The Interplay of Economic Thinking and Language Models: Vignettes and Lessons

Speaker: Haifeng Xu (University of Chicago)

Time: 17:00 - 18:00 UTC 18th December 2025

Abstract: Although large language models (LLMs) have achieved remarkable technological successes, their effective application in economic domains—critical for realising their broader promise across society and markets—remains largely underexplored. This talk led by Haifeng Xu presents recent research efforts at bridging economic thinking and LLMs, with concrete instantiations in areas such as mechanism design, information design, and forecasting. A central theme of the talk is to illustrate how this emerging technology gives rise to genuinely new research questions even in foundational economic problems. The hope is that explorations along this line will help move LLM research towards realising its true economic impact in the real world.

Bio: Haifeng Xu is an assistant professor in computer science and data science at the University of Chicago, and directs the Strategic IntelliGence for Machine Agents (SIGMA) research lab which focuses on multi-agent AI and data-driven decision making. His works have been recognised by a few major awards including AI2050 Early Career Fellow, IJCAI Early Career Spotlight, a Best Paper at the Web Conference and a Best Student Paper at AAMAS. Haifeng publishes regularly at leading venues in machine learning and computational economics, and serves as area chair or senior program committee for venues such as ICML, NeurIPS, EC, AAAI, and beyond.