Christian Catalini

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Christian Catalini

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Centers & Initiatives

Christian Catalini is the founder of the MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab, and a Research Scientist at the MIT Sloan School.

Christian is a also co-creator of Diem (formerly Libra), and the chief economist of the Diem Association.

Christian was previously the Theodore T. Miller Career Development Professor at MIT, and Associate Professor of Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management at the MIT Sloan School.

Christian's research focuses on blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, and he previously worked on the economics of equity crowdfunding and startup growth, and the economics of scientific collaboration.

He holds a PhD from the University of Toronto (Rotman School of Management), and MSc (summa cum laude) in Economics and Management of New Technologies from Bocconi University, Milan.

His research has been featured in Nature, Science, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, WIRED, NPR, Forbes, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe, VICE news and the Washington Post among others.

Christian has presented his work at a variety of institutions including Harvard University, MIT, Yale University, London Business School, New York University, UC Berkeley, Stanford University, the Federal Reserve Bank, the US Treasury, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the World Bank, the IMF, the White House OSTP, and a number of central banks and regulators.

 

Publications

"Proximate (Co-)Working: Knowledge Spillovers and Social Interactions."

Roche, Maria P., Alexander Oettl, and Christian Catalini. Management Science. Forthcoming.

"Are Stablecoins Winner-take-all?"

Catalini, Christian and Jai Massari. TechREG Chronicle, June 2024.

"Forget Antitrust, Regulate to Let Tech Disrupt Itself."

Catalini, Christian. Forbes, April 2024.

"Is Crypto's Killer App Finally Here?"

Catalini, Christian. Forbes, February 2024.

"Disclosure Rules and Declared Essential Patents."

Bekkers, Rudi, Christian Catalini, Arianna Martinelli, Cesare Righi, and Timothy Simcoe. Research Policy Vol. 52, No. 1 (2023): 104618.

"Do Crypto Prices Actually Mean Anything?"

Catalini, Christian and Jane Wu. Harvard Business Review, January 2023.

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Recent Insights

Ideas Made to Matter

Close proximity is the key to knowledge spillovers among startups

New research from MIT Sloan finds that physical distances within 20 meters lead to more knowledge spillover among startups.

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Ideas Made to Matter

Libra co-creator explains, defends Facebook’s cryptocurrency

MIT Sloan’s Christian Catalini said Facebook will keep financial and social data separate.

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