Tobias Werner

Assistant Professor at the University of Southampton | Affiliated with @Max_Planck_CHM, @DICEHHU & @BCCPBerlin

[Tobias Werner @_ToFeWe]

My single-authored paper "Algorithmic and Human Collusion" has been accepted for publication at the Economic Journal.

More than happy about this outcome and the process of getting there.

I won't summarize the paper yet again on here, but a small anecdote about the paper🧵

[Hiromu Yakura @hiromu1996]

オンラインの行動実験で人間の行動を計測していると思っていたら、実はそのほとんどがAIエージェントだったという、半分面白く、半分は科学研究の妥当性という点で結構やばい話についてのプレプリントを取り上げてもらいました
https://t.co/XgqV4gomy2

[Tobias Werner @_ToFeWe]

@alexolegimas I am wondering how this will change as humans may adopt more and more of the language patterns used by LLMs, as shown in this paper: https://t.co/rwYZxdKyN5

[UoS_Economics @UoS_Economics]

🚨 Econ Job Market Spotlight: Amruta Bagwe
📷 PhD ’26 | JMP: From Gaps to Gains: Empowering Indian Youth Workforce with Skill Development
#econjobmarket #EconTwitter #JobMarket2026 #Development #Labour #India
📷 Website: https://t.co/pxSfoe0gBx

[Tobias Werner @_ToFeWe]

Wrapped up a great week of regulatory outreach! Presented to the @CMAgovUK and @NZComCom on how human-machine market interactions can dampen competition.

Thanks to Rajssa Mechelli & David Shaharudin Shahar-Yu for hosting!

[Tobias Werner @_ToFeWe]

@BallersBav @DICEHHU In Düsseldorf Bilk Nähe Karolingerplatz. Weiß nicht mehr genau wie der Laden hieß

[Tobias Werner @_ToFeWe]

Frisch gelandet in Düsseldorf für die @DICEHHU competition policy conference.

Erstmal ein Taxi Teller!

[UoS_Economics @UoS_Economics]

Don’t miss this exciting opportunity: join the C‑BEAR Interdisciplinary #SummerSchool2026 at the @unisouthampton for a practical introduction to social‑science experimentation-no prior experience needed.#ExperimentalEconomics
📅 29 June–3 July
🔗 https://t.co/EXrBZ4xzHb

[Tobias Werner @_ToFeWe]

Enjoy your pancakes!

[Tobias Werner @_ToFeWe]

Super thankful for all the feedback I got during the time from my supervisors and colleagues.

Also such a pleasant editorial process at the @EJ_RES with @steffenhuck and the three referees. Thanks to them too.

[Tobias Werner @_ToFeWe]

I would have probably come across those papers one way or another, but still, the nudge in the class of a senior professor telling me "might be worthwhile to look at" was super powerful for me.

So if you happen to read this: Thank you for this motivation @frankverboven.

[Tobias Werner @_ToFeWe]

Many of the papers I started during my PhD are in a similar area, so it was very influential indeed.

Also, this paper served me as my job market paper 2 1/2 times and I have to say: Despite what some people say about their JMP, I don't hate it yet but actually love it still.

[Tobias Werner @_ToFeWe]

...how humans play against RL algos.

Right after the class, I started reading Calvano et al. and the related paper by Timo Klein and started taking online classes on reinforcement learning.

[Tobias Werner @_ToFeWe]

My single-authored paper "Algorithmic and Human Collusion" has been accepted for publication at the Economic Journal.

More than happy about this outcome and the process of getting there.

I won't summarize the paper yet again on here, but a small anecdote about the paper🧵

[Tobias Werner @_ToFeWe]

I immediately thought of the question: "But what about the counterfactual of human collusion?"

Later, when learning about the ongoing work from my soon-to-be PhD supervisor @hans_normann and Martin Sternberg on human-algorithm interaction, the second research question was added.

[Tobias Werner @_ToFeWe]

He ended with a statement like, "This might be a worthwhile area to work on for new PhD students," and indeed it was.

[Tobias Werner @_ToFeWe]

And that's right, but in the last ~15 minutes, he presented some slides on the paper by @EmilioC_ and co-authors which was later published in the AER on RL-algorithms in pricing environments.

[Tobias Werner @_ToFeWe]

I actually started working on this paper in the first week of my PhD. It was a short lecture series at @DICEHHU by @frankverboven on estimation of market power and conduct.

Not strongly related to what I do in my paper, you might think.

[Tobias Werner @_ToFeWe]

Considering outsourcing my ARC Raiders inventory management to Claude Cowork

[Tobias Werner @_ToFeWe]

@ScienceMagazine https://t.co/zZrbv8crg3

[Tobias Werner @_ToFeWe]

🚨 New paper alert!

"Recognising, Anticipating & Mitigating LLM Pollution of Online Behavioural Research."

Online experiments are being polluted by LLMs. We mapped the threat and fixes. 🧵

w/ Raluca Rilla, @hiromu1996 , @iyadrahwan & @amnussberger

https://t.co/XnlWUYIcsm

[Tobias Werner @_ToFeWe]

LLMs and agents are reshaping the landscape of social science research.

Our preprint on "LLM Pollution" is featured in @ScienceMagazine's new piece on how AI is upending online studies.

https://t.co/oDtKDskkgA

[James Bland @JamesBland_Econ]

I found out that something doesn't work very well. In the interest of not burying it so that someone else goes down this rabbit hole again, maybe I will try to write a paper.