Publications

spring 1987
Article

Second-Sourcing and the Experience Curve: Price Competition in Defense Procurement

By: James J. Anton and Dennis A. Yao

We examine a dynamic model of price competition in defense procurement that incorporates the experience curve, asymmetric cost information, and the availability of a higher cost alternative system. We model acquisition as a two-stage process in which initial production... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Government and Politics; Price; Competition; Mathematical Methods

2024
Working Paper

What Is Newsworthy? Theory and Evidence

By: Luis Armona, Matthew Gentzkow, Emir Kamenica and Jesse M. Shapiro

We study newsworthiness in theory and practice. We focus on situations in which a news outlet observes the realization of a state of the world and must decide whether to report the realization to a consumer who pays an opportunity cost to consume the report. The... View Details

Keywords: News; Mathematical Methods; Prejudice and Bias; Media and Broadcasting Industry

Register to Read

August 2022
Article

Contract Duration and the Costs of Market Transactions

By: Alexander MacKay

The optimal duration of a supply contract balances the costs of reselecting a supplier against the costs of being matched to an inefficient supplier when the contract lasts too long. I develop a structural model of contract duration that captures this tradeoff and... View Details

Keywords: Supply Contracts; Intermediate Goods; Switching Costs; Vertical Relationships; Transaction Costs; Contract Duration; Identification; Supply Chain; Cost; Contracts; Auctions; Mathematical Methods

2012
Chapter

Knowledge-based Innovation: Emergence and Embedding of New Practice Areas in Management Consulting Firms

By: Heidi K. Gardner, N. Anand and Tim Morris

How do innovative knowledge-based structures emerge and become embedded in organizations? We drew on theories of knowledge-intensive firms, communities of practice, and professional service firms to analyze multiple cases of new practice area creation in management... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Innovation and Invention; Knowledge; Organizations; Practice; Mathematical Methods; Consulting Industry

2009
Working Paper

Smith and Rawls Share a Room: Stability and Medians

By: Bettina-Elisabeth Klaus and Flip Klijn

We consider one-to-one, one-sided matching (roommate) problems in which agents can either be matched as pairs or remain single. We introduce a so-called bi-choice graph for each pair of stable matchings and characterize its structure. Exploiting this structure we... View Details

Keywords: Fairness; One-Sided Platforms; Two-Sided Platforms; Marketplace Matching; Mathematical Methods; Balance and Stability

2008
Chapter

Matching and Market Design

By: Muriel Niederle, Alvin E. Roth and Tayfun Sonmez

Matching is the part of economics concerned with who transacts with whom and how. Models of matching, starting with the Gale-Shapley deferred acceptance algorithm, have been particularly useful in studying labour markets and in helping design clearinghouses to fix... View Details

Keywords: Market Design; Marketplace Matching; Outcome or Result; Mathematical Methods

January 2003 (Revised February 2011)
Tool

Business Analysis and Valuation Model (Version 5)

By: Paul M. Healy, Krishna G. Palepu and Jonathan Barnett

Once you enter company financial statements, this software enables you to standardize them to a common format, make any needed adjustments to the company's accounting, and make assumptions about the company's future performance. The model then provides financial ratios... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Standards; Mathematical Methods; Valuation

20 Dec 2019
Blog Post

Top 10 MBA Voices Blogs of 2019

introverts). Read More>>> Meet the MBA Class of 2020 Each student that attends HBS has a different story. They are from big cities, small farming villages, and everything in between. Some students have a passion for mathematics... View Details

2013
Article

Where Not to Eat? Improving Public Policy by Predicting Hygiene Inspections Using Online Reviews

By: Jun Seok Kang, Polina Kuznetsova, Yejin Choi and Michael Luca

Restaurant hygiene inspections are often cited as a success story of public disclosure. Hygiene grades influence customer decisions and serve as an accountability system for restaurants. However, cities (which are responsible for inspections) have limited resources to... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Food; Governance Compliance; Mathematical Methods; Applications and Software; Public Administration Industry; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

1994
Article

Three-dimensional Finite Element Modeling of a Cervical Vertebra: An Investigation of Burst Fracture Mechanism

By: Kevin J. Bozic, J H Keyak, H B Skinner, H U Bueff and David Bradford

Finite element modeling was used to study the mechanical behavior of a cervical vertebra under axial compressive loading. A three-dimensional (3-D) finite element (FE) model of a mid-cervical vertebra using inhomogeneous material properties was generated from... View Details

Keywords: Performance Expectations; Strength and Weakness; Health; Mathematical Methods; Health Industry

January 1984
Article

A Simulation Analysis of Alternative Pricing Strategies for Dynamic Environments

By: Robert J. Dolan

Researchers of the strategic implications of the well-known demand (e.g., adoption and diffusion) and supply (e.g., experience effects) dynamics have typically sought analytical solutions. Their success in this has been achieved partly by limiting the richness of the... View Details

Keywords: Demand and Consumers; Price; Mathematical Methods; Supply and Industry

February 2010
Supplement

Real Property Negotiation Game (CW): Excel Model

By: Arthur I. Segel, John Vogel and Justin Seth Ginsburgh

This Excel model is used to analyze the deals made in The Real Property Negotiation Game, which simulates the experience negotiating the sale, purchase, or financing of a property. View Details

Keywords: Property; Negotiation Deal; Sales; Financing and Loans; Mathematical Methods; Real Estate Industry

2009
Working Paper

Systemic Risk and the Refinancing Ratchet Effect

By: Amir E. Khandani, Andrew W. Lo and Robert C. Merton

The confluence of three trends in the U.S. residential housing market—rising home prices, declining interest rates, and near-frictionless refinancing opportunities—led to vastly increased systemic risk in the financial system. Individually, each of these trends is... View Details

Keywords: Housing; Mortgages; Risk and Uncertainty; Value; Mathematical Methods; Real Estate Industry; United States

March 2002
Article

The Potential Role of Economic Cost Models in the Regulation of Telecommunications in Developing Countries

What is the efficient cost of providing telecommunications services to a certain area or type of customer? As developing countries build up their capacity to regulate infrastructure monopolies, cost models are likely to prove increasingly important in answering... View Details

Keywords: Information; Cost; Mathematical Methods; Developing Countries and Economies; Telecommunications Industry

October 2000 (Revised March 2004)
Background Note

Variance Analysis and Flexible Budgeting

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Facilitates the teaching of cases on variance analysis and flexible budgeting. Uses algebra, diagrams, and numerical examples to illustrate the calculation of price, quantity, and mix variances for revenues and costs, and a flexible budget for analyzing indirect and... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Price; Mathematical Methods; Revenue; Budgets and Budgeting

Educators

1979
Chapter

Research Methods and Data Analysis: The Challenge of Knowing How to Do What About Why

By: T. M. Amabile and W. DeJong

Keywords: Mathematical Methods; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Management; Knowledge Use and Leverage

2017
Working Paper

Minimizing Justified Envy in School Choice: The Design of New Orleans' OneApp

By: Atila Abdulkadiroglu, Yeon-Koo Che, Parag A. Pathak, Alvin E. Roth and Oliver Tercieux

In 2012, New Orleans Recovery School District (RSD) became the first U.S. district to unify charter and traditional public school admissions in a single-offer assignment mechanism known as OneApp. The RSD also became the first district to use a mechanism based on Top... View Details

Keywords: Education; Decision Choices and Conditions; Marketplace Matching; Mathematical Methods; Design

Article

Assent-maximizing Social Choice

By: Katherine A. Baldiga and Jerry R. Green

We take a decision theoretic approach to the classic social choice problem, using data on the frequency of choice problems to compute social choice functions. We define a family of social choice rules that depend on the population's preferences and on the probability... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Theory; Measurement and Metrics; Mathematical Methods; Society