Publications

14 Aug 2017
Conference Presentation

A Convex Framework for Fair Regression

By: Richard Berk, Hoda Heidari, Shahin Jabbari, Matthew Joseph, Michael J. Kearns, Jamie Morgenstern, Seth Neel and Aaron Roth

We introduce a flexible family of fairness regularizers for (linear and logistic) regression problems. These regularizers all enjoy convexity, permitting fast optimization, and they span the range from notions of group fairness to strong individual fairness. By varying... View Details

Keywords: Regression Models; Machine Learning; Fairness; Framework; Mathematical Methods

October 2022
Exercise

Shanty Real Estate: Confidential Information for iBuyer 2

By: Michael Luca, Jesse M. Shapiro and Nathan Sun

Shanty is a simulation in which students inhabit the role of either a traditional home buyer or an iBuyer, both bidding on the same condo. The traditional home buyer has access to a “comp sheet” of similar properties that have recently sold, and has done a walkthrough.... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Decision Making; Market Timing; Measurement and Metrics

Article

The Artful Dodger: Answering the Wrong Question the Right Way

By: Todd Rogers and Michael I. Norton

What happens when speakers try to "dodge" a question they would rather not answer by answering a different question? In 4 studies, we show that listeners can fail to detect dodges when speakers answer similar-but objectively incorrect-questions (the "artful dodge"), a... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Goals and Objectives

April 2006 (Revised April 2012)
Case

Ghana: National Economic Strategy

By: Michael E. Porter and Kjell Ke-Li Carlsson

Set in the year 2001, as President John Kufuor contemplates a national economic strategy following his election in the first democratic transfer of power in Ghana's history. Focuses on Ghana's long history of poor economic performance and intractable poverty,... View Details

Keywords: History; Economic Growth; Government Administration; Developing Countries and Economies; Growth and Development Strategy; Ghana

06 Feb 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: February 6, 2018

workers; and the production of knowledge, including the idea of the economy, among other topics. Together, the essays suggest emerging themes in the field: a fascination with capitalism as it is made by political authority, how it is... View Details

June 2009 (Revised July 2010)
Case

Microfin

By: Michael Chu and Enrique Kramer

The case presents the management dilemmas of a new institution in an undeveloped microfinance market in Latin America. Supported by a globally recognized industry player, it is the result of the efforts of two fledgling local entrepreneurs with a business model they... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Developing Countries and Economies; Social Entrepreneurship; Microfinance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Industry Structures; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Latin America

2014
Article

Paying It Forward: Generalized Reciprocity and the Limits of Generosity

By: Kurt Gray, Adrian F. Ward and Michael I. Norton

When people are the victims of greed or recipients of generosity, their first impulse is often to pay back that behavior in kind. What happens when people cannot reciprocate, but instead have the chance to be cruel or kind to someone entirely different—to pay it... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Behavior; Situation or Environment; Attitudes

March 2010 (Revised October 2011)
Case

Highland District County Hospital: Gastroenterology Care in Sweden

By: Michael E. Porter, Jennifer F Baron and Martin Rejler

Sweden's Highland District County Hospital, similar to a community hospital in the US, undertook a major restructuring to integrate care delivery for medical conditions served by the Department of Medicine. Each subspecialty within the Department would form a single,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Sweden

December 2014 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Dow: Breakthroughs to World Challenges

By: Michael E. Porter, Mark R. Kramer and Annelena Lobb

Dow had adopted the "Breakthroughs to World Challenges" (BWC) program as part of its ten-year 2015 Sustainability Goals. BWC was an internal award recognizing products that effectively addressed one of five world challenges: energy and climate change, sustainable water... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Strategy; Social Issues; Entrepreneurship

October 2022
Exercise

Shanty Real Estate: Confidential Information for Homebuyer 1

By: Michael Luca, Jesse M. Shapiro and Nathan Sun

Shanty is a simulation in which students inhabit the role of either a traditional home buyer or an iBuyer, both bidding on the same condo. The traditional home buyer has access to a “comp sheet” of similar properties that have recently sold, and has done a walkthrough.... View Details

Keywords: Data-driven Decision-making; Decisions; Negotiation; Bids and Bidding; Valuation; Consumer Behavior; Real Estate Industry

December 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

FIRA: Confronting the Mexican Agricultural Crisis

By: James E. Austin, Michael Chu and Cate Reavis

In fall 2003, Mexico's agriculture sector was facing a crisis brought on largely by a surge in cheap U.S. imports resulting from NAFTA and inaccessible and/or expensive terms of credit for Mexican agricultural producers. It was getting harder for Mexican producers to... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Public Sector; Trade; Financial Instruments; Crisis Management; Markets; Strategic Planning; Partners and Partnerships; Competitive Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

August 2020 (Revised September 2020)
Technical Note

Assessing Prediction Accuracy of Machine Learning Models

By: Michael W. Toffel, Natalie Epstein, Kris Ferreira and Yael Grushka-Cockayne

The note introduces a variety of methods to assess the accuracy of machine learning prediction models. The note begins by briefly introducing machine learning, overfitting, training versus test datasets, and cross validation. The following accuracy metrics and tools... View Details

Keywords: Machine Learning; Statistics; Econometric Analyses; Experimental Methods; Data Analysis; Data Analytics; Forecasting and Prediction; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Mathematical Methods

Article

Crowdsourcing City Government: Using Tournaments to Improve Inspection Accuracy

By: Edward Glaeser, Andrew Hillis, Scott Duke Kominers and Michael Luca

The proliferation of big data makes it possible to better target city services like hygiene inspections, but city governments rarely have the in-house talent needed for developing prediction algorithms. Cities could hire consultants, but a cheaper alternative is to... View Details

Keywords: User-generated Content; Operations; Tournaments; Policy-making; Machine Learning; Online Platforms; Analytics and Data Science; Mathematical Methods; City; Infrastructure; Business Processes; Government and Politics

Article

How Elastic Are Preferences for Redistribution? Evidence from Randomized Survey Experiments

By: Ilyana Kuziemko, Michael I. Norton, Emmanuel Saez and Stefanie Stantcheva

We analyze randomized online survey experiments providing interactive, customized information on U.S. income inequality, the link between top income tax rates and economic growth, and the estate tax. The treatment has large effects on views about inequality but only... View Details

Keywords: Income; Taxation; Economic Growth; United States