Publications

26 Aug 2014
First Look

First Look: August 26

Evidence from Targeted Firms By: Cohen, Lauren, Umit G. Gurun, and Scott Duke Kominers Abstract—We provide theoretical and empirical evidence on the evolution and impact of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2020
Working Paper

The ESG-Innovation Disconnect: Evidence from Green Patenting

By: Lauren Cohen, Umit G. Gurun and Quoc H. Nguyen

No firm or sector of the global economy is untouched by innovation. In equilibrium, innovators will flock to (and innovation will occur where) the returns to innovative capital are the highest. In this paper, we document a strong empirical pattern in green patent... View Details

Keywords: ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Investment; Decision Making; Policy; Energy; Green Technology; Technological Innovation; Patents

17 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: January 17

PublicationsUncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business Authors:Frances Frei and Anne Morriss Publication:Harvard Business Review Press, forthcoming An abstract is not available at this time.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Entrepreneurial Management Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

50 Most Powerful People by Boston Magazine in 2015. Lauren H. Cohen : Winner of the Inaugural Hakan Orbay Research First Prize Award in 2015 for “Resident Networks and Corporate Connections: Evidence from... View Details

Web

Finance Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) for "Patent Trolls: Evidence from Targeted Firms” (December 2019) with Umit Gurun and Scott Duke Kominers. Benjamin C. Esty : Recognized as one of the top 20... View Details

13 Dec 2011
First Look

First Look: Dec. 13

Cases & Course MaterialsAQR's DELTA Strategy (A) Daniel B. Bergstresser, Lauren H. Cohen, Randolph B. Cohen, and Christopher J. MalloyHarvard Business School Case 212-038... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2019
Article

Patent Trolls: Evidence from Targeted Firms

By: Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun and Scott Duke Kominers

We provide the first large-sample evidence on the behavior and impact of nonpracticing entities (NPEs) in the intellectual-property space. We find that, on average, NPEs appear to behave as opportunistic “patent trolls.” NPEs sue cash-rich firms and target cash in... View Details

Keywords: Patent Trolls; Innovation; Patents; Lawsuits and Litigation; Ethics; Innovation and Invention

SSRN

February 2022 (Revised April 2022)
Case

Pushing Past the Boundaries of ESG Investing: AQR Capital Management

By: Lauren H. Cohen, Richard B. Evans, Umit G. Gurun and Quoc H. Nguyen

Cliff Asness was facing a dilemma into how he would plunge his hedge fund into the hottest investment area worldwide—ESG Investing. Founder and managing principal of AQR—one the most storied quantitative hedge funds in the world—Asness knew anything less than a big... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Hedge Fund; Investment; Equity; Green Technology

Educators

Purchase

July 2024
Article

Buying the Verdict

By: Lauren Cohen and Umit Gurun

We document evidence that firms systematically increase specialized, locally targeted advertising following the firm being taken to trial in that given location, precisely following initiation of the suit. In particular, we use legal actions brought against publicly... View Details

Keywords: Lawsuits and Litigation; Advertising; Marketing Strategy

Article

The Growing Problem of Patent Trolling

By: Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun and Scott Duke Kominers

The last decade has seen a sharp rise in patent litigation in the U.S., with 2015 having one of the highest patent lawsuit counts on record. In theory, this could be a consequence of growth in the commercialization of technology and innovation—patent lawsuits increase... View Details

Keywords: Patent Aggregators; Patent Litigation; Patent Pools; Patent Trolls; Patents; Lawsuits and Litigation; United States

Purchase

February 2017
Article

Resident Networks and Corporate Connections: Evidence from World War II Internment Camps

By: Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun and Christopher J. Malloy

We demonstrate that simply by using the ethnic makeup surrounding a firm’s location, we can predict, on average, which trade links are valuable for firms. Using customs and port authority data on the international shipments of all U.S. publicly traded firms, we show... View Details

Keywords: Information Networks; Trade Links; Firm Behavior; Networks; Geographic Location; Ethnicity; Organizations; Trade

2023
Working Paper

Too Many Managers: The Strategic Use of Titles to Avoid Overtime Payments

By: Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun and N. Bugra Ozel

We find widespread evidence of firms appearing to avoid paying overtime wages by exploiting a federal law that allows them to do so for employees termed as “managers” and paid a salary above a pre-defined dollar threshold. We show that listings for salaried positions... View Details

Keywords: Wages; Organizational Design; Job Design and Levels; Compensation and Benefits

Web

Finance - Faculty & Research

Mortgage Convexity By: Samuel G. Hanson Most home mortgages in the United States are fixed-rate loans with an embedded prepayment option. When long-term rates decline, the effective duration of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) falls due... View Details

Web

Human Behavior & Decision-Making - Faculty & Research

that implicitly activating the construct of time, rather than money, leads individuals to behave more ethically by cheating less. We further found that priming time reduces cheating by making people reflect... View Details

October 2020
Article

IQ from IP: Simplifying Search in Portfolio Choice

By: Huaizhi Chen, Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun, Dong Lou and Christopher J. Malloy

Using a novel database that tracks web traffic on the SEC’s EDGAR servers between 2004 and 2015, we show that mutual fund managers gather information on a very particular subset of firms and insiders, and their surveillance is very persistent over time. This tracking... View Details

Keywords: Tracked Trades; Return Predictability; Institutional Trading; Insider Trading; Institutional Investing; Information; Investment Portfolio; Decisions; Management

SSRN

Article

"Troll" Check? A Proposal for Administrative Review of Patent Litigation

By: Lauren Cohen, John Golden, Umit Gurun and Scott Duke Kominers

The patent system is commonly justified as a way to promote social welfare and, more specifically, technological progress. For years, however, there has been concern that patent litigation is undermining, rather than furthering, these goals. Particularly in the United... View Details

Keywords: Patent Trolls; Patents; Lawsuits and Litigation