Hal Ronald Varian (born March 18, 1947, in Wooster, Ohio) is Chief Economist at Google and holds the title of emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley where he was founding dean of the School of Information.

He played a key role in the development of Google's advertising model and data analysis practices.

He has two honorary doctorates, from the University of Oulu, Finland in 2002, and a Dr. h. c. from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany, awarded in 2006.

[2] Varian joined Google in 2002 as chief economist, and has worked on the design of advertising auctions, econometrics, finance, corporate strategy, and public policy.

[4] According to the Open Syllabus Project, Varian is the fourth most frequently cited author on college syllabi for economics courses.