Publications

July 2014
Article

Smart Money? The Effect of Education on Financial Outcomes

By: Shawn A. Cole, Anna Paulson and Gauri Kartini Shastry

Household financial decisions are important for household welfare, economic growth and financial stability. Yet, our understanding of the determinants of financial decision-making is limited. Exploiting exogenous variation in state compulsory schooling laws in both... View Details

Keywords: Personal Finance; Investment; Decisions; Behavior; Financial Condition

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July 2020
Supplement

CSL Capital Management: Patriot Proppants (B)

By: Victoria Ivashina and Yury Kapko

This two-part case series follows CSL Capital’s 2009 investment in the greenfield manufacturing company, Patriot Proppants. CSL, a recently established investment firm, employs a unique investment model, funding new ("greenfield") energy service businesses that serve... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Renewable Energy; Decision Making

2010
Other Unpublished Work

Is High School the Right Time to Teach Self-control? The Effect of Financial Education and Mathematics Courses on Savings Behavior

By: Shawn A. Cole and Gauri Kartini Shastry

Household financial behavior affects household welfare and the economy at large. Yet our understanding of how to improve financial decisions is limited. Recent literature and policy attention have focused on financial education, for example, in high school. We use... View Details

Keywords: Saving; Financial Management; Secondary Education; Behavior; Decision Choices and Conditions; Personal Finance; Household

2009
Working Paper

In Favor of Clear Thinking: Incorporating Moral Rules into a Wise Cost-benefit Analysis

By: Max H. Bazerman and Joshua D. Greene

Bennis, Medin, and Bartels (2009) have contributed an interesting paper on the comparative benefit of moral rules versus cost-benefit analysis. Many of their specific comments are accurate, useful, and insightful. At the same time, we believe they have misrepresented... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Cost vs Benefits; Moral Sensibility; Cognition and Thinking

Web

Initiatives & Projects - Faculty & Research

issues take different forms, including sustained, HBS-wide initiatives built upon robust cross-disciplinary research agendas that lead to publications and conferences to broaden the impact of the findings, and multidisciplinary projects to carry out an evolving agenda... View Details

March 2007 (Revised August 2014)
Case

Survey Masters LLC (A)

By: William J. Bruns

Partners in a service firm are reviewing results for 2006, wondering whether large or small projects are more profitable. Present reports make small projects look more profitable. However, activity-based accounting reveals that large projects are more profitable and... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Financial Reporting; Cost vs Benefits; Financial Strategy; Service Industry

May 20, 2016
Comment

World Health Organization Lacks Leadership to Combat Pandemics

By: John A. Quelch

When it comes to emergency preparedness for pandemics, the World Health Organization is falling short. It has not provided prompt and clear leadership to the world in combating either the Ebola or Zika viruses. Its leadership has been low energy, its representatives... View Details

27 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

Corporate Values and Employee Cynicism

Q: How did you come to see charismatic leadership as a potential double-edged sword? What observations led to your decision to investigate this topic in depth? A: As we conducted our interviews with employees, there was a recurring theme:... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Web

Managing the Future of Work

William R. Kerr MAY 2020 The global race for talent is on, with countries and businesses competing for the best and brightest. William R. Kerr combines insights and lessons from business, government, and individual decision View Details

08 Aug 2022
News

Building an 'ARMY' of Fans: Marketing Lessons from K-Pop Sensation BTS

Research Summary

Current Research

By: Leslie K. John

Professor John is a behavioral scientist who uses both laboratory and field experiments to investigate questions that are at the intersection of marketing, organizational behavior, and public policy.

Professor John’s work has been published in leading... View Details

January 2008 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Uría Menéndez (A)

By: Robert G. Eccles

Uria Menendez, the pre-eminent law firm in Iberia, is at a critical point in its long and distinguished history. Its newly appointed second generation co-managing Partners are facing some critical strategic decisions concerning how the firm should position itself in... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Networks; Selection and Staffing; Work-Life Balance; Compensation and Benefits; Decision Making; Expansion; Legal Services Industry; Iberian Peninsula

07 Jul 2015
First Look

First Look: July 7, 2015

San Francisco, one attendee, Fran Hauser, had a much larger decision to make than just selecting which sessions to attend in the day's 7th and 8th "innings." Rothenberg had recently asked Hauser to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 Feb 2016
News

Gap Year: Harvard And Stanford Help Boomers Find A Second Act With Purpose

January 2025
Case

A Tiger in the Tank: Exxon Sues Investors

By: Clayton S. Rose, Sarah Sasso and James Weber

In June 2024, investors were trying to make sense of ExxonMobil’s (Exxon) lawsuit against two impact investors, Arjuna Capital (Arjuna) and Follow This, that had just been dismissed by the U.S. District Court of Northern Texas. Exxon’s suit challenged the rights of two... View Details

October 2003 (Revised April 2006)
Background Note

Moral Reasoning: A Practical Guide for Leaders

By: Sandra J. Sucher

We encounter moral or ethical challenges in our professional lives, in our close relationships, and as members of the broader communities that we are part of. This methodology demonstrates how moral reasoning works and how it can be integrated into a problem-solving... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Moral Sensibility; Management Systems; Problems and Challenges; Civil Society or Community

2024
Article

Political Polarization and Finance

By: Elisabeth Kempf and Margarita Tsoutsoura

We review an empirical literature that studies how political polarization affects financial decisions. We first discuss the degree of partisan segregation in finance and corporate America, the mechanisms through which partisanship may influence financial decisions, and... View Details

Keywords: Government and Politics; Investment Portfolio; Decisions; Governance

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30 Sep 2002
Research & Ideas

Your Crisis Response Plan: The Ten Effective Elements

reaching people on site and outside. For example, use of internal speakers and TV monitors to make announcements. A shooter on site, for example, triggers facility lockdown and police response but also rapid announcement that everyone... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Watkins

April 2019
Article

Shooting the Messenger

By: Leslie John, Hayley Blunden and Heidi Liu

Eleven experiments provide evidence that people have a tendency to “shoot the messenger,” deeming innocent bearers of bad news unlikeable. In a preregistered lab experiment, participants rated messengers who delivered bad news from a random drawing as relatively... View Details

Keywords: Judgment; Communication; Sense-making; Attribution; Disclosure; Interpersonal Communication; Perception; Judgments; Motivation and Incentives

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