Economic Theory - Publications - Faculty & Research

06 Aug 2007
Research & Ideas

High Hills, Deep Poverty: Explaining Civil War in Nepal

to prevent them. "The main conclusion from this whole stream of research is that investing in poverty reduction strategies not only has direct economic benefits but also political benefits," says Lakshmi Iyer, a Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

10 Sep 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Feeling Good about Giving: The Benefits (and Costs) of Self-Interested Charitable Behavior

Keywords: by Lalin Anik, Lara B. Aknin, Michael I. Norton & Elizabeth W. Dunn

06 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 6

Publications Managed Globalization: Doctrine, Practice, and Promise Authors: Rawi Abdelal and Sophie Meunier Publication: Journal of European Public Policy 17, no. 3 (April 2010): 349-366 Abstract Two alternate visions for shaping and explaining the governance of View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

08 Feb 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Psychological Influence in Negotiation: An Introduction Long Overdue

Keywords: by Deepak Malhotra & Max H. Bazerman

2017
Working Paper

A Historical Approach to Clustering in Emerging Economies

By: Valeria Giacomin

Clusters are defined as geographically concentrated agglomerations of specialized firms in a particular domain. The cluster concept in its broader meaning of industrial agglomeration has been the focus of longstanding debates in the social sciences. This working paper... View Details

Keywords: Industry Clusters; Research; Theory; Developing Countries and Economies; History; Analysis; Globalization

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March 2014
Article

Cyclicality of Credit Supply: Firm Level Evidence

By: Bo Becker and Victoria Ivashina

Theory predicts that there is a close link between bank credit supply and the evolution of the business cycle. Yet fluctuations in bank-loan supply have been hard to quantify in the time series. While loan issuance falls in recessions, it is not clear if this is due to... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Borrowing and Debt; Credit; Banks and Banking; Bonds; Financial Markets; Financing and Loans; Banking Industry

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November – December 2011
Article

Explaining Influence Rents: The Case for an Institutions-Based View of Strategy

By: Gautam Ahuja and Sai Yayavaram

Research in strategy has identified and tried to explain four types of rents: monopolistic rents, efficiency rents, quasi rents, and Schumpeterian rents. Building on previous work on political and institutional strategies, we add a fifth type of rent: influence rents.... View Details

Keywords: Institutions; Influence Rents; Generic Strategies; Strategy; Organizations; Renting or Rental; Economics

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2011
Working Paper

Cyclicality of Credit Supply: Firm Level Evidence

By: Bo Becker and Victoria Ivashina

Theory predicts that there is a close link between bank credit supply and the evolution of the business cycle. Yet fluctuations in bank-loan supply have been hard to quantify in the time-series. While loan issuance falls in recessions, it is not clear if this is due to... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Borrowing and Debt; Credit; Banks and Banking; Bonds; Financial Markets; Financing and Loans; Banking Industry

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2010
Chapter

Measuring and Managing Macrofinancial Risk and Financial Stability: A New Framework

By: Dale F. Gray, Robert C. Merton and Zvi Bodie

This paper proposes a new approach to improve the way central banks can analyze and manage the financial risks of a national economy. It is based on the modern theory and practice of contingent claims analysis (CCA), which is successfully used today at the level of... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Economy; Financial Condition; Central Banking; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Practices and Processes; Risk Management; Measurement and Metrics; System Shocks

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17 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 17, 2018

the partner type and private consumption. We estimate our model using the 2013 "Living Costs and Food Survey" database. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54695 forthcoming The Economics of... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

29 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Do Employees Work Harder for Higher Pay?

boost his or her motivation. It does—under certain conditions. The evolving field of behavioral economics is challenging the assumption that more money inevitably leads to increased effort. In a recent field study that he conducted along... View Details

Keywords: by Chuck Leddy & Harvard Gazette

23 May 2023
Research & Ideas

Face Value: Do Certain Physical Features Help People Get Ahead?

features align with the average features of all people of the same gender, race, and approximate age. Average faces tend to be perceived as more attractive—though they’re not always the most charismatic. The researchers mined psychology, consumer behavior, and View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

13 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 13

PublicationsDriven to Lead: Good, Bad, and Misguided Leadership Author:Paul R. Lawrence Publication:Jossey-Bass, forthcoming (2010) Abstract The author applies the four drive theory of human behavior (to acquire, to defend, to... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

09 Dec 2008
First Look

First Look: December 9, 2008

nations' poor economic management, international financial contagion, close "crony" relations between local politicians and capitalists? This case examines how the crisis erupted in Thailand and spread in a chain of events that... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 2015
Article

The Multinational Firm and Geopolitics: Europe, Russian Energy, and Power

By: Rawi Abdelal

Multinational firms unavoidably exert influence over politics through power that is generated by both structure and process. While both political economy and management scholars address international firms, neither field has an adequate understanding of the reciprocal... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Government and Politics; Economics; Europe; Russia

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07 Apr 2015
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First Look: April 7

Publications April 2015 Harvard Business Review How to Really Motivate Salespeople By: Chung, Doug J. Abstract—Much of what we believe about the best ways to compensate and motivate the sales force is based on theory and lab... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Sep 2023
Book

Digital Strategy: A Handbook for Managing a Moving Target

and capture value in this new context (Adner & Lieberman, 2021; Cennamo, 2021). Accordingly, existing strategy frameworks developed for traditional markets are not applicable to the new digital context. Digital strategy thus involves a sufficiently substantive... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Information Technology; Technology

22 May 2007
First Look

First Look: May 22, 2007

J. Gomes, Laurence J. Kotlikoff, and Luis M. Viceira Abstract Governments are known for procrastinating when it comes to resolving painful policy problems. Whatever the political motives for waiting to decide, procrastination distorts View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2015
Discussion Paper

The Roles of Import Competition and Export Opportunities for Technical Change

By: Claudia Steinwender

A variety of empirical and theoretical trade papers have suggested and documented a positive impact of trade on the productivity of firms. However, there is less consensus about the underlying mechanism at work. While trade papers focus on access to export markets,... View Details

Keywords: Performance Productivity; Trade

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