Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(853)
- Faculty Publications (66)
- 2020
- Working Paper
Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Consumption: The Impact of Access and Value
By: Retsef Levi, Elisabeth Paulson and Georgia Perakis
The goal of this paper is to leverage household-level data to improve food-related policies aimed at increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables (FVs) among low-income households. Currently, several interventions target areas where residents have limited... View Details
Keywords: Food Deserts; Food Access; Food Policy; Causal Inference; Food; Nutrition; Poverty; Government Administration
- Article
Do We Spend Too Much on Health Care?
By: Katherine Baicker and Amitabh Chandra
Health system reforms—such as changes in insurance design, patient cost sharing, payment reform, or price regulation—should be judged by whether they move us toward higher-value use of resources, rather than by whether they reduce spending. View Details
- June 2020
- Article
How Scheduling Can Bias Quality Assessment: Evidence from Food Safety Inspections
By: Maria Ibanez and Michael W. Toffel
Accuracy and consistency are critical for inspections to be an effective, fair, and useful tool for assessing risks, quality, and suppliers—and for making decisions based on those assessments. We examine how inspector schedules could introduce bias that erodes... View Details
- January 2020
- Case
Sunset Limited or Full Speed Ahead? Amtrak Talks to Congress
By: John D. Macomber
Richard Anderson took the helm of Amtrak in 2017 after leading a successful turnaround at Delta Airlines. Amtrak is a US state owned enterprise with about $3.5 bn in annual revenue (and a large operating loss) that is responsible for substantial segments of passenger... View Details
- 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
- November 2019
- Supplement
United Technologies Corp.: Are the Parts Worth More Than the Whole?
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher
After spending more than 50 years creating a diversified industrial conglomerate that Fortune Magazine described as “arguably the most profitable conglomerate in America” in 2014, UTC’s CEO Greg Hayes was under pressure from activist investors (Dan Loeb and Bill... View Details
Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Business Conglomerates; Financial Management; Corporate Governance; Organizational Structure; Diversification; Valuation; Investment Activism; Financial Strategy; Investment Funds; Value Creation; Aerospace Industry; Electronics Industry; Industrial Products Industry; United States
- November 2019 (Revised April 2021)
- Case
United Technologies: Are the Parts Worth More Than the Whole?
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher
After spending more than 50 years creating a diversified industrial conglomerate that Fortune magazine described as “arguably the most profitable conglomerate in America” in 2014, UTC’s CEO Greg Hayes was under pressure from activist investors (Dan Loeb and Bill... View Details
- Article
Mandate Outcomes Reporting
By: Robert S. Kaplan and Michael E. Porter
Currently, few health care providers measure and report their patient outcomes, which leads to several problems. Attempts to introduce price transparency without outcomes transparency could trigger a “race to the bottom.” Should Medicare coverage be expanded to... View Details
- 2019
- Working Paper
Optimal Interventions for Increasing Healthy Food Consumption Among Low Income Households
By: Retsef Levi, Elisabeth Paulson and Georgia Perakis
The federal government currently spends over $100 billion per year on policies aimed to increase fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption among low income households. These include price-, nutrition education-, and access-related interventions. Currently, the government... View Details
- February 2019
- Article
Does It Matter If Your Health Insurer Is For Profit? Effects of Ownership on Premiums, Insurance Coverage, and Medical Spending
By: Leemore S. Dafny
There is limited empirical evidence about the impact of for-profit health insurers on various outcomes. I study the effects of conversions to for-profit status by Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) affiliates in 11 states, spanning 28 geographic markets. I find both the... View Details
- 2018
- Working Paper
After the Carnival: Key Factors to Enhance Olympic Legacy and Prevent Olympic Sites from Becoming White Elephants
By: Isao Okada and Stephen A. Greyser
In recent years, the total spending on hosting the Olympic Games has snowballed. The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games spent $40 billion on infrastructure development, and the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics reached $50 billion. Even when the glorious but costly Olympic Games come... View Details
- 2019
- Working Paper
Racial Heterogeneity and Local Government Finances: Evidence from the Great Migration
By: Marco Tabellini
Between 1915 and 1930, during the First Great Migration, more than 1.5 million African Americans migrated from the South to the North of the United States, altering the racial profile of several northern cities for the first time in American history. I exploit this... View Details
Keywords: Migration; Race; City; Financial Condition; Government and Politics; History; United States
- April 2018
- Article
The Power of Voice in Stimulating Morality: Eliciting Taxpayer Preferences Increases Tax Compliance
By: Cait Lamberton, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve and Michael I. Norton
Decisions about paying taxes represent one of the most common moral quandaries faced by citizens. In the
present research, we argue that taxpayer compliance can be raised by increasing “voice”: allowing taxpayers
to express non-binding preferences about the way their... View Details
Keywords: Morality; Public Policy; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Taxation; Policy; Attitudes; Governance Compliance
- Article
Why Compliance Programs Fail: And How to Fix Them
By: Hui Chen and Eugene Soltes
Firms spend millions of dollars annually on whistle-blower hotlines, training, and other efforts to ensure adherence to laws, regulations, and company policies. Yet malfeasance remains entrenched in the corporate world. Why? Too many firms treat compliance as a... View Details
- 2018
- Chapter
Work and Well-being: A Global Perspective
By: Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, and Council Members: A. Blankson, A. Clark, C. Cooper, H. James, C. Krekel, J. Lim, P. Litchfield, J. Moss, M. I. Norton, M. Rojas, G. Ward and A.V. Whillans
Work and employment play a central role in most people’s lives. In OECD countries, for example, people spend around a third of their waking hours engaged in paid work. We not only spend considerable amounts of our time at work, employment and workplace quality also... View Details
- December 2017
- Response
Reply: Do Powerful Politicians Really Cause Corporate Downsizing?
By: Lauren Cohen, Joshua D. Coval and Christopher J. Malloy
While we commend the initiative of Snyder and Welch (2017), we lay out in this short reply why we remain highly confident in our results and our interpretation thereof. We welcome authors to continue to explore the data for themselves and look forward to the new... View Details
- September 2017 (Revised March 2018)
- Case
Chai Point: Disrupting Chai
By: Shikhar Ghosh, Ramana Nanda and Rachna Tahilyani
Chai Point is India’s largest organized chai retailer. It has missed its target for retail store openings by approximately 25%, goals that are very important to its investors who are also board members. However, it has developed an exciting new internet-based tea... View Details
Keywords: Strategy; Venture Capital; Stock; Business Model; Mobile Technology; Technological Innovation; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Food; Selection and Staffing; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Resignation and Termination; Compensation and Benefits; Resource Allocation; Product Positioning; Distribution Channels; Product Design; Supply Chain; Governing and Advisory Boards; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry; Asia; India; Karnataka; Bangalore
- July 2017 (Revised September 2017)
- Case
Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India
By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Shweta Bagai
Founders Vineet and Anupama Nayar had rapidly scaled their foundation to reach 3 million primary school children (grades 1 to 3) in two states with math and English programs. Their goal was to reach 10 million children by 2025 and completely spend down the $100 million... View Details
- November 2016 (Revised February 2017)
- Case
BrightStar Care: The Evolution of a Leadership Team
By: Boris Groysberg, Colleen Ammerman and John D. Vaughan
BrightStar Care was a rapidly growing franchise of home health care agencies. Founded by husband and wife team JD and Shelly Sun as a single agency near Chicago in 2002, BrightStar had opened nearly 300 franchises across the United States by 2016, generating over $300... View Details
Keywords: Health Care Services; Entrepreneurs; Board Of Directors; Boards Of Directors; Health Care Industry; Growth Strategy; Organizational Change; Brand Positioning; Entrepreneurial Organizations; Entrepreneurial Management; Franchising; Family-owned Business; Home Health Care; Managing Growth; Management Styles; Organizational Development; Talent Management; Women Executives; Women And Leadership; Business Startups; Family Business; Small Business; Talent and Talent Management; Governing and Advisory Boards; Health Care and Treatment; Human Capital; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Skills; Management Style; Management Succession; Management Systems; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Strategy
- January 2016 (Revised February 2016)
- Case
Citizens United and Corporate Speech
By: David Moss and Marc Campasano
The story of Citizens United began in late 2007, as leading members of the Republican and Democratic parties were preparing for the 2008 presidential primaries. Democrats expected a three-way contest in their party between Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, Senator (and... View Details