Moran Koren

Senior Lecturer (≈ Assistant Professor, US), Dept. of Industrial Engineering & Management and Statistics & Data Analysis Program, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

korenmor@bgu.ac.il  ·  ORCID: 0000-0003-0012-0208

CV (PDF) Publications GitHub Substack

News Lab & Student Updates

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Featured Paper

Title: The Gatekeeper Effect: The Implications of Pre-Screening, Self-Selection, and Bias for Hiring Processes

One-line pitch: Gatekeepers can alter who applies; under common conditions this lowers applicant quality and accuracy — this paper characterizes when, and how to fix it.

Journal (DOI)

Research Profile

My research program operates at the intersection of Microeconomic Theory, Operations Management, and Data Science. I view operational challenges through the lens of rigorous Game Theory — characterizing the strategic incentives of agents, whether they are firms, job seekers, or AI algorithms — to design markets that are efficient, transparent, and robust.

What distinguishes my work is a theory-driven empirical approach. I do not treat theory and data as separate silos; instead, I use economic theory to build the structural framework for analysis, and then employ advanced data science tools — including causal inference, simulations, and randomized control trials — to validate these models against real-world complexities. This allows me to derive managerial insights that are theoretically sound but empirically grounded.

The core goal of my lab is to engineer better systems. We tackle multifaceted problems in areas like hiring and screening processes, organ allocation, and online platforms. This philosophy extends to my teaching, where I apply the principles of mechanism design to create resilient pedagogical solutions.

This interdisciplinary rigor is reflected in my publications, which appear in leading journals across economics (Theoretical Economics, Games and Economic Behavior), operations (Management Science), and top-tier computer science conferences (NeurIPS, ACM EC, ICML).

My research is supported by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF), the Shamir Fellowship, and the Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship. Prior to joining Ben-Gurion University, I held postdoctoral fellowships at Tel Aviv University, Harvard University, and Stanford University. I hold a Ph.D. in Economics from the Technion.

Contact

Email: korenmor@bgu.ac.il
Address: Dept. of Industrial Engineering and Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel

News & Student Updates — BGU Game Theory & Agentic Design Research Group (LinkedIn)

Recent News & Updates

Date Update
Aug 03, 2026 I've joined EconLib, the Axiom-AI-led community working towards the formalization of economic theory in Lean 4. I'm contributing to the effort to formalize auction theory.
Jul 31, 2026 Gave an invited talk — "LLM Based Workflow for Theory" — to the research department at a16z (virtual), on the verification-first workflow behind Theorist Toolbox: external verification, not model capability, is the binding design variable.
Jun 28, 2026 I've joined the organizing committee of Data Science, Operations and Analytics, a new interdisciplinary conference on operations, industrial engineering, and analytics running as part of Mind-IL 2026 on October 26, 2026. The program features keynotes and tutorials by Edieal Pinker (Yale SOM), Assaf Zeevi (Columbia Business School), Yonatan Gur (Netflix), and Mor Armony (NYU Stern), with abstract submissions open through the Mind-IL portal (deadline Aug 26, 2026). Co-organized with Irad Ben Gal, Tal Raviv, and Ran Snitkovsky (TAU). Looking forward to it!
Jun 23, 2026 New preprint out 📄 — "Theorist Toolbox: Tools for Agent-Based LLM-Assisted Economic Theory Research" is now on arXiv (arXiv:2606.22337). By 2026 large language models can produce and check nontrivial mathematics, so the binding constraint on machine-assisted theory is no longer production but trust — a fluent model will prove a false theorem as readily as a true one. I propose a verification-first protocol and three reusable methods that differ only in how the work is checked: a single disciplined pass, an adversarial prover–verifier pair, and a structured multi-agent project with a reviewer gate — worked through on a Groves/Pigouvian incentive mechanism for the Gans–Kominers eigengrade model of grade inflation. The takeaway: external verification, not model capability, is the design variable.
May 13, 2026 Just back from the ORSIS 2026 Annual Meeting at the Technion (my Ph.D. alma mater), where I presented "Batch Offering Under Uncertainty: A Common-Value Stopping Game Model for Organ Allocation" in the Game Theory I session (joint work with Vivian Bar Nir and Yuval Cornfeld). Great to reconnect with the Israeli OR community — and the Haifa tour and dinner by the beach were a fitting close to day one.
Apr 28, 2026 Exciting news — Yuval Peled has been accepted as a Ph.D. candidate in our lab, starting October 2026. Yuval's research focuses on strategic decision-making under competition in common value markets. Looking forward to the journey ahead!
Apr 28, 2026 Congratulations to Bar Hoter and Ohad Kiperman on successfully defending their M.Sc. theses! Bar is now a Data Analyst at Vi, and Ohad is now a Data Scientist at Zefr. Wishing them both continued success in their next chapters.
Apr 28, 2026 Congratulations to lab members on outstanding academic recognition: Oriya Sheetrit, Ohad Kiperman, and Gal Ram received the Dean's Honors for their M.Sc. studies, and Yuval Doron received the Rector's Honors for her M.Sc. studies. A wonderful reflection of the lab's hard work.
Mar 30, 2026 I am happy to share that I have been promoted to Senior Lecturer (Tenure Track) at the Dept. of Industrial Engineering & Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The promotion was retroactively conferred since June 2025.
Dec 16, 2025

I will be co-chairing Mid-Chain 2026 at BGU — an inaugural event connecting academic researchers with industry innovators. We are creating a space to discuss the structural and operational future of the blockchain ecosystem. Stay tuned for updates!

Nov 07, 2025 We're proud to celebrate an exciting achievement in our research group! Bar Hoter has been awarded the KKL Fellowship for Sustainability and Climate Change, in memory of Goldman Sonnenfeld. This prestigious fellowship recognizes academic excellence and contributions to research in the fields of sustainability, environment, and climate change. The committee highlighted Bar's outstanding performance and his commitment to advancing impactful research. Congratulations, Bar! We're so proud of you and wish you continued success in your research journey.
Nov 07, 2025 Yesterday was the first lesson of my revised course in game theory and agentic design. The course comprises an introduction for game theory and a hands-on workshop in agent design. In the GT part, we studied how to model real world scenarios into a formal game, what is an equilibrium, and started discussing how to find it. In the agent design workshop, we learned what are agents, how they differ from previous programming paradigms and some of the tools available to construct agentic workflows. Next week the students will present their first "job-seeking" agent, designed to help job seekers find and secure a position.
Oct 17, 2025 We are now after the INFORMS Annual Meeting (Atlanta, GA), where I presented "Strategic Behavior and Uncertainty in Allocation Markets: Insights from Online Experiments." It was great to meet friends and colleagues. Old and new. Discuss research, and enjoy a wonderful venue.
Sep 30, 2025 Our paper "Strategic Behavior in Crowdfunding: Insights from a Large-Scale Online Experiment.", led by MSc students Bar and Din, was accepted to WINE 2025. See you in December!
Jul 15, 2025 Congrats to Lab Cohort 2025 on the beginning of a new academic year!

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