Publications

February 2005 (Revised March 2005)
Case

The Trustees of Reservations

By: Michael Chu

The executive director and chairman of the board of The Trustees of Reservations, one of the nation's oldest land conservation institutions, undertake a major governance restructuring. Reviews the forces leading to the change, the process by which its undertaken, and... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Governance Controls; Performance Effectiveness; Problems and Challenges; Social Enterprise

2006
Chapter

Coerced Confessions: How Regulatory Deterrence Drives Self-Policing

By: Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel

Keywords: Governance Compliance; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

08 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 8, 2008

prices, both of which were beyond the control of MME. MME was aided by record gasoline prices and ethanol usage mandates in the 2005 energy bill. U.S. ethanol demand is projected to increase; however, corn and ethanol price swings could... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Joseph S. Wright

Wright led Zenith Radio Corporation during its heyday as the leading manufacturer of color televisions in the United States. Under Wright’s direction, Zenith pioneered the wireless remote controller and introduced advances in color... View Details

Keywords: Fabricated Goods

14 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Ethics Bots and Other Ways to Move Your Code of Business Conduct Beyond Puffery

When health insurer Cigna Corp. appeared in front of a judge for allegedly misleading shareholders on Medicare regulations this spring, plaintiffs thought they had a strong case. After all, Cigna had published its own document titled “Code of Ethics and Principles of... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

02 Oct 2008
What Do You Think?

Workout vs. Bailout: Should Government Take Advantage of the Buffett Effect?

Summing Up The depth of the global financial crisis is becoming clearer day by day. In the United States, it is being used as a reason to set aside ideology regarding government ownership of important financial institutions, possibly including those that also... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

1993
Chapter

Operation and Regulation in Financial Intermediation: A Functional Perspective

By: Robert C. Merton

Keywords: Financial Markets; Operations; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government and Politics; Financial Services Industry

October 2023
Article

Laboratory Safety and Research Productivity

By: Alberto Galasso, Hong Luo and Brooklynn Zhu

Are laboratory safety practices a tax on scientific productivity? We examine this question by exploiting the substantial increase in safety regulations at the University of California following the shocking accidental death of a research assistant in 2008.... View Details

Keywords: Economics Of Science; Risk Perception; Safety Regulations; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Working Conditions; Safety; Performance Productivity

2022
Working Paper

Consumer Reviews and Regulation: Evidence from NYC Restaurants

By: Chiara Farronato and Georgios Zervas

We investigate the informativeness of hygiene signals in online reviews, and their effect on consumer choice and restaurant hygiene. We first extract signals of hygiene from Yelp. Among all dimensions that regulators monitor through mandated restaurant inspections, we... View Details

Keywords: Restaurants; Reviews; Hygiene; Yelp; Regulation; Food; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Consumer Behavior

2018
Chapter

Between Economic Planning and Market Competition: International Law and Economics in the U.S.

By: Laura Phillips Sawyer

The impact of institutional economics in shaping the American regulatory tradition has largely been dismissed as an incoherent attack on the neoclassical economic paradigm. This essay briefly reconstructs the interwar institutionalist movement, exploring the... View Details

Keywords: Economics; History; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Government Relations; United States

2011
Chapter

The Economics of Housing Finance Reform

By: David S. Scharfstein and Adi Sunderam

This paper analyzes the two leading types of proposals for reform of the housing finance system: (i) broad-based, explicit, priced government guarantees of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and (ii) privatization. Both proposals have drawbacks. Properly-priced... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Housing; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Government and Politics

2009
Working Paper

Dishonest Deed, Clear Conscience: Self-Preservation through Moral Disengagement and Motivated Forgetting

By: Lisa L. Shu, Francesca Gino and Max H. Bazerman

People routinely engage in dishonest acts without feeling guilty about their behavior. When and why does this occur? Across four studies, people justified their dishonest deeds through moral disengagement and exhibited motivated forgetting of information that might... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Behavior

November 1999
Background Note

Operating Segment Disclosures

By: David F. Hawkins

Discusses the accounting rules that govern operating segment disclosure. View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Corporate Disclosure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Operations

2003
Class Lecture

Renewing Markets for Better Governance

By: Krishna G. Palepu

Keywords: Capital Markets; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms