About Us > Faculty & Staff > Faculty > Unni Pillai

Assistant Professor of Nanoeconomics

Read the Times Union article featuring Professor Pillai: Ensuring solar isn't eclipsed

Degrees:

• Ph.D., Economics, University of Minnesota, 2008.
• M.Sc., Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science, 2003.
• B.Sc., Economics, University of London, 2001.
• B.Tech., Electrical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 1998.

Research website: http://www.albany.edu/econ_technology/unni_pillai_economics_index.html

Areas of research:

• Economics of Technological Change
• Macroeconomics

Description of research:

Dr Pillai's research focuses on the economic drivers of technological change. Technical advances in high tech industries are important contributors to productivity growth in the macroeconomy and to improvements in the standard of living. Dr.Pillai studies how economic factors influence the rate at which these technical advances are made, how government policies can influence the rate of technical change, and the welfare impact of these policies. Dr.Pillai's work includes theoretical modeling, econometric estimation of model parameters, and use of estimated models to quantitatively understand the impact of government policies.

Published Articles:

“Technological Progress in the Microprocessor Industry”, Unni Pillai, Survey of Current Business, February 2011, 13-15.

“Venture Capital Investment into Thin Film Solar Photovoltaics - Where is it going and why?”, Nicholas Querques, Pradeep Haldar and Unni Pillai, Journal of Nanotechnology Law and Business, Vol.6, No.3, 408-414.

Working Papers:

“A Model of Technological Progress in Microprocessor Industry”, Unni Pillai, Revise and Resubmit, Journal of Industrial Economics.

“Polysilicon Cost Reduction and Solar Grid Parity”, Unni Pillai and Jamison McLaughlin (submitted to Energy Economics).

“Equipment Costs in Microprocessor Production”, Ana Aizcorbe, Sam Kortum and Unni Pillai.

“Investment in Transmission for Wind Farm Interconnection”, Pradeep Haldar, Unni Pillai and Evsen Turkay.

Other Publications:

“The U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium - Lessons from the Semiconductor Industry”, Unni Pillai, Nicholas Querques and Pradeep Haldar, InterPV, Jan 2011.

“The Market for Grid Scale Energy Storage Systems”, Report submitted to New York State Electricity Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), June 2010. Unni Pillai, Mark Lyons, Michael Pruchniewski, Rachael Frisch, Siddharth Gupta, Thamarai Devarajan, Manisha Rane-Fondacaro and Pradeep Haldar

“A Quantitative Analysis of Energy Consumption in Semiconductor Fabs”, Unni Pillai, Report submitted to International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI), Nov 2011.

“The CNSE Model of Collaboration: Identifying and Measuring the Impact on Regional Economic Development”, Laura Schultz and Unni Pillai, Report submitted to CNSE Management.