Real Wages - Publications - Faculty & Research

2019
Chapter

The Great Divergence and the Great Convergence

This chapter provides a new lens to the extensive debate among economists and economic historians concerning why the West grew rich and the rest of the world lagged behind as modern industrialization took hold in the 19th century. The literature has focused heavily on... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Growth and Development; History; Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America; Middle East; North and Central America; Oceania

Citation

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13 Jun 2011
HBS Case

Mobile Banking for the Unbanked

bank accounts at all—they wanted effective ways to send money home to their families. The case's key lesson is the importance of meeting the real needs of your target audience, not the needs as you perceive them, says professor V. Kasturi... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Banking; Communications; Telecommunications

25 Apr 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, April 25

strategic intent. This book of cases provides real examples of these challenges. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52557 forthcoming Management Science If You're Going to Do Wrong, at Least Do It Right:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Jun 2013
First Look

First Look: June 18

wage comparisons affect firm policies on executive pay? This paper explores that question using a 1992 SEC proxy disclosure rule that mandated increased disclosure of executive pay. We argue that this rule differentially increased View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

03 Nov 2016
Op-Ed

Forget About Making College Affordable; Make it a Good Investment

about $29,000, or about two years’ worth of the average young college graduate’s wage premium over a high school grad. A course of study and internships that lead to a college-level job usually will yield returns sufficient to prevent... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Fuller; Education

24 Jun 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Don’t Just Survive—Thrive: Leading Innovation in Good Times and Bad

Keywords: by Lynda M. Applegate & J. Bruce Harreld

16 May 2023
HBS Case

How KKR Got More by Giving Ownership to the Factory Floor: ‘My Kids Are Going to College!’

One thing that stuck with Pete Stavros from the dinner-table conversations of his youth was that capitalism seemed fundamentally broken for his father, who earned an hourly wage working construction. The incentive was not there for... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

November 2006
Article

The Flattening Firm: Evidence from Panel Data on the Changing Nature of Corporate Hierarchies

By: Raghuram G. Rajan and Julie Wulf

Using a detailed database of managerial job descriptions, reporting relationships, and compensation structures in over 300 large U.S. firms, we find that firm hierarchies are becoming flatter. The number of positions reporting directly to the CEO has gone up... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Change; Business Ventures; Compensation and Benefits; Rank and Position; Wages; Motivation and Incentives; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Jobs and Positions; United States

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07 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

Supervisor of Sandwiches? More Companies Inflate Titles to Avoid Extra Pay

economic spectrum are creating faux management jobs, pointing to wage cases filed by workers at tech and financial services giants. The team found a five-fold increase in manager titles like “directors of first impressions” (aka... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

Web

Students on the Job Market - Doctoral

decline either the same as or more than myopic (value-decreasing) repurchases. Results using event study returns and repurchase prices corroborate these effects. Overall, the findings are consistent with increased repurchase disclosure having View Details

03 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

Why a Failed Startup Might Be Good for Your Career After All

In August, mega venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz announced a $350 million investment in residential real estate company Flow—the single largest investment the VC titan had ever made. But a bigger surprise than the investment... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

29 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 29, 2008

expanding into high-wage economies in Europe and North America; (2) the company was expanding its presence in China—a country where front-line employees were not used to exercising decision-making authority; and (3) newcomers in the Chinese hotel market were poaching... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

26 Nov 2007
Research & Ideas

Best Practices of Global Innovators

essence, collaboration can help firms improve their bottom and their top lines. For a few, it provides a real source of competitive advantage. Q: You mention in the paper that many efforts at innovation collaboration fail because they... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

20 Feb 2008
First Look

First Look: February 20, 2008

policies that maintain a low level of average inflation. Purchase the paper from SSRN ($5): http://papers.nber.org/papers/w13754 Minimally Altruistic Wages and Unemployment in a Matching Model Author:Julio J. Rotemberg Abstract This paper... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

30 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 30, 2015

underlying the ratings. Our tests examine whether these forms of disclosure reflect firms' real efforts to combat corruption or are cheap talk. We find that the ratings are related to enforcement and monitoring, country and industry... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

Web

Business History - Faculty & Research

Contested Meanings of Freedom: Workingmen's Wages, the Company Store System and the Godcharles v. Wigeman Decision By: Laura Phillips Sawyer In 1886, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down a law that prohibited employers from paying View Details

02 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

Why We Still Need Twitter: How Social Media Holds Companies Accountable

in monitoring companies. There could be severe negative consequences if Twitter were to cease operations.” Two days later, Chipotle said it would raise employee pay by about $2 per hour, with starting wages ranging from $11 to $18, to... View Details

Keywords: by Kasandra Brabaw; Technology

30 Nov 2015
Research & Ideas

Donors Are Turned Off by Overhead Costs. Here’s What Charities Can Do

would be covered by someone else. AN OVERHEAD-FREE OPTION PAYS OFF IN THE REAL WORLD Continuing to pursue the efficacy of a dedicated overhead benefactor, Keenan and her colleagues took their research to the View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

06 Nov 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, November 6, 2018

increased assertion activity nearing patent expiration, and forum shopping. We find, moreover, that NPE litigation has a real negative impact on innovation at targeted firms: firms substantially reduce their innovative activity after... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

18 Aug 2022
Op-Ed

Your Best Employees Are Burning Out: A Framework for Retaining Talent

lobbyists influenced new policies that ultimately weakened critical union protections and ensured that the minimum wage stagnated, failing to keep up with inflation. Baby Boomers experienced conditions in which corporations began... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson and MaShon Wilson

Publications