Ram Shivakumar specializes in industrial organization, financial economics, and corporate strategy. His research has appeared in the Journal of International Economics, the Canadian Journal of Economics, and the Journal of Industrial Economics.
In describing his courses, Shivakumar says, "I try to do four things in my courses. The first is to try to instill a passion & energy in my students for the subject matter. Second, I place a premium on intuition and first principles since these are, for the most part, the only things that students remember long after the course is done. Third, my courses force students to relate the text-book world to the real world, to recognize the limits of text-book models and to be comfortable with moving back and forth from the text-book world to the real-world. And fourth, my courses encourage students to develop the capacity to think both big and small: to obtain a big picture perspective of how industries and markets might evolve and to identify the emerging opportunities but to also carefully think through the micro-challenges that firms must address if they are to become industry leaders."
Shivakumar received a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Madras, India, a master's degree in financial mathematics from the University of Chicago, and a PhD in economics from Indiana University.
Shivakumar is an avid cricket and golf enthusiast and enjoys reading and traveling.
Selected Publications
"Strategic trade policy: Choosing between export subsidies and export quotas under uncertainty," Journal of International Economics (August 1993).
With Andrew C. Brod, "On R&D Cooperation and the Joint Exploitation of R&D," Canadian Journal of Economics (July 1997).
With Andrew C. Brod, "Advantageous Semi-Collusion," Journal of Industrial Economics (September 1999).
For a listing of research publications please visit Ram Shivakumar’s
university library listing page.