Publications

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

Web

Research - Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

meaningful externalities in the mutual fund industry due to cash management. A fund family may coordinate the liquidity management efforts of its funds in order to minimize volatility spillovers from fire sales. See Adi's other research here . Related Themes: View Details

1982
Article

The Economics of Matching: Stability and Incentives

By: Alvin E. Roth

Keywords: Balance and Stability; Motivation and Incentives; Economics

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17 Jun 2025
Blog Post

Balancing Career Stability with Creative Pursuits with Jeff Roslund (MBA 2013)

constant upward trajectory. That mindset was reinforced by the social comparisons that often accompany a competitive business school environment. I’m beginning to define success through a new lens—one that places more value on time,... View Details

2023
Working Paper

Channeled Attention and Stable Errors

By: Tristan Gagnon-Bartsch, Matthew Rabin and Joshua Schwartzstein

We develop a framework for assessing when somebody will eventually notice that she has a misspecified model of the world, premised on the idea that she neglects information that she deems—through the lens of her misconceptions—to be irrelevant. In doing so, we... View Details

Keywords: Attentional Stability; Cognition and Thinking; Attitudes; Information; Theory

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July 2025
Case

Mother’s Home: Eradicating Social Orphancy in Kazakhstan

By: Boris Groysberg and Annelena Lobb

Mother’s Home International Foundation, a Kazakhstani foundation, had reduced the number of children living in orphanages in Kazakhstan from roughly 10,000 to 4,000 over 12 years, building crisis centers for new mothers to help them keep their babies and stabilize... View Details

June 2019
Article

Social Risk, Fiscal Risk, and the Portfolio of Government Programs

By: Samuel G. Hanson, David S. Scharfstein and Adi Sunderam

We develop a model of government portfolio choice in which a benevolent government chooses the scale of risky projects in the presence of market failures and tax distortions. These two frictions generate motives to manage social risk and fiscal risk. Social risk... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Government and Politics; Programs

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December 2014 (Revised November 2015)
Case

Governing the 'Chinese Dream': Corruption, Inequality and the Rule of Law

By: Rafael Di Tella, Meg Rithmire and Kait Szydlowski

Xi Jinping assumed his position as head of China's fifth generation of leaders in 2012. Xi was head of both the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party, which had ruled China since 1949. Xi inherited a country far more unequal than the one that Mao... View Details

Keywords: China; Growth; Inequality; Wealth And Poverty; Social Stability; Perceptions Of Inequality; Chinese Dream; Chinese Political Thought; Corruption; Equality and Inequality; China

2012
Article

When Does the Glue of Social Ties Dissolve? Syndication Ties and Performance Cues in Withdrawals from Venture Capital Syndicates, 1985-2009

By: Pavel Zhelyazkov

The present study integrates the economic and social perspectives on the stability of collaboration by exploring how performance cues interact with interorganizational embeddedness in affecting firms' withdrawals from venture capital coinvestment syndicates. It finds... View Details

Keywords: Social and Collaborative Networks; Venture Capital; Performance; Cooperation

March 2014
Case

Inequality and Growth in the 'Chinese Dream'

By: Rafael Di Tella, Meg Rithmire and Kaitlyn Szydlowski

Xi Jinping assumed his position as head of China's fifth generation of leaders in 2012. Xi was head of both the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party, which had ruled China since 1949. Xi inherited a country far more unequal than the one that Mao... View Details

Keywords: China; Growth; Inequality; Wealth And Poverty; Social Stability; Perceptions Of Inequality; Chinese Dream; Chinese Political Thought; Corruption; Equality and Inequality; China

May 2025
Case

The Micro-Family Office: Aamir Rehman

By: Lauren Cohen and Sophia Pan

With a successful career and strong academic credentials, Aamir Rehman sought to design a life grounded in autonomy. For him, this meant serving on boards, continuing his professorship, and ensuring a secure and comfortable life for his family. While he didn’t possess... View Details

25 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

More Proof That Money Can Buy Happiness (or a Life with Less Stress)

gave him. After years of living as a struggling graduate student, Jachimowicz received his appointment at HBS and the financial stability that came with it. “My father said to me, ‘You are going to have to learn how to spend money to fix... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

28 Aug 2020
News

Subsidising stability: State employment in China

October 1998 (Revised September 1999)
Case

Brazil Confronts an Interdependent World

By: George C. Lodge and Cate Reavis

Discusses the politics of change and how Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, elected in 1994, has fought to promote systemic change in Brazil. While his Real Plan has stabilized inflation and attracted foreign investment, the nation's deficit continues to... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Government and Politics; Inflation and Deflation; Foreign Direct Investment; Equality and Inequality; Change; Social Issues; Public Administration Industry; Brazil

March 2013
Article

Punctuated Generosity: How Mega-events and Natural Disasters Affect Corporate Philanthropy in U.S. Communities

By: Andras Tilcsik and Christopher Marquis

Geographic communities have been shown to affect organizations through their enduring features, but less attention has been given to communities as sites of human-made and natural events that occasionally disrupt the lives of organizations. We develop a... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Communities; Punctuated Equilibrium; Corporate Social Responsibility; Institutional Theory; Natural Disasters; Situation or Environment; Balance and Stability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Community Relations; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; United States

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22 Aug 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Investors as Stewards of the Commons?

Keywords: by George Serafeim

27 May 2015
Research & Ideas

Build 'Scaffolds' to Improve Performance of Temporary Teams

notes that co-location can be virtual in the case of crowdsourcing, using chat rooms, shared folders, or shared websites. "There's more complex work that really requires this teaming on the fly, and the social technologies make it... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Health

November 2012 (Revised August 2013)
Case

A Politician in a Leather Suit and the Paradox of Japanese Capitalism

By: Karthik Ramanna and Matthew Shaffer

Two lost decades later, capitalism in Japan embodies peculiar contradictions—preserving wealth and social stability in the face of declining economic power. Scant transparency in Japanese corporate practices plays an important role in this phenomenon. Sometimes... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Economic Systems; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Fairness; Values and Beliefs; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Civil Society or Community; Japan; Tokyo