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Stephan Seiler
Stephan Seiler
Associate Professor, Marketing
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StephanSeiler
Associate Professor of Marketing
Academic Area: 
Marketing

Research Statement

Professor Stephan Seiler’s research focuses on analyzing consumer choice in various markets. He analyzes issues ranging from the choice of hospital for a bypass operation to the reaction of consumers to promotions on laundry detergent. He is particularly interested in understanding consumer search behavior, i.e., how informed consumers are about prices or other product characteristics when making a purchase decision. Another strand of research analyzes various issues relating to choice and competition in the healthcare sector.

Bio

Professor Seiler received a PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics and joined Stanford GSB in the summer of 2011. From 2008 to 2010 he served as a teaching fellow at the LSE. In this capacity he taught both Microeconomics and Industrial Organization and Competition Policy to graduate students. During his studies he worked at various think tanks such as Deutsche Bank Research. He also served a stint at the Office of Fair Trading, the UK-equivalent of the FTC, analyzing the effects of market power on productivity and innovation. At Stanford he teaches Data and Decisions and Applied Econometrics for Public Policy.

Academic Degrees

  • PhD in Economics, London School of Economics, 2011
  • MSc in Economics, London School of Economics, 2006
  • Diplom-Volkswirt, Albert-Ludwigs Universität Freiburg, 2005

Academic Appointments

  • Assistant Professor of Marketing, Stanford GSB, 2011-present
  • Chicago Booth, Kilts Center for Marketing, Faculty Fellow, April 2014
  • Associate, Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics, 2011-present
  • Visiting Scholar, Institute for Fiscal Studies, London, 2008-2012

Publications

Journal Articles

Cumulative Growth in User-Generated Content Production: Evidence from Wikipedia
Aleksi Aaltonen, Stephan Seiler. Management Science. October 30, 2015, Vol. online.
The Impact of Competition on Management Quality: Evidence from Public Hospitals
Nicholas A. Bloom, Carol Propper, Stephan Seiler, John Van Reenen. The Review of Economic Studies. January 2015, Vol. 82, Issue 2, Pages 457-489.
The Impact of Search Costs on Consumer Behavior: A Dynamic Approach
Stephan Seiler. Quantitative Marketing and Economics. June 2013, Vol. 11, Issue 2, Pages 155-203.

Other Publications

In Defence of our Research on Competition in England's National Health Service
Stephan Seiler, NIcholas Bloom, Zack Cooper, Martin Gaynor, Stephen Gibbons, Simon Jones, Alistair McGuire, Rodrigo Moreno-Serra, Carol Propper, John Van Reenan. The Lancet. Eslevier, 2014, Vol. 378, Issue 9809, Pages 2064-2-65.

Working Papers

Free to Choose? Reform and Demand Response in the British National Health Service | PDF
Martin Gaynor, Carol Propper, Stephan Seiler, December 2015
The Impact of Earned Media on Demand: Evidence from a Natural Experiment | PDF
Stephan Seiler, Song Yao, Wang Wenbo, November 182015
Consumer Search: Evidence from Path-tracking Data | PDF
Fabio Pinna, Stephan Seiler, August 32014

Courses Taught

Degree Courses

2014-15

MKTG 695: Directed Research

This course is designed to prepare new marketing PhD students for conducting rigorous, independent research. In this course, the student will work closely with a faculty member in collaborative research activities and will become familiar with...

OIT 265: Data and Decisions

This is the base version of D&D. This course introduces the fundamental concepts and techniques for analyzing risk and formulating sound decisions in uncertain environments. Approximately half of the course focuses on probability and its...

In the Media

Free to Choose? The Impact of Healthcare Reform
CentrePiece Magazine, June 2013
Why Consumers Don't Always Take Advantage of Sales
GSB News, February 7, 2013
Free to Choose?
VOX, January 13, 2013
Management Practices in the NHS
CentrePiece Discussion Paper, 2010

Insights by Stanford Business

writtenStephan Seiler: Can Hospital Competition Save Lives?
June 9, 2015
Why market forces in healthcare are good for patient care.
writtenWhy Consumers Don't Always Take Advantage of Sales
February 7, 2013
Research from Stanford's Stephan Seiler says time constraints keep supermarket shoppers from finding best prices.

Companies & Organizations

The Difference

Admission