Scott Page

Affiliate

John Seely Brown Distinguished University Professor of Complexity, Management, and Social Science, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

External Faculty, Santa Fe Institute

Discipline Economics
I study the role of diversity in complex systems and institutional design.

Scott E. Page’s research focuses on the function of diversity in complex social systems, the potential for collective intelligence, and the design of institutions for meeting the challenges of a complex world.

A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, Page was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011, and in 2019, he was awarded a Distinguished University Professorship from the University of Michigan, the university’s highest academic honor. He is a member of the Santa Fe Institute Science Board and an advisor to CrowdSmart AI.

He is the author of more than one hundred research papers and five books covering a variety of fields including game theory, economics, political theory, formal political science, sociology, psychology, philosophy, physics, public health, geography, computer science, and management. Along with five other scholars, he recently co-founded a new, interdisciplinary academic journal, Collective Intelligence, which he co-edits

His book, The Model Thinker, was published by Basic Books in November 2018, has been an Amazon Best Seller in more than ten categories, and a winner of a Choice Award as an outstanding title. His previous books include the Axios award-winning, The Diversity Bonus, published in September 2017 with Princeton University Press and the Mellon Foundation, The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies (2008), and Complex Adaptive Social Systems (2009).

Page has filmed two video series for The Great Courses and his online course Model Thinking has attracted over a million participants. Page has presented to the CIA, European Central Bank, NASA, Bloomberg, Google, Boeing, the IMF, Genentech, Gilead, and AT Kearney, and has been a featured speaker at The New York Times New Work Summit, Google Re:Work, The World Economic Forum – Davos, and The Aspen Ideas Festival. He has consulted with US Federal Reserve, the White House Office of Personnel, Yahoo! Ford, DARPA, Procter and Gamble, BlackRock, and AB InBev, and Brown Forman.

Page holds a B.A. in mathematics from The University of Michigan, an M.A. from The University of Wisconsin, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in managerial economics and decision sciences from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University. Page lives in Ann Arbor, MI, with his wife, University of Michigan political science professor Jenna Bednar. They have two sons, Orrie (24) and Cooper (22). All four Bednar-Pages benefit from the supervisory companionship of two large dogs, Oda, a Great Pyrenees, and Roland, who has a diverse collection of ancestors.