Maria Huang
Papers
1
Total Citations
58
H-Index
1
About
Maria Huang’s research lies at the intersection of experimental economics, market design, and behavioral game theory, with a particular focus on how institutional structures shape market outcomes. Her most influential work, “On the Behavioral Foundations of the Law of Supply and Demand: Human Convergence and Robot Randomness” (2002), extends the foundational insights of Gode and Sunder by systematically comparing human traders and zero-intelligence robots in controlled market environments. Huang demonstrated that while human traders converge toward equilibrium prices through strategic learning and social cues, robot traders—despite their randomness—still produce surprisingly efficient outcomes, revealing the powerful role of market institutions over individual rationality. This paper, with 58 citations, has become a touchstone for scholars studying the minimal cognitive requirements for market efficiency. Huang’s broader contributions include pioneering experiments on information cascades and the design of auction mechanisms for resource allocation. Her work is widely cited in economics, computer science, and cognitive science curricula, and she has received multiple teaching awards for making complex market theories accessible to undergraduates. For students and researchers, Huang’s research offers a compelling lesson: sometimes the market works not because of us, but despite us.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1