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Vidya Atal

Professor, Economics, Feliciano School of Business

Office:: School of Business 534
Email:: atalv@montclair.edu
Phone:: 973-655-7403
Degrees:: BS, St. Xavier's College (India); MS, Indian Statistical Institute (India); MA, Cornell University; PhD, Cornell University
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Profile

Vidya Atal is a Professor in the Department of Economics at Montclair State University. She holds a Master's and a Ph.D. degree in economics from Cornell University. Earlier, she received a Master's degree in quantitative economics from Indian Statistical Institute.

Her research interests include studying various topics of Industrial Organization, for example, the patent policies in the United States, open source software licensing, firms' strategies while in the patent-race or studying their investment decisions in R&D. In addition, she finds several topics in Development Economics very interesting, like women's empowerment, intra-household bargaining, gender gap, etc.

Dr. Atal’s research articles have been published in some of the top-tier peer-review journals in economics. To name a few, they are: Games and Economic Behavior, The Journal of Industrial Economics, International Journal of Industrial Organization, Review of Economics of the Household, Economics Letters, Economics Bulletin, and B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy. She has presented her research in several national and international conferences, like the International Industrial Organization Conference and the Royal Economic Society Annual Conference.

Specialization

Fields: Development Economics, Industrial Organization, Game Theory

Topics: Women's empowerment, Gender inequality, Economics of R&D, Economics of open source resources, Patent system

Research

"Deferred Examination," with Talia Bar.
"Gender Wage Equality and Women's Empowerment."
"Strategic Open Source Licensing and Software Market Entry," with Kameshwari Shankar.
"Two Phase Innovation Research Funding," with Talia Bar.
"Why the Future used to be Brighter? An Economic Interpretation," with Alexandra Zaby.

Professional Experience

Associate Professor of Economics, Montclair State University (2015 - 2021)
Assistant Professor of Economics, Montclair State University (2010 - 2015)
Teaching Assistant, Cornell University (2006 - 2010)
Special Advisor to the Provost for Curriculum Affairs, Montclair State University (2022 - Present)
Professor of Economics, Montclair State University (2021 - Present)

Honors & Awards

Sage Fellowship, ( 2005)
Faculty Honoree, Beta Gamma Sigma ( 2012)
Engaged Teaching Fellowship, Research Academy for University Learning, Montclair State University ( 2014)
Excellence in Research Award, Clute Institute (March 2016)

Refereed Published Articles

V. Atal, O. Gharehgozli, L. San Vicente Portes (2022). Higher Labour Market Bargaining Power, Higher Unemployment in Recessions. Applied Economics Letters
V. Atal, T. Bar (2010). Prior Art- To Search or Not to Search. International Journal of Industrial Organization
V. Atal, K. Basu, J. Gray, T. Lee (2010). Literacy Traps: Society-wide Education and Individual Skill Premia. International Journal of Economic Theory
V. Atal (2010). Do Journals Accept Too Many Papers?. Economics Letters
L. San Vicente Portes, V. Atal (2014). The Big Mac Index: A Shortcut To Inflation And Exchange Rate Dynamics? Price Tracking And Predictive Properties. International Business and Economics Research Journal
V. Atal (2014). The Big Mac Index and Real-Income Disparity. Journal of Business and Economics Research
V. Atal, K. Shankar (2014). Open Source Software: Competition with A Public Good. Atlantic Economic Journal
V. Atal, T. Bar (2014). Patent Quality and A Two-Tiered Patent System. Journal of Industrial Economics
V. Atal, T. Bar, S. Gordon (2016). Project Selection: Commitment and Competition. Games and Economic Behavior
V. Atal, K. Shankar (2015). Developers’ Incentives and Open Source Software Licensing: GPL vs. BSD. The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy
V. Atal, R. Dubey (2014). Affirmative Action and Empowerment: Friends or Foes?. Economics Bulletin
V. Atal (2017). Say at Home, or Stay at Home? Policy Implications on Female Labor Supply and Power. Review of Economics of The Household
V. Atal, K. Shankar (2016). Open Questions in Open Source: Exploring Incentives, Licenses and Competition. Economics Bulletin
L. San Vicente Portes, V. Atal, M. Juarez Torres (2019). From Households to National Statistics: Macroeconomic Effects of Women's Empowerment. Economic Modelling
O. Gharehgozli, V. Atal (2020). Revisiting the Gender Wage Gap in the United States. Economic Analysis and Policy
L. San Vicente Portes, V. Atal, M. Juarez Torres (2019). Women's Empowerment: Aggregate Effects on Savings and Wealth. Banco de México Documentos de Investigación
O. Gharehgozli, V. Atal (2020). "Big Mac Affordability" and Real Income Inequality Across Countries. Applied Economics Letters
O. Gharehgozli, V. Atal (2021). A Simple Measure to Study Multinational In-come Inequality. Review of Economic Perspectives
O. Gharehgozli, V. Atal (2021). Gender Wage Gap: Within and Across Borders. Studies in Business and Economics
M. Akarsu, O. Gharehgozli, V. Atal (2023). An Investigation of Income and Wage Inequality in Turkey Using Burgernomics. Eastern European Economics
V. Atal, K. Shankar (2023). Open Source Software Licensing and Developer Participation. New York Economic Review

Published Proceedings

V. Atal, K. Shankar (5s). 2013. Developers’ Incentives and Open Source Software Licensing: GPL vs. BSD Academy of Business Research

Books & Chapters

V. Atal, L. San Vicente Portes (2012). Women’s Empowerment and Households’ Consumption-Savings Decisions. Economic Empowerment for Women: A Global Perspective (M. Lownes-Jackson and R. Guy ed.), Informing Science Press
V. Atal (2012). Tax Policies, Female Labor Force Participation and Women’s Empowerment. Economic Empowerment for Women: A Global Perspective (M. Lownes-Jackson and R. Guy ed.), Informing Science Press