Job market candidate
BA, MPhil (University of Cambridge)
Year of entry: 2023
I’m a PhD student in Economics at the University of Cambridge, supervised by Christos Genakos, Michael Pollitt and Kamiar Mohaddes. My research interests are in applied microeconomics, with a focus on questions related to competition, IO and healthcare. Broadly speaking, I am interested in understanding how competition works in the economy and whether government policy can improve the functioning of markets.
Research
Research topic
Empirical Effects of Competition Policies
Research interests
Applied economics; competition economics; industrial organisation; health economics.
Pathway
Supervisor
Biography
Rhys’ current research projects study the underlying causes of the gluten-free price premium; the effect of quality ratings on consumer behaviour in the healthcare sector; and the economic implications of resale price maintenance agreements, using the case of the books market. Previous work has investigated the effects of price match guarantees on prices, finding pro-competitive effects; and the effect of fixed book prices across Europe.
During Rhys’ PhD, he has supervised and acted as a teaching assistant on a number of courses at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, covering courses including Microeconomics and Industrial Organisation. He regularly receives high feedback scores on his teaching and has received a departmental award for exceptional teaching quality. He has also supervised a number of undergraduate dissertations. Prior to starting the PhD, Rhys worked at London Economics, an economics consultancy firm for 5 years, advising the EU, UK Government and other organisations on matters of public policy.
Publications and papers
Journal articles
- Williams, R.J. (2024) “Empirical effects of resale price maintenance: evidence from fixed book price policies in Europe.” Journal of Competition Law and Economics, 20(1-2): 108-136 (DOI: 10.1093/joclec/nhae004)
- Williams, R.J. (2022) “The effect of casual teaching on student satisfaction: evidence from the UK.” Education Economics, 30(1): 91-111 (DOI: 10.1080/09645292.2021.1958168)
- Mohaddes, K. and Williams, R.J. (2020) “The adaptive investment effect: evidence from Chinese provinces.” Economics Letters, 193: 109332 (DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2020.109332)
Blog posts
- LearnEconomicsOnline.com: Economic thoughts and essays
- Williams, R. (2020) “An unintended consequence of staff casualisation: the effect on student satisfaction.” The HEPI Blog, 17 July 2020
News and insights
Governance, economics and policy
How fixed book pricing can benefit consumers and the economy
Europe-wide research by Rhys Williams, a PhD candidate at Cambridge Judge, finds that countries with fixed book price policies see higher sales with no effect on the average price of books.
An essay on how musician Jay-Z learned from failure wins inaugural King’s Entrepreneurship Lab Essay Competition for Sixth Form students, which has several connections to Cambridge Judge Business School.
An inaugural Entrepreneurship Essay Competition aims to encourage UK Sixth Form students to pursue entrepreneurial aspirations. The initiative is organised by the Entrepreneurship Lab at King’s College, Cambridge, which was founded by 2 faculty members at Cambridge Judge Business School.
Media coverage
Times Literary Supplement (TLS) | 21 June 2024
The price isn’t right
A recent study by PhD Candidate Rhys J Williams is quoted in an article about fixed book price policies in the UK.