Economics alumnus: understanding the economy, shaping society

Filip Milojević is settling into his new home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where, a few years from now, he hopes to complete his dissertation at MIT. But how does a 24-year-old make it to one of the world’s top universities?

The LMU alumnus did not envision an academic career at leading international universities from the outset, nor did he have the big picture mapped out from day one. Instead, he prefers to approach goals one step at a time – a strategy that has served him well. “Professor Claudia Steinwender, who was my mentor at the time, told me: ‘Don’t think about the end-goal right now. Just focus on the next step.’” He took this principle to heart, and looking back, he is convinced that it has been crucial to his success.

An early start in research

Milojević describes the benefits of being able to get involved in research very early in his studies. One opportunity came through the Munich Honors Program in Economics, through which the LMU Faculty of Economics enables outstanding bachelor’s students to acquire additional qualifications. “In a group of around 15 students, we learned how to read and understand academic papers. Having discussed the papers, we then gave a presentation,” he recalls.

In a specialization seminar during his second year, he and two fellow students developed their own research question in the field of innovation economics. Over the course of several months, the team investigated the impact of carbon taxes on patenting activity in Sweden. The result was a research paper that received the LMU Research Award for Excellent Students. By then at the latest, Milojević knew he wanted to continue studying at least to master’s level.

The new normal during the pandemic

When Milojević came to LMU as an undergraduate in 2020, the circumstances were challenging. The Covid-19 pandemic was approaching its peak, forcing university teaching online and making direct contact with fellow students and professors impossible.

“For us, that was just the reality of student life at the beginning,” he recalls. “It was only in later semesters, once the restrictions had been lifted, that we realized how irreplaceable face-to-face interaction with other young people really is.”

In retrospect, such experiences were deeply formative. “I built a network at LMU that continues to shape my values and ideas to this day,” he explains. Moreover, LMU helped make him a very open person: “The professors in particular, with their international backgrounds and careers, inspired me to go abroad and see how teaching and research are done elsewhere.”

“Apply!”

Early in his undergraduate studies, Milojević spent an Erasmus exchange year at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. In 2023, after graduating from LMU at the top of his class, he moved to the London School of Economics to pursue a master’s degree. He subsequently worked as a predoctoral researcher at the University of Chicago.

Scholarships helped Milojević pursue these opportunities, including a Germany Scholarship (Deutschlandstipendium), a DAAD scholarship, a scholarship from the Max Weber Program, and, most recently, an ERP scholarship from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation. “My advice to everyone is simple: Apply!”

He is familiar with the doubts people often have in this situation: Am I really good enough? Do I even have a chance? “The application process for scholarships is really helpful because it makes you reflect on yourself: What are my values? What are my goals and motivations? And that’s true regardless of whether you actually receive the scholarship. It helps strengthen your sense of who you are,” says Milojević, who worked at a gas station, as a student research assistant, and as a teaching assistant during his studies. He is also grateful for the support of his lecturers, who provided him with valuable advice along the way.

Why did Australia's social media ban for children under 16 fall apart?

Milojević’s research is particularly concerned with how digital platforms shape our behavior and how they can be regulated effectively. His interest in these questions is informed by his personal background. “My parents came to Germany from Serbia, and I grew up here in a very privileged society with a functioning state.” He came to understand that this cannot be taken for granted when he visited his grandparents in Serbia during the summers. “That contrast really motivated me to understand when rules work – and when they don’t.”

This question is highly relevant in today’s digital world. In Chicago, for example, Milojević and coauthors examined why Australia’s social media ban for children under 16 began to unravel within just a few months. A ban that is easy to circumvent, they found, can only be effective if enough young people comply with it. At MIT, he now wants to explore how platforms and algorithms in digital markets can be designed so that the interests of users, companies, and governments are better aligned rather than working against each another. To this end, he is combining behavioral economics with machine-learning methods – for example, to measure where our attention is directed on digital platforms and how that affects us. Increasingly, he is also interested in how artificial intelligence itself is changing human decision-making.

Perhaps a professor someday

Filip Milojević wants to make a meaningful contribution to society and inspire young people – both in everyday life and, later, through research and teaching, whether that be in Europe or further afield. He can imagine pursuing such a career, perhaps even becoming a professor in the United States or Germany. But such aspirations are still some way off. For now, he wants to focus on the next stage: his PhD.