavior, International Journal of Game Theory, American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, and Journal of Economic Literature.

Professor Marx was a member of the 1996 U.S. Olympic Fencing Team, finishing 16th in the women’s epee event, and won two gold medals in fencing at the 1995 Pan American Championships. She is currently a volunteer assistant coach for Duke’s Varsity Fencing Team.