Publications

17 May 2004
Research & Ideas

Why We Don’t Study Corporate Responsibility

"Our message," says Margolis in this interview, "is that as business plays an increasingly important role in society, it is important to correct the drift away from social welfare and devote more research attention to... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

January 2024
Article

Helping Children Catch Up: Early Life Shocks and the PROGRESA Experiment

By: Achyuta Adhvaryu, Theresa Molina, Anant Nyshadham and Jorge Tamayo

Can investing in children who faced adverse events in early childhood help them catch up? We answer this question using two orthogonal sources of variation – resource availability at birth (local rainfall) and cash incentives for school enrollment – to identify the... View Details

Keywords: Children; Outcome or Result; Welfare; Early Childhood Education; Weather

24 Jul 2014
Op-Ed

Reform Tax Law to Keep US Firms at Home

exclusively on advancing US welfare with particular attention on reforms that will improve American wages” While these transactions naturally attract growing attention, inversions are merely the most visible manifestation of these... View Details

Keywords: by Mihir Desai; Pharmaceutical

Portrait Project

Nick Gerry-Bullard

and that slowing the pace of drastic climate change is one of the great tasks my generation must embrace. Recognizing too, the broad advances in human welfare that commerce enables, I want to work in business and government to further an... View Details

Article

Making Seconds Count: When Valuing Time Promotes Subjective Well-being

By: Alice Lee-Yoon and A.V. Whillans

Time is a finite and precious resource, and the way that we value our time can critically shape happiness. In this article, we present a conceptual framework to explain when valuing time can enhance vs. undermine well-being. Specifically, we review the emotional... View Details

Keywords: Time; Happiness; Welfare; Money; Value; Well-being

Find at Harvard

April 2018
Teaching Note

Happy UAE

By: Joshua Schwartzstein

Teaching Note for HBS No. 918-041. View Details

Keywords: UAE; Wellbeing; Wellness; Government Initiatives; Happiness; Welfare; Governance; Motivation and Incentives; United Arab Emirates

2024
Working Paper

The Seeds of Ideology: Historical Immigration and Political Preferences in the United States

By: Paola Giuliano and Marco Tabellini

We study the long run effects of immigration on American political ideology. Exploiting cross-county variation in the presence of European immigrants between 1900 and 1930, we establish a novel result: historical European immigration is associated with stronger... View Details

Keywords: Political Ideology; Preferences For Redistribution; Cultural Transmission; Immigration; History; Values and Beliefs; Welfare; United States

SSRN

09 Jul 2014
News

Changing the way governments and businesses tackle environmental challenges

Carter Roberts (MBA 1988) talks about leading the World Wildlife Fund to engage with businesses and governments to make systemic changes to tackle environmental and animal welfare challenges. (Published July 2014) View Details

Portrait Project

Mickey Millar

roach. Each incident left a stain on my spirit. While studying social welfare at HKS, I worked part-time so my pregnant sister wouldn't become homeless after she lost her job while on bed rest. During pharmaceutical case discussions at... View Details

02 Feb 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Commuting with a Plan: How Goal-Directed Prospection Can Offset the Strain of Commuting

Keywords: by Jon M. Jachimowicz, Julia J. Lee, Bradley R. Staats, Jochen I. Menges, Francesca Gino

October 2020 (Revised March 2022)
Case

The What Works Centre: Using Behavioral Science to Improve Social Worker Well-being (A)

By: Ashley V. Whillans and Shibeal O'Flaherty

This case describes the experiences of Michael Sanders—the Chief Executive of the What Works Center for Children’s Social Care—as he led the design and implementation of a program of research aimed at improving the social care system in the United Kingdom (UK) at the... View Details

Keywords: Non-cash Compensation; Behavioral Science; Employees; Welfare; Compensation and Benefits; Well-being; United Kingdom

Educators

February 1996
Case

Indianopolis: Implementing Competition in City Services

By: William J. Bruns Jr. and Roger Atherton

Mayor Stephen Goldsmith of Indianapolis introduces competition to provide city services and implementation of new bidding procedures and work practices in the Department of Transportation. Exhibits show how work methods changed and work control procedures control work... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Business Strategy; Welfare; Transportation; Change; Cost Management; Service Industry

Educators

2009
Book

Supercorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Opportunity, Profits, Growth, and Social Good

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

Supercorp is based on a 3-year study involving more than 350 interviews in 20 countries to identify the leadership practices and operating methods of major companies seeking profitable growth through innovation that benefits society. For example, when the tsunami and... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Opportunities; Welfare

Find at Harvard

2006
Chapter

The Microeconomic Foundations of Prosperity: Findings from the Business Competitiveness Index

By: Michael E. Porter, Christian H.M. Ketels and Mercedes Delgado-Garcia

Keywords: Microeconomics; Welfare; Competitive Advantage; Globalized Economies and Regions

2019
Article

Preferences for Experienced Versus Remembered Happiness

By: Cassie Mogilner and Michael I. Norton

Consider two types of happiness: one experienced on a moment-to-moment basis, the other a reflective evaluation where people feel happy looking back. Though researchers have measured and argued the merits of each, we inquired into which happiness people say they want.... View Details

Keywords: Well-being; Life Satisfaction; Experience; Retrospective; Time; Happiness; Satisfaction; Welfare; Perception

Find at Harvard

March 2024
Article

Human Capital Affects Religious Identity: Causal Evidence from Kenya

By: Livia Alfonsi, Michal Bauer, Julie Chytilová and Edward Miguel

We study how human capital and economic conditions causally affect the choice of religious denomination. We utilize a longitudinal dataset monitoring the religious history of more than 5,000 Kenyans over 20 years, in tandem with a randomized experiment (deworming) that... View Details

Keywords: Religion; Human Capital; Developing Countries and Economies; Welfare; Kenya

January 27, 2020
Article

Food-Stamp Work Requirements Just Look Cruel

By: Scott Duke Kominers

The rule doesn’t help beneficiaries find the steady employment that doesn’t exist. View Details

Keywords: Food; Employment; Welfare; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

Register to Read

May 2019
Teaching Note

Universal Basic Income, Job Guarantees, or None of the Above?

By: William R. Kerr and Jordan Bach-Lombardo

Teaching Note for HBS No. 819-035. View Details

Keywords: UBI; Job Guarantee; Public Policy; EITC; Employment; Labor; Social Issues; Income; Governance; Policy; Welfare