Mike Luca: The Role Experiments Play in Addressing Discrimination

Experiments are not a new phenomena in tech design. However, tech leaders and managers often delay or outsource decision-making processes that lead to or reinforce discrimination on their platforms. Recent research suggests that experiments may offer new strategies towards understanding and activating managerial practices to better inform choices and policy. In this episode, our hosts Colleen Ammerman and David Homa speak with Professor Mike Luca about the role of design choices on platforms in establishing and/or reinforcing discrimination, how experiments offer insights to managers looking to make better decisions with their data, and what the future could hold if organizations continue to pay attention to these issues. Mike is the Lee J. Styslinger III Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School where his research focuses on online platforms and how data from those platforms can inform managerial and policy decision-making.