Publications

2007
Working Paper

Choice, Rationality and Welfare Measurement

By: Jerry R. Green and Daniel A. Hojman

We present a method for evaluating the welfare of a decision maker, based on observed choice data. Unlike the standard economic theory of revealed preference, our method can be used whether or not the observed choices are rational. Paralleling the standard theory we... View Details

Keywords: Welfare Economics; Behavioral Economics; Psychology; Decision Making; Economics; Voting

February 2024
Article

An Economic Framework for Vaccine Prioritization

By: Mohammad Akbarpour, Eric Budish, Piotr Dworczak and Scott Duke Kominers

We propose an economic framework for determining the optimal allocation of a scarce supply of vaccines that become gradually available during a public health crisis, such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Agents differ in observable and unobservable characteristics, and the... View Details

Keywords: Vaccine; Fairness; Public Finance; Public Goods; Allocation Problems; Allocative Efficiency; Allocation Rules; Social Welfare; Pandemics; Inequality; COVID-19; COVID-19 Pandemic; Public Sector; Resource Allocation; Market Design; Marketplace Matching; Public Administration Industry

SSRN

December 2008
Article

Behavioral Frontiers in Choice Modeling

We review the discussion at a workshop whose goal was to achieve a better integration among behavioral, economic, and statistical approaches to choice modeling. The workshop explored how current approaches to the specification, estimation, and application of choice... View Details

Keywords: Mathematical Methods; Integration; Goals and Objectives; Decision Choices and Conditions; Problems and Challenges; Business Processes; Customers; Behavior; Economics

Article

Consumers' Misunderstanding of Health Insurance

By: George Loewenstein, Joelle Y. Friedman, Barbara McGill, Sarah Ahmad, Suzanne Linck, Stacey Sinkula, John Beshears, James J. Choi, Jonathan Kolstad, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, John A. List and Kevin G. Volpp

We report results from two surveys of representative samples of Americans with private health insurance. The first examines how well Americans understand, and believe they understand, traditional health insurance coverage. The second examines whether those insured... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Economics; Simplification; Insurance; Consumer Behavior; Health Care and Treatment; Cognition and Thinking; Insurance Industry; Health Industry; United States

2015
Book

Economic Analysis of the Digital Economy

By: Avi Goldfarb, Shane Greenstein and Catherine Tucker

As the cost of storing, sharing, and analyzing data has decreased, economic activity has become increasingly digital. But while the effects of digital technology and improved digital communication have been explored in a variety of contexts, the impact on economic... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Economics

Purchase

31 Jan 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Behavioral Decision Research, Legislation, and Society: Three Cases

Keywords: by Max H. Bazerman

Research Summary

Overview

I am interested in modeling learning and information processing in behavioral agents, and its financial and macroeconomic implications. View Details

Keywords: Finance; Behavioral Economics; Macroeconomics

2008
Chapter

Corporate Honesty and Business Education: A Behavioral Model

By: Rakesh Khurana and Herbert Gintis

Since the mid-1970s neoclassical economic theory has dominated business school thinking and teaching in dealing with the nature of human motivation. However valuable in understanding competitive product and financial markets, neoclassical economic theory employs an... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Ethics; Managerial Roles; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Culture; Business and Shareholder Relations; Mathematical Methods; Behavior

01 Apr 1998
News

World Economic Forum

World Economic Forum's annual conference in Davos, Switzerland, in February. Considered to be the world's foremost economic conference, this year's gathering, titled "Priorities for the 21st Century,"... View Details

2009
Comment

The Behavioral Economics of the Labor Market:Central Findings and Their Policy Implications by Ernst Fehr, Lorenz Goette, and Christian Zehnder

By: George P. Baker

Keywords: Economics; Behavior; Labor; Policy; Government and Politics

Web

People - Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

the National Bureau of Economic Research from 2011 to 2018. His research is in the areas of behavioral finance, corporate finance, and capital markets, with a primary focus on the interactions among... View Details

07 Apr 2010
News

Economizing Corporate Travel

Keywords: Air Transportation; Transportation

23 Dec 2019
News

Some of the Difficulties of Driving Behavior Change

Web

Research - Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

the largest institutional holders of corporate bonds, reach for yield in choosing their investments by holding the riskiest highest yielding bonds within a ratings class. This behavior is related to the business cycle, being most... View Details

09 Apr 2009
Working Paper Summaries

The Economics of Structured Finance

Keywords: by Joshua D. Coval, Jakub Jurek & Erik Stafford

Web

Events - Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

Events Events Conferences Workshop on Belief Formation and Prediction APR 2017 The Behavioral Finance and Financial Stability Project at Harvard Business School hosted an interdisciplinary conference to explore how understanding... View Details

Article

The Economics of Structured Finance

By: Joshua D. Coval, Jakub W. Jurek and Erik Stafford

This paper investigates the spectacular rise and fall of structured finance. The essence of structured finance activities is the pooling of economic assets like loans, bonds, and mortgages, and the subsequent issuance of a prioritized capital structure of claims, known... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Asset Management; Debt Securities; Investment; Risk Management; Behavior