Publications

21 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 21, 2018

issues far more seriously, before a point of no return was reached. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54864 Survival of the Fittest: The Impact of the Minimum Wage on Firm Exit By: Luca, Dara Lee, and... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

December 2008
Background Note

Incentives in the NFL (Abridged)

By: Brian J. Hall, Andrew Wasynczuk, Jonathan Paul Lim, Sara del Nido and Katherine Dowd

This note briefly describes compensation and incentive issues in one of the major US professional sports leagues, the National Football League (NFL). It first provides some background information on the labor market for players and the salary cap, and then describes... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Wages; Groups and Teams; Conflict of Interests; Motivation and Incentives; Sports Industry; United States

July 2007
Case

Kroger Union Negotiations 2005

By: Dennis A. Yao and Mary L. Shelman

A stylized version of the negotiations between Kroger Company and its local unions during 2005. Management faces a sequence of individual negotiations with local unions in addition to meeting the new competitive challenges presented by Wal-Mart's expansion in the... View Details

Keywords: Labor and Management Relations; Labor Unions; Reputation; Wages; Management; Negotiation Participants; Negotiation Style; Competitive Strategy; Retail Industry

April 1996 (Revised May 2008)
Exercise

Adam Baxter Company/Local 190: 1985 Negotiation Baxter Management Confidential Information

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Victoria Medvec

ncludes a series of three negotiation exercises portraying management/labor relations at ABC over a period of seven years. ABC, initially a family-owned business, had prided itself on its cooperative relationship with its union, Local 190. With the skyrocketing... View Details

Keywords: Inflation and Deflation; Compensation and Benefits; Wages; Working Conditions; Management; Negotiation Process; Labor and Management Relations

November 1994
Case

Navistar International

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Jeremy Cott

As a consequence of laying off half its workforce in a massive downsizing program, the company--a large manufacturer of medium and heavy trucks--struggles with a huge ($2.6 billion) liability for retiree medical costs. Although the company has promised its retirees... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Process; Wages; Labor Unions; Legal Liability; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Restructuring

08 Jul 2015
What Do You Think?

Do Americans Work Too Much and Think About Work Too Little?

attractive to more people. Increasingly long hours on the job are a fact of American working life. Since 1979, the average workweek in the US has increased 9 percent. This has occurred disproportionately among so-called middle-class wage... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Financial Services

20 Mar 2000
Research & Ideas

No Place Like Home: America’s Housing Crisis and Its Impact on Business

expensive precisely because of the country's prosperity. With the wages and purchasing power of working people largely stagnant over the last two decades, the cost of adequate housing in a decent neighborhood has soared beyond the reach... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Construction; Real Estate

2009
Chapter

Plant-Size Distribution and Cross-Country Income Differences

By: Laura Alfaro, Andrew Charlton and Fabio Kanczuk

We investigate, using plant-level data for 79 developed and developing countries, whether differences in the allocation of resources across heterogeneous plants are a significant determinant of cross-country differences in income per worker. For this purpose, we use a... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Developing Countries and Economies; Wages; Resource Allocation; Mathematical Methods

2008
Working Paper

Firm-Size Distribution and Cross-Country Income Differences

By: Laura Alfaro, Andrew Charlton and Fabio Kanczuk

We investigate, using plant-level data for 79 developed and developing countries, whether differences in the allocation of resources across heterogeneous plants are a significant determinant of cross-country differences in income per worker. For this purpose, we use a... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Developing Countries and Economies; Wages; Resource Allocation; Mathematical Methods

Read Now

2025
Working Paper

The Hidden Costs of Working Multiple Jobs: Implications for Spending Behavior and Wellbeing

By: Paige Tsai and Ryan W. Buell

Across three studies, combining survey data, transaction-level analysis from 90,548 customers of a nationwide retail bank, and insights from the General Social Survey, we study whether people with multiple jobs spend their labor income differently than people who earn... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Operations; Employee Behavior; Job Design and Levels; Personal Finance; Well-being; Happiness; Satisfaction; Wages

Read Now

December 2021
Article

Employee Responses to Compensation Changes: Evidence from a Sales Firm

By: Jason Sandvik, Richard Saouma, Nathan Seegert and Christopher Stanton

What are the long-term consequences of compensation changes? Using data from an inbound sales call center, we study employee responses to a compensation change that ultimately reduced take-home pay by 7% for the average affected worker. The change caused a significant... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Wages; Compensation and Benefits; Change; Performance; Resignation and Termination; Retention; Analysis

Find at Harvard

Read Now

31 May 2016
First Look

May 31, 2016

working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51050 Wage Elasticities in Working and Volunteering: The Role of Reference Points in a Laboratory Study By: Exley, Christine L., and Stephen J. Terry Abstract—Volunteers... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 1996 (Revised May 2008)
Exercise

Adam Baxter Company/Local 190: 1985 Negotiation, Local 190 Confidential Information

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Victoria Medvec

Includes a series of three negotiation exercises portraying management/labor relations at ABC over a period of seven years. ABC, initially a family-owned business, had prided itself on its cooperative relationship with its union, Local 190. With the skyrocketing... View Details

Keywords: Inflation and Deflation; Compensation and Benefits; Labor Unions; Wages; Working Conditions; Negotiation Process; Labor and Management Relations

April 1996 (Revised May 2008)
Exercise

Adam Baxter Company/Local 190: 1978 Negotiation, Local 190 Confidential Information

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Victoria Medvec

Includes a series of three negotiation exercises portraying management/labor relations at ABC over a period of seven years. ABC, initially a family-owned business, had prided itself on its cooperative relationship with its union, Local 190. With the skyrocketing... View Details

Keywords: Inflation and Deflation; Compensation and Benefits; Labor Unions; Wages; Working Conditions; Negotiation Process; Labor and Management Relations

22 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

High-Tech Immigrant Workers Don’t Cost US Jobs

many cases, the firm ends up sponsoring the immigrant for permanent residency, which strengthens the worker's ties with the firm even more. “I don't have the belief that firms are using this to reduce the wage level that they have to pay... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Computer; Financial Services

20 Jul 2015
Research & Ideas

Globalization Hasn’t Killed the Manufacturing Cluster

calls "sticky." "A lot of the thinking today on manufacturing is as wages change, manufacturing moves. And you'll get these very optimistic reports about the return of manufacturing to the United States from places like China and Taiwan,... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Manufacturing; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion

15 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 15

Harmony: Peer Comparison and Executive Compensation By: Gartenberg, Claudine, and Julie Wulf Abstract—This study suggests that peer comparison affects both wage setting and productivity within firms. We report three changes in division... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 1999
Case

French Pension System, The: On The Verge Of Retirement? (Abridged)

By: David A. Moss

Surveys the French pension system, its particular institutional characteristics, and some of the critical challenges and opportunities facing French reformers. Like almost every other industrialized country, France has a large pay-as-you-go public pension system that... View Details

Keywords: Retirement; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Economic Growth; Economics; Capital Markets; Wages; Public Administration Industry; France