Publications

27 Jul 2019
Op-Ed

Does Facebook's Business Model Threaten Our Elections?

In the 2012 US presidential election, the Obama campaign deftly used a Facebook app to register voters and have friends message them to get out the vote. But it was 2016 presidential campaign that really changed social media’s impact on... View Details

Keywords: by George Riedel

December 1997
Case

California: The American Future?

By: Bruce R. Scott and Kevin Price

California has long been a lead state in terms of population growth, income, and societal norms. In the 1990s, California voters approved referenda to restrict benefits to immigrants and to prohibit affirmative action. Is this likely to be another leading indicator for... View Details

Keywords: Fairness; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Laws and Statutes; Civil Society or Community; Public Opinion; California

18 Sep 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, September 18, 2018

paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54967 Does Context Trump Individual Drivers of Voting Behavior? Evidence from U.S. Movers By: Cantoni, Enrico, and Vincent Pons Abstract—This paper assesses the relative influence of contextual drivers of View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

25 Jul 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: July 25, 2017

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52954 July 2017 Public Choice Who Will Vote Quadratically? Voter Turnout and Votes Cast Under Quadratic Voting By: Kaplow, Louis, and Scott Duke Kominers Abstract—Who will vote quadratically... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

February 2016 (Revised July 2017)
Case

An Australian Ballot for California?

By: David Moss, Marc Campasano and Dean Grodzins

In early 1891, California lawmakers were considering a plan to reform the state's elections through the introduction of an “Australian” ballot. Under this new system, candidates from all qualifying parties would appear on official ballots, which would be printed by... View Details

Keywords: Voting; Ethics; Political Elections; Laws and Statutes; Change; California

01 Aug 2007
Op-Ed

Company Town: Fixing Corrupt Governments

Corporations could do a good job of running corrupt Third World governments. Corruption rules in too many of the world's democratically elected governments. From Achocalla, Bolivia, to Mayuge, Uganda, voters pick their leaders through the... View Details

Keywords: by Eric Werker

February 2016 (Revised August 2021)
Case

Martin Luther King and the Struggle for Black Voting Rights

By: David Moss and Dean Grodzins

In January 1965, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., the most prominent leader of the civil rights movement in the United States, launched a campaign of civil disobedience in Selma, Alabama, to bring national attention to disenfranchisement of black voters in the South. On... View Details

Keywords: Rights; Voting; Race; Government and Politics; Conflict and Resolution; Leadership; History; Alabama

August 2024 (Revised November 2024)
Case

No Labels and the 2024 Presidential Insurance Plan

By: Robert F. White and Tom Quinn

After observing record voter dissatisfaction with the choices in the 2024 U.S. presidential election—Democratic nominee President Joe Biden and Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump—the bipartisan nonprofit No Labels decided to reserve ballot access in... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Forecasting and Prediction; Lawsuits and Litigation; Failure; System Shocks; Political Elections; Motivation and Incentives; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; United States

June 2023
Case

The Business of Campaigns

By: Vincent Pons and Mel Martin

In 2022, the U.S. Congress examined the Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act, the latest in a long series of campaign finance reforms. According to its authors, the law would be the “most consequential overhaul of federal... View Details

Keywords: Political Elections; Government Legislation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Government Relations; United States

February 2016
Case

Debt and Democracy: The New York Constitutional Convention of 1846

By: David Moss and Dean Grodzins

On September 23, 1846, delegates to New York State's constitutional convention prepared to vote on a proposal that its principal proponent, Michael Hoffman, conceded would be “a serious change in our form of government.” The proposal would place tight restrictions on... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Finance; Governance; Laws and Statutes; Government and Politics; History; New York (state, US)