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Craig Tutterow

Social Science Research

 Welcome. I recently graduated with a PhD from the Department of Organizations & Markets at the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. I am currently a postdoctoral researcher in Google's PiLab.
Website: socilab.com

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Expertise

  • Network Analysis
  • Economic Sociology
  • University Teaching
  • Data Collection/Analysis
  • Web Development
  • Data Visualization

Professional Experience

Postdoctoral Researcher

Google PiLab 2015-

Education

Ph.D. in Organizations & Markets

Booth School of Business 2015
Dissertation: Essays on Resource Allocation Across and Within Firms in Mediated MarketsCommittee: James Evans, Amanda Sharkey, Ronald Burt, Andrew Abbott

M.A. in Sociology

University of Chicago2008-2010

B.A. in Sociology

Haverford College2003-2007

Research Interests

Mediated markets

Social structure of information exchange

History of economic institutions

Computing Skills

Python (scipy, numpy, networkx, beautifulsoup)

R (network, sna, igraph)

UCINET

Javascript

d3.js

Stata

HTML

Amazon Web Services Stack

I also dabble a bit in hardware

Teaching Assistance

Strategic Leadership

Chris Rider, AXP/EXP2014
Ronald Burt, XP/EMBA2012-2013
Christopher Yenkey, MBA2012

Strategy and Structure

Elizabeth Pontikes, MBA/EMBA2010-2011

Publications

Reconciling the Small Effect of Rankings on University Performance with the Transformational Cost of Conformity (with James Evans)

forthcoming, Research in the Sociology of Organizations. Eds.: Elizabeth Popp-Berman, Catherine Paradeise2016

Much literature has estimated the influence of rank on performance, and the effect is small (e.g., 1 rank position <= 1% more applicants/students), short-lived, and comparable to that in many other institutional domains. This estimation exercise, however, understates the much larger effect of metrification on the institutional structure, strategy, behavior and quality of research outputs associated with higher education. We explore one mechanism through which rankings create an uncertainty feedback loop for schools and students, and expands the market for the consulting professions that mitigate it. [code]

Working Papers

Complying with Commensuration: How Centralized Evaluation Shapes Resource Allocation in U.S. Higher Education

Structural Authority and Market Distortion: A Comparison of Mediated Markets Represented as Network Structures

I develop simulations comparing the impact of intermediary structure on the accuracy and heterogeneity of consumer opinion in mediated markets. In particular, I show that "opinion aggregators" tend to perform better than expert critics except in situations where experts have an extremely large comparative advantage in the accuracy of their quality estimates.

Cooptation and Bureaucratization in the Early 20th Century US Railroad Industry

A second-wave of bureaucratization occurred in the early 20th century US railroads following public accounting reform, when CPAs and the ICC centralized the market for audited financial reports. Because new clerks were providing financial information to external constituents rather than costing information to managers, they produced no discernable gains to operating efficiency. However, clerk hiring did correspond to greater levels of capital investment, as financiers sought better information to aid their efforts to consolidate the industry.

Conference Presentations

Complying with Commensuration: Systemic Effects of Rankings on Student and Administrative Behavior in U.S. Higher Education

ASA, Chicago, IL2015

Structural Authority and Market Distortion: A Comparison of Mediated Markets Represented as Network Structures

AOM, Philadelphia, PA; ASA, San Francisco, CA 2014

Changing the Nature of the Firm: Accounting Reform and Bureaucratization in the Early 20th Century US Railroads.

SSHA, Chicago, IL2013

Commensuration and Status Dispersion: How College Rankings Modify the Ecology of Matriculation Decisions.

SASE, Boston, MA2012

The Insider Problem: Measuring Information Access in Social Networks.

ASA, Las Vegas, NV2011

Accounting Reform and Bureaucratization in the Early 20th Century Railroad Industry.

SASE, Philadelphia, PA2009

Awards

Graduate Fellowship

University of Chicago, Booth2010-

Student Paper Award

SASE2010

Social Sciences Division Fellowship

University of Chicago2008-2010

Service

Webmaster

ASA Econ. Sociology Section2011-2014

Book Review Board

American Journal of Sociology2010-2012

Coordinator, MMC Workshop

University of Chicago CAS2009-2012

Memberships

American Sociological Association

Academy of Management

SASE

Social Science History Association

Web-based social network analysis

image description

I developed a web tool to visualize and analyze a user's LinkedIn network. It is used at a number of schools for live, in-class tutorials on network analysis (including Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, University of Texas, London Business School and others). It uses javascript and the LinkedIn API to calculate a number of relevant social network metrics, and draws on the d3js library to generate a dynamic network graph of the user's contacts colored by industry.

Historical Statistics on the Railroads

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I digitized large time-series, panel and cross-sectional datasets on the financials and labor force of the late 19th/early 20th century US railroads with the help of some friends.

Personal Information

Address Tech Corners

 815 11th Avenue

 Sunnyvale, CA 94089

Contact Me

Email craig.tutterow[at]gmail

Website socilab.com