Title: The Economics of Non-Fungible Tokens (link to video; link to slides)
Speaker: Aleh Tsyvinski, Yale Econ
Abstract: We construct a comprehensive dataset on a near universe of non-fungible token (NFT) transactions, create indices for the NFT market and its components, and analyze their properties. The NFT market return is significantly exposed to the cryptocurrency market, but the majority of the return variations remain unexplained. NFT market returns have low exposures to other cryptocurrency factors and factors from traditional asset markets. In the time-series, volatility and the NFT valuation ratio significantly predict NFT market returns. In the cross-section, NFT returns exhibit size and return reversal effects.
Bio: Aleh Tsyvinski is a Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics at Yale University. At Yale, he also holds a position of a Co-Director of Macroeconomic Research Program at Cowles Foundation. He is Research Associate at National Bureau of Economic Research. Previously, he taught at Harvard and UCLA. Aleh has also been recognized by the World Economic Forum (Davos) as a Young Global Leader (2009).
His research mostly focuses on studying dynamic optimal taxation and social insurance policies. He is broadly interested in how to design social insurance mechanisms that find a balance between redistribution (or social insurance) and incentives, especially in dynamic settings. The questions that interest Aleh are whether and how savings should be taxed, how to design disability and social security systems, and what the role of the government and the private markets is in providing insurance. He has also worked extensively on issues of political economy and information aggregation.