Income Characteristics - Publications - Faculty & Research

08 Sep 2009
Research & Ideas

The Height Tax, and Other New Ways to Think about Taxation

Harvard economist N. Gregory Mankiw, Weinzierl coauthored the HBS working paper "The Optimal Taxation of Height: A Case Study of Utilitarian Income Redistribution" [PDF]. The main framework economists use to think through tax... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

03 Jun 2008
First Look

First Look: June 3, 2008

China‘s income inequality has risen rapidly over that same time frame, Vietnam‘s has only grown moderately. Structural and socio-cultural determinants fail to account for these divergent pathways. Existing political variables are also... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

1998
Working Paper

Some Evidence on the Optimal Welfare State Based on Subjective Data

By: Rafael Di Tella and Robert MacCulloch

It is often difficult to evaluate all the costs and benefits of the welfare state. This paper suggests an alternative approach based on surveys of citizen satisfaction with welfare programs. In the first part of the paper we estimate the level of unemployment benefits... View Details

Keywords: Personal Characteristics; Employment; Surveys; Programs; Government and Politics; Age; Income; Residency; Welfare; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Cost vs Benefits; Satisfaction; United Kingdom

Citation

14 Feb 2011
Research & Ideas

Clay Christensen’s Milkshake Marketing

price, or dividing the customer base into target demographics, such as age, gender, education, or income level. Unfortunately, neither way works very well, according to Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, who notes that... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail; Service; Consumer Products; Food & Beverage

30 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 30

Experiment By: Cole, Shawn, Xavier Giné, and James Vickery Abstract—Weather is a key source of income risk, particularly in emerging market economies. This paper uses a randomized controlled trial involving a sample of Indian farmers to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2008
Article

Crime and Punishment in the 'American Dream'

By: Rafael Di Tella and Juan Dubra

We observe that countries where belief in the "American dream" (i.e., effort pays) prevails also set harsher punishment for criminals. We know that beliefs are also correlated with several features of the economic system (taxation, social insurance, etc). Our objective... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Economic Systems; Values and Beliefs; Law Enforcement; Mathematical Methods; Personal Characteristics; United States

Citation

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23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

Sam Walton: Great From the Start

learn from everybody," he said, and one of the key characteristics of his career was that he kept learning until the day he died. He learned from Butler Brothers, from retail publications, and from his competitor, John Dunham, with... View Details

Keywords: by Richard S. Tedlow; Retail

18 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

What Your Non-Binary Employees Need to Do Their Best Work

non-binary respondents, in addition to more than 700 men and more than 700 women. The sample, Coffman notes, includes people across the US of different ages, races, and income levels. “People may have different motivators in terms of what... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

29 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

Why Do Outlet Stores Exist?

shopped at retail stores and outlets were virtually identical in terms of demographics, including income and zip codes. They differed, however, on two important variables: their willingness to travel, and the degree to which they cared... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion; Retail

Web

Topics - HBS Working Knowledge

Horizontal Integration (1) Housing (4) Human Capital (27) Human Needs (14) Human Resources (292) Identity (6) Immigration (37) Income (7) Independent Innovation and Invention (5) Industry Clusters (8) Industry Growth (3) Inflation and... View Details

02 Aug 2016
First Look

August 2, 2016

households allocate their attention (away from chat and news towards video and social media), and yet we simultaneously identify remarkable stability in how much attention is allocated and how it is allocated. Specifically, we identify (i) persistence in the elasticity... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 May 2023
Blog Post

Independent Project: The Rise of Electric Heat Pumps

total state and federal incentives. Any taxpayer can claim a federal tax credit for 30% of total project costs (including installation, equipment, and labor), up to $2K. Beyond this, there is an attractive state-administered rebate of $8K that is tiered by View Details

18 Dec 2013
HBS Case

Lessons from the Lance Armstrong Cheating Scandal

Corrupted, which was taught to all incoming MBAs on their second day on campus in the fall. The goal was to get them to think about their own values and the obligations they have to shape the culture of an organization. As much as... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Sports

Web

Alternative Investments Course | HBS Online

Wrap-Up Private Equity: Secondaries Featured Exercises Classify attributes of investment opportunities Rank deals by their characteristics 6-7 hrs Module 3 Hedge Funds Learn key elements of hedge funds, including fee structure and sources... View Details

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Research - Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

overall regulatory policies, can reduce the susceptibility of reference rates to manipulation. Related Themes: Credit Markets, Stabilization Policy & Regulation, Size & Growth of the Financial Sector More Info Banks as Patient Fixed View Details

28 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

Unilever: Transformation and Tradition

were not strong enough to prevent the growth of private labels in Europe, but they were sufficient to maintain Unilever's strong position in higher margin products. It was able to leverage knowledge of brands and products between countries throughout the world,... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products

23 Jun 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovative Ways to Encourage Personal Savings

about the subject in a paper, "Consumer Demand for Prize-Linked Savings: A Preliminary Analysis" [PDF]. In the Clarksville survey, there were four characteristics that define people who were most interested in the product: They have no... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

Web

Finance Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Faculty Recognition Award for extraordinary efforts as a teacher and founding chair of the EC bridges program. Emil N. Siriwardane : Winner of the 2015 AQR Top Finance Graduate Award at Copenhagen Business School . Boris Vallee : Winner of the 2015 Arthur Warga Award... View Details

13 Sep 2010
Research & Ideas

The Consumer Appeal of Underdog Branding

the way, making it a more difficult struggle for them than for others. In competition with others that have more resources, underdogs feel the odds are against them. The underdog's internal characteristics are largely positive: Underdogs... View Details