David Besanko
IBM Professor of Regulation & Competitive Practices
Professor David Besanko is the IBM Professor of Regulation and Competitive Practice at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Besanko is a Northwestern graduate, having received his Ph.D. in Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences in 1982. He received his BA in Political Science from Ohio University in 1977. Before joining the Kellogg faculty in 1991, Professor Besanko was a member of the faculty of the School of Business at Indiana University from 1982-84 and 1986-1991. In 1985, he was a member of the Economics Staff at Bell Communications Research.
Professor Besanko teaches courses in public economics and infrastructure strategy at the Kellogg School. In 2015, Besanko received the Aspen Institute's Faculty Pioneer Award, sometimes referred to as the Oscars for the business school world. In 2013 he was a finalist for this award. Besanko has received the two most prestigious teaching awards at the Kellogg School---the L.G. Lavengood Professor of the Year Award in 1995, 2010, and 2016, the only three-time winner of this award since its inception in 1975---and the Alumni Choice Teaching Award in 2006. At the Kellogg School, he has also received the Sidney J. Levy Teaching Award (1998, 2000, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2018, 2020, and ), the Chair's Core Teaching Award (1999, 2001, 2003, and 2005), and the Kellogg Impact Award (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021).
Professor Besanko's research covers topics relating to the intersection of competitive strategy and public policy, the economics of regulation, and the theory of the firm. He has published over 50 articles in leading professional journals in economics and business. Among other places, his work has appeared in the American Economic Review, Econometrica, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the RAND Journal of Economics, the Review of Economic Studies, the Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of Economic Theory, and Management Science. Along with Daniel Diermeier and Jose-Miguel Abito, he is co-author of Corporate Reputation and Social Activism, published in 2019. He has co-authored the widely used textbook, Microeconomics, with Ronald Braeutigam, now in its sixth edition. And with David Dranove, Mark Shanley, and Scott Schaefer, Besanko is a co-author of Economics of Strategy.
Professor Besanko served as Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs: Strategy and Planning at the Kellogg School from 2007 to 2009 and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs: Curriculum and Teaching at Kellogg from 2001 to 2003.
- Economics of regulation; industrial economics; competitive strategy
- Public policy economics; microeconomics
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PhD, 1982, Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences, Northwestern University
MS, 1980, Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences, Northwestern University
BA, 1977, Political Science, Ohio University -
IBM Professor of Regulation and Competitive Practice, Strategy, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2015-present
Alvin J. Huss Distinguished Professor of Management and Strategy, Management & Strategy, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1995-2014
Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs: Strategy & Planning, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2007-2009
Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs: Teaching & Curriculum, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2001-2003
Professor of Management and Strategy, Management & Strategy, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1991-1995
Associate Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy, Indiana University, 1988-1991
Assistant Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy, Indiana University, 1982-1988 -
Sidney J Levy Teaching Award, 2022-2023
Finalist for L. G. Lavengood Outstanding Professor of the Year, 2022-2023
Finalist for L.G. Lavengood Outstanding Professor of the Year, 2021-2022
Certificate of Impact Teaching Award (Winter Quarter KPPI 470), 2020-2021
Sidney Levy Teaching Award, 2019-2020
Certificate of Impact Teaching Award (Winter Quarter KPPI 470), 2019-2020
Certificate of Impact Teaching Award (Winter Quarter KPPI 470 both sections), Winter Quarter 2019
Sidney Levy Teaching Award, Kellogg, 2017-2018
Keynote Speaker, 11th Annual Federal Trade Commission, Conference on Microeconomics
Outstanding Alumni Award, Ohio University, Honors Tutorial College
Distinguished Speaker Award, Midwest Academy of Management
Certificate of Impact Teaching Award (Winter Quarter 2018, both sections), Winter Quarter 2018
Faculty Pioneer Award, Aspen Institute
Finalist, Faculty Pioneer Award, Aspen Institute
Certificate of Impact Teaching Award, Kellogg, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2009
Sidney Levy Teaching Award, 2012-2013, 2010-2011, 2008-2009, 1999-2000, 1997-1998
L.G. Lavengood Outstanding Professor of the Year Award, Kellogg School of Management, 2016, 2010, 1995
Faculty Impact Award, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015
Kellogg Alumni Choice Teaching Award, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, 2006
Kellogg Alumni Professor of the Year Award, Kellogg School of Management, 2006
Finalist for L. G. Lavengood Outstanding Professor of the Year Award, Kellogg School of Management, 2009, 2006, 2001, 2000, 1999
Chairs' Core Course Teaching Award, Kellogg School of Management, 2004-2005, 2002-2003, 2000-2001, 1998-1999
Outstanding Young Faculty Award, Indiana University, 1989
MBA Teaching Excellence Award in Economics, Indiana School of Business, 1988, 1987, 1986
Doctoral Students Teaching Excellence Award, Indiana School of Business, 1988
Beta Gamma Sigma, Beta Gamma Sigma International Honor Society, 1982
Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Beta Kappa Society, 1977 -
Editorial Board, Journal of Regulatory Economics, 1989
Editorial Board, Review of Industrial Organization, 2006-present
Referee, Review of Economic Studies, 2021
Referee, Journal of Regulatory Economics, 1990
Referee, Journal of Public Economics, 2018
Referee, RAND Journal of Economics, 2016-2018
Referee, Economics Letters, 2017-2018
Referee, Journal of Economic Theory, 2015
Referee, RAND Journal of Economics, 2015
Ad-hoc Reviewer, International Economic Review
Ad-hoc Reviewer, Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Field Study (STRT-498-0)
Field Studies include those opportunities outside of the regular curriculum in which a student is working with an outside company or non-profit organization to address a real-world business challenge for course credit under the oversight of a faculty member.
Public Economics for Business Leaders: Federal Policy (PACT-470-0)
To be an effective business leader in today's complex world requires an understanding of the important public policy issues facing society. Managers need to understand society's problems and the range of possible public solutions and policies in order to know how to influence, incorporate and respond to public actions. This class will enable students to understand, analyze and take the perspective of government and non-government organizations as they attempt to alleviate societal problems. Topics include the interface of government and business, the justification for and principle methods of government intervention in the market place, the primary means of paying for government, measuring the costs and benefits of government policies, and current policy applications such as social security reform, education policy, health insurance and tax reform.
