Publications
Publications
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(166)
- News (24)
- Research (109)
- Events (2)
- Multimedia (2)
- Faculty Publications (46)
- 2014
- Working Paper
Islam, Inequality, and Pre-Industrial Comparative Development
By: Stelios Michalopoulos, Alireza Naghavi and Giovanni Prarolo
This study explores the interaction between trade and geography in shaping the Islamic economic doctrine and in turn the comparative development of the Muslim world. We build a model where an unequal distribution of land quality in presence of trade opportunities... View Details
- April 1992
- Case
Malaysia (A)
By: Bruce R. Scott
Riots in 1969 bring martial law and a new, more firmly Malay government which sets out to promote redistribution of opportunity, income, and wealth by race-based quotas. Dr. Mahatherl, a Malay nationalist says Malays have a non-competitive alliance which must be forced... View Details
- May 2005 (Revised October 2022)
- Case
The Octopus and the Generals: The United Fruit Company in Guatemala
By: Geoffrey Jones and Marcelo Bucheli
Examines the overthrow of President Jacobo Arbenz of Guatemala in 1954 in a U.S.-backed coup in support of the United Fruit Co. Over the previous half century, United Fruit had built a large vertically integrated tropical fruit business that owned large banana... View Details
- 22 Feb 2018
- News
Economists cannot avoid making value judgments
- 15 Apr 2015
- News
Has Obamacare Turned Voters Against Sharing the Wealth?
Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software
What is the status of the Free and Open Source Software (F/OSS) revolution? Has the creation of software... View Details
- Forthcoming
- Article
Who Values Democracy?
By: Max Miller
This paper examines the conventional view that redistribution is central to the democratization process using data from stock markets. Consistent with this view, democratizations have a large, negative impact on asset valuations driven by a rise in redistribution risk.... View Details
- January 2011
- Article
Building a Better America—One Wealth Quintile at a Time
By: Michael I. Norton and Dan Ariely
Disagreements about the optimal level of wealth inequality underlie policy debates ranging from taxation to welfare. We attempt to insert the desires of "regular" Americans into these debates, by asking a nationally representative online panel to estimate the current... View Details
- 04 Jun 2012
- News
What is 'Creating Shared Value'?
- 13 Dec 2015
- News
The Truest Measure of America's Progress
- February 2010
- Article
Input Constraints and the Efficiency of Entry: Lessons from Cardiac Surgery
By: David M. Cutler, Robert S. Huckman and Jonathan T. Kolstad
Prior studies suggest that, with elastically supplied inputs, free entry may lead to an inefficiently high number of firms in equilibrium. Under input scarcity, however, the welfare loss from free entry is reduced. Further, free entry may increase use of high-quality... View Details
- 18 Sep 2006
- Research & Ideas
When Words Get in the Way: The Failure of Fiscal Language
usage. Were it used, this year's reported deficit would be some $750 billion higher. What is real about economic policy is the massive redistribution of spending power from young and future generations to older ones. Green points out that... View Details
Keywords: by Julia Hanna
- 2009
- Working Paper
Input Constraints and the Efficiency of Entry: Lessons from Cardiac Surgery
By: David M. Cutler, Robert S. Huckman and Jonathan T. Kolstad
Prior studies suggest that, with elastically supplied inputs, free entry may lead to an inefficiently high number of firms in equilibrium. Under input scarcity, however, the welfare loss from free entry is reduced. Further, free entry may increase use of high-quality... View Details
- 19 Jul 2018
- News
Why Don’t We Always Vote in Our Own Self-Interest?
- 2022
- Working Paper
Optimal Illiquidity
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, Christopher Clayton, Christopher Harris, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian
We calculate the socially optimal level of illiquidity in an economy populated by households with taste shocks and naive present bias. The government chooses mandatory contributions to accounts, each witha different pre-retirement withdrawal penalty. Collected... View Details
Keywords: Illiquidity; Commitment; Flexibility; Savings; Social Security; Retirement; Government Legislation; Taxation; Saving
- 2009
- Working Paper
Input Constraints and the Efficiency of Entry: Lessons from Cardiac Surgery
By: David M. Cutler, Robert S. Huckman and Jonathan T. Kolstad
Prior studies suggest that, with elastically supplied inputs, free entry may lead to an inefficiently high number of firms in equilibrium. Under input scarcity, however, the welfare loss from free entry is reduced. Further, free entry may increase use of high-quality... View Details
- March 2024
- Article
The Political Effects of Immigration: Culture or Economics?
By: Alberto Alesina and Marco Tabellini
We review the growing literature on the political economy of immigration. First, we discuss the effects of immigration on a wide range of political and social outcomes. The existing evidence suggests that immigrants often, but not always, trigger backlash, increasing... View Details
- 2008
- Working Paper
Fixing Market Failures or Fixing Elections? Agricultural Credit in India
By: Shawn A. Cole
This paper integrates theories of political budget cycles with theories of tactical electoral redistribution to test for political capture in a novel way. Studying banks in India, I find that government-owned bank lending tracks the electoral cycle, with agricultural... View Details