Governance Transparency - Publications - Faculty & Research

26 May 2003
Research & Ideas

Corporate Transparency Improves For Foreign Firms in U.S. Markets

are negatively associated with the disclosure scores. Our results are broadly consistent with the hypothesis that cross-border economic interactions are associated with similarities in disclosure and governance practices. Q: While... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

Winter 2013
Article

Fear of Rejection? Tiered Certification and Transparency

By: Emmanuel Farhi, Josh Lerner and Jean Tirole

The sub-prime crisis has shone a harsh spotlight on the practices of securities underwriters, which provided too many complex securities that proved to ultimately have little value. This uproar calls attention to the fact that the literature on intermediaries has... View Details

Keywords: Debt Securities; Corporate Disclosure; Corporate Governance

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10 Jun 2015
Research & Ideas

The Transparency Revolution in Corporate Reporting

Not long ago, only 30 companies around the world reported data about their social and sustainability (that is, nonfinancial) endeavors. Today, more than 7,000 organizations do so. While that transparency is undoubtedly a good thing, the... View Details

Keywords: Re: George Serafeim

24 May 2005 - 27 May 2005
Lecture

Why Free Markets Must Be Fair." Keynote speaker. "6th Global Forum on Reinventing Government: Toward Participatory and Transparent Governance

By: Lynn S. Paine

Keywords: Economics; Markets; Fairness

Citation

2022
Working Paper

Banking on Transparency for the Poor: Experimental Evidence from India

By: Erica M. Field, Natalia Rigol, Charity M. Troyer Moore, Rohini Pande and Simone G. Schaner

Do information frictions limit the benefits of financial inclusion drives for the rural poor? We evaluate an experimental intervention among recently banked poor Indian women receiving government cash transfers via direct deposit. Treated women were provided automated... View Details

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12 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

The Three Components of Family Governance

of statement. The rare family in business may have a more elaborate family governance structure, with a separate meeting for family-owner-managers or a separate council for family shareholders or periodic meetings between shareholders,... View Details

25 Apr 2000
Research & Ideas

Adjusting the Fit for Government

The role of government in Africa must be to establish an "investor friendly" environment, according to Obiageli Ezekwesili, a panelist at the Africa Business Conference's debate on "Government and the Enabling... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

2020
Case

Building Transparency within the Sustainable Apparel Coalition: The Road to Successful Pre-Competitive Collaboration

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) was founded in 2010 to develop a common set of sustainability standards for the apparel, footwear, and home textile industries. The organization was an example of pre-competitive collaboration, a strategy in which companies... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Cooperation; Social Issues; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Evaluation; Apparel and Accessories Industry

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November 29, 2023
Article

To Earn Trust, Climate Alliances Need to Improve Transparency

By: Peter Tufano, Chris Thomas, Knut Haanaes, Matteo Gasparini, Robert Eyres and Christopher Chapman

Businesses are increasingly joining together as part of climate alliances to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels. But these alliances raise antitrust issues: When competitors collaborate, it can come at the expense of customers or workers. To mitigate... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Partners and Partnerships; Corporate Disclosure; Energy Sources

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2025
Working Paper

Blockchain-Induced Supply Chain Transparency and Firm Performance: The Role of Capacity Utilization

By: ShinWoo Lee Lee, Jedson Pinto, Daniel Rabetti and Gil Sadka

This study empirically investigates how blockchain adoption affects firm profitability. Employing a quasi-experimental design triggered by regulatory changes across the United States, we provide novel empirical evidence to recent theory, proposing that blockchain... View Details

Keywords: Blockchain; Supply Chain; Technology Adoption; Profit; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; United States

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Teaching Interest

Audit Committees in a New Era of Governance

By: Paul M. Healy

The last ten years has heightened demands on audit committees. Not only are they responsible for overseeing internal and external audits to ensure that investors receive accurate and transparent information, but they must ensure compliance with new accounting and... View Details

16 Nov 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Data.gov: Matching Government Data with Rapid Innovation

Transparency: Its official motive of transparency allows citizens more control of information that affects them. Giving "power to the people" puts a new set of eyes and ears on government and holds... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Technology

Teaching Interest

Audit Committees in a New Era of Governance

By: Suraj Srinivasan

The last ten years has heightened demands on audit committees. Not only are they responsible for overseeing internal and external audits to ensure that investors receive accurate and transparent information, but they must ensure compliance with new accounting and... View Details

13 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

How Government Can Restore the Faith of Citizens

Congress and the streets getting fixed." “The sweet spot is where you are working hard, but also getting things done” In a new paper, Surfacing the Submerged State with Operational Transparency in View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

28 Aug 2014
Op-Ed

Government Can Do More to Unfreeze Small Business Credit

businesses. But small business credit was hit hard during the recent recession and has been slow to recover. Beginning in early 2009, the federal government acted quickly to unfreeze credit markets with programs ranging from loan... View Details

Keywords: by Karen Mills; Banking

31 Aug 2020
Research & Ideas

State and Local Governments Peer Into the Pandemic Abyss

Kristen Senz is a social media editor and writer for Harvard Business School Working Knowledge. [Image: iStock Photo] Related Reading Working Paper: Surfacing the Submerged State with Operational Transparency in View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

2019
Working Paper

Thinking Outside the Box (12): The Benefits of Increased Transparency in Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance for the 180 Million Insured

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Barak D. Richman

Economists have long noted that the tax exclusion of employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) caused workers to purchase health plans that differ in price and other characteristics from those they would otherwise choose for themselves. We explore the short-term and long-term... View Details

Keywords: After-tax Income; Consumer-driven Health Care; Health Care Costs; Health Insurance; Income Inequality; Tax Policy; Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Insurance; Income; Equality and Inequality; Taxation; Policy; United States

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July 2021
Article

Invisible Inequality Leads to Punishing the Poor and Rewarding the Rich

By: Oliver P. Hauser, Gordon T. Kraft-Todd, David Rand, Martin A. Nowak and Michael I. Norton

Four experiments examine how the lack of awareness of inequality affects behaviour towards the rich and poor. In Experiment 1, participants who became aware that wealthy individuals donated a smaller percentage of their income switched from rewarding the wealthy to... View Details

Keywords: Income Transparency; Income; Wealth; Equality and Inequality; Knowledge; Behavior; Outcome or Result; Society; Policy

21 Mar 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Voluntary, Self-Regulatory, and Mandatory Disclosure of Oil and Gas Company Payments to Foreign Governments

Keywords: by Paul M. Healy and George Serafeim; Energy

October 2021
Article

Shareholder Activism and Firms' Voluntary Disclosure of Climate Change Risks

By: Caroline Flammer, Michael W. Toffel and Kala Viswanathan

This paper examines whether—in the absence of mandated disclosure requirements—shareholder activism can elicit greater disclosure of firms’ exposure to climate change risks. We find that environmental shareholder activism increases the voluntary disclosure of climate... View Details