Publications
Publications
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(2,772)
- Faculty Publications (676)
- July 2020
- Article
Higher Economic Inequality Intensifies the Financial Hardship of People Living in Poverty by Fraying the Community Buffer
By: Jon M. Jachimowicz, Barnabas Szaszi, Marcel Lukas, David Smerdon, Jaideep Prabhu and Elke U. Weber
The current research investigates whether higher economic inequality disproportionately intensifies the financial hardship of low-income individuals. We propose that higher economic inequality increases financial hardship for low-income individuals by reducing their... View Details
- 2022
- Working Paper
Optimal Illiquidity
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, Christopher Clayton, Christopher Harris, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian
We calculate the socially optimal level of illiquidity in an economy populated by households with taste shocks and naive present bias. The government chooses mandatory contributions to accounts, each witha different pre-retirement withdrawal penalty. Collected... View Details
Keywords: Illiquidity; Commitment; Flexibility; Savings; Social Security; Retirement; Government Legislation; Taxation; Saving
- 2020
- Chapter
Building Emergency Savings Through Employer-Sponsored Rainy-Day Savings Accounts
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, J. Mark Iwry, David C. John, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian
Roughly half of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. When financial shocks occur during their working life, many of these households tap into their retirement savings accounts. We explore the practical considerations and challenges associated with helping households... View Details
- June 2020
- Case
In-housing Digital Marketing at Sprint Corp.
By: David E. Bell, Rajiv Lal and Olivia Hull
In the fall of 2019, Sprint’s Chief Digital Officer Rob Roy reflected on the telecom’s efforts to improve the effectiveness of its digital marketing campaigns. Digital media buying had long been handled by an outside agency, but in 2017, Sprint brought those functions... View Details
- May 2020
- Teaching Note
Edward Jones: Implementing the Solutions Approach
By: David J. Collis
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 719-411.Updates the classic Edward Jones strategy case as the firm shifts to a new "Solutions" business model from its previous "product" model in response to changes in the brokerage industry, technology and demographics, and its own... View Details
- Article
The Price of Anarchy of Self-Selection in Tullock Contests
By: Hau Chan, David C. Parkes and Karim R. Lakhani
Crowdsourcing platforms operate by offering their clients the ability to obtain cost-effective solutions for their problems through contests. The top contestants with the best solutions are rewarded, and the submitted solutions are provided to the clients. Within the... View Details
- Article
The Impact of Penalties for Wrong Answers on the Gender Gap in Test Scores
By: Katherine B. Coffman and David Klinowski
Multiple-choice exams play a critical role in university admissions across the world. A key question is whether imposing penalties for wrong answers on these exams deters guessing from women more than men, disadvantaging female test-takers. We consider data from a... View Details
- 2021
- Working Paper
Issue Salience and Political Stereotypes
By: Pedro Bordalo, Marco Tabellini and David Yang
U.S. voters exaggerate the differences in attitudes held by Republicans and Democrats on a range of socioeconomic and political issues, and higher perceived polarization is associated with greater political engagement and affective polarization. In this paper, we... View Details
- March 2020 (Revised October 2020)
- Case
Board Director Dilemmas—Digging into Detail
By: David G. Fubini, Suraj Srinivasan and Amram Migdal
This case explores a new board director who asks a detailed question about a footnote in the lengthy board packet distributed to directors by management. The case allows for discussion about the amount of information and level of detail provided by management, the... View Details
- March 2020 (Revised May 2020)
- Case
Board Director Dilemmas—Family Affairs
By: David G. Fubini, Suraj Srinivasan and Amram Migdal
This case focuses on a new director who must help resolve a disagreement between two generations of leaders in a family business. The case raises questions of the proper role and approach for a director trying to manage a legitimate disagreement between shareholders... View Details
- March 2020 (Revised May 2020)
- Case
Board Director Dilemmas—Incorrigible CEO
By: David G. Fubini, Suraj Srinivasan and Amram Migdal
This case focuses on a new director who, along with fellow directors, struggles with the inappropriate behavior of an otherwise competent—even brilliant—founder and CEO. This case is part of a series of vignettes that capture different dilemmas faced by directors as... View Details
- March 2020 (Revised September 2020)
- Case
Board Director Dilemmas—Pushing Senior Management
By: David G. Fubini, Suraj Srinivasan and Amram Migdal
This case explores a new board director who wants more detail from the management team than his fellow directors are willing to press for. New board director Sam Pesca is frustrated that CFO Alex Marotta provides only a minimal two-page financial summary at board... View Details
- March 2020 (Revised May 2020)
- Case
Board Director Dilemmas—Sharing Expertise
By: David G. Fubini, Suraj Srinivasan and Amram Migdal
This case focuses on a new director who was invited to the board specifically due to her expertise in a technical area. The case allows for discussion of the board director’s appropriate role: to advise and direct management or to ask thoughtful questions about... View Details
- March 2020
- Case
SRS and the Defense Innovation Unit: Rethinking Procurement
By: Paul A. Gompers and David Lane
SRS and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) follows the process by which SRS, a lean maker of remotely-operated submersible vehicles, navigates the DIU’s acquisition process. Set up in 2015 to speed the U.S. military’s access to promising commercial technologies, the DIU... View Details
- 2021
- Working Paper
Corporate Environmental Impact: Measurement, Data and Information
By: David Freiberg, DG Park, George Serafeim and T. Robert Zochowski
As an organization’s environmental impact has become a central societal consideration, thereby affecting industry and organizational competitiveness, interest in measuring and analyzing environmental impact has increased. We develop a methodology to derive comparable... View Details
Keywords: Environment; Impact; Measurement; Environmental Ratings; Corporate Valuation; Financial Materiality; Sustainability; Environmental Impact; Environmental Strategy; Impact-Weighted Accounts; IWAI; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Measurement and Metrics; Valuation
- March 2020
- Article
Which Early Withdrawal Penalty Attracts the Most Deposits to a Commitment Savings Account?
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, Christopher Harris, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian and Jung Sakong
Previous research has shown that some people voluntarily use commitment contracts that restrict their own choice sets. We study how people divide money between two accounts: a liquid account that permits unrestricted withdrawals and a commitment account that is... View Details
- January 15, 2020
- Article
It's Time for Boeing's New CEO to Restore Trust by Putting People First
- January 2020
- Case
SK Group: Social Progress Credits
By: George Serafeim, Ethan Rouen and David Freiberg
SK Group was one of the largest companies South Korea. A family-run conglomerate consisting of around 120 subsidiaries and employing more than 100,000, SK was tightly knit into the fabric of Korean society. SK viewed their future success as contingent upon the strength... View Details
Keywords: Impact; Impact Investing; Impact Measurement; Social Value; Social Development; Conglomerates; Measurement Of Purpose; ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Capital Markets; Innovation; Environmental Impact; Collaboration; Social Enterprise; Social and Collaborative Networks; Social Issues; Measurement and Metrics; Value Creation; Cooperation; Environmental Sustainability; Employment; Accounting; Energy Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Chemical Industry; South Korea
- January 2020 (Revised July 2020)
- Case
Chemours (A)
By: David G. Fubini and David Lane
The July 2015 spin-off of DuPont’s performance chemicals division as the independent company Chemours burdened new CEO Mark Vergnano and his team with perilous challenges. Despite market-leading offerings in several areas, the company faced a glutted market for its... View Details
- January 2020
- Supplement
Chemours (B)
By: David G. Fubini and David Lane
Supplement to the (A) case, describing actions taken by Chemours CEO Mark Vergnano and members of his executive team to execute a successful turnaround of the company. View Details