Publications

2016
Chapter

User-Generated Content and Social Media

By: Michael Luca

This paper documents what economists have learned about user-generated content (UGC) and social media. A growing body of evidence suggests that UGC on platforms ranging from Yelp to Facebook has a large causal impact on economic and social outcomes ranging from... View Details

Keywords: User-generated Content; Crowdsourcing; Design Economics; Internet and the Web; Marketing; Economics; Media; Social Media

November 5, 2021
Article

Leaders: Stop Confusing Correlation with Causation

By: Michael Luca

We’ve all been told that correlation does not imply causation. Yet many business leaders, elected officials, and media outlets still make causal claims based on misleading correlations. These claims are too often unscrutinized, amplified, and mistakenly used to guide... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Economics; Data Analysis; Organizations; Decision Making; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Learning

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2014
Chapter

Ein Jahrzehnt Clusterpolitik und -forschung: Implikationen für eine moderne, clusterorientierte Wirtschaftsförderung

By: Christian H.M. Ketels

Reflecting on the experience of nearly two decades this chapter discusses the nature of cluster-based economic policies. It first looks at the types of programmes and initiatives that have emerged, and the evidence on their impact on economic outcomes. It then tracks... View Details

Keywords: Clusters; Cluster Initiative Program; Economic Policy; Regional Policy; Policy; Economics

Fall 2019
Article

Du « défi américain » à l’expansion européenne: Les relations économiques transatlantiques des années cinquante aux années soixante-dix

By: Grace A. Ballor

Economic histories of post-war transatlantic relations have focused on two predominant narratives: US aid for European reconstruction through the Marshall Plan, and the threat of American business investment in Europe. But little research has linked these two elements.... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Corporations; Economic History; International Relations; Business History; Foreign Direct Investment; Multinational Firms and Management

April 2020 (Revised August 2021)
Case

Singapore: 'Facing Challenges Together'

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

Since its expulsion from Malaysia in 1965, Singapore had transformed itself from a third world island nation into a vibrant city-state with one of the highest levels of GDP per capita in the world. However, sluggish demand among Singapore's major trade partners began... View Details

Educators

Web

HBS Alumni Research Tips: Finding Market Data & Insights | Baker Library

Consumer Insights, Thematic Analysis, Case Studies, Models & Forecasts. Morningstar Investment Research Center provides access to analyst research and investor education resources. Morningstar Insights... View Details

2021
Working Paper

Salience

By: Pedro Bordalo, Nicola Gennaioli and Andrei Shleifer

We review the fast-growing work on salience and economic behavior. Psychological research shows that salient stimuli attract human attention “bottom up” due to their high contrast with surroundings, their surprising nature relative to recalled experiences, or their... View Details

Keywords: Salience; Economic Behavior; Bottom Up Attention; Microeconomics; Decision Making; Behavior

2015
Working Paper

The Cooperative Solution of Stochastic Games

By: Elon Kohlberg and Abraham Neyman

Building on the work of Nash, Harsanyi, and Shapley, we define a cooperative solution for strategic games that takes account of both the competitive and the cooperative aspects of such games. We prove existence in the general (NTU) case and uniqueness in the TU... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Game Theory

01 Sep 2014
News

Faculty Q&A: Cents and Sensibilities

unemployment. Nevertheless, a minimum wage increase is controversial. Why is that? Because the conversation is really about much more than a technical debate on the costs and benefits. Most people are aware that the long-term economic... View Details

Keywords: April White; faculty research; writing

Web

Research Links | Baker Library | Bloomberg Center | Harvard Business School

Documenting the Wartime Effort Labor Practices Post-war PR Campaigns Reaching Wide Audiences Lessons in Economics Shaping the Corporate Image Gary Works Photograph Album Resources Research Links Films & TV... View Details

18 Oct 2012
Other Presentation

Two Decades of Research on Competitiveness and Clusters: A Conversation with Michael Porter

By: Michael E. Porter

Michael Porter at the TCI Conference 2012 View Details

Keywords: Economics; United States

March 2002
Article

The Potential Role of Economic Cost Models in the Regulation of Telecommunications in Developing Countries

What is the efficient cost of providing telecommunications services to a certain area or type of customer? As developing countries build up their capacity to regulate infrastructure monopolies, cost models are likely to prove increasingly important in answering... View Details

Keywords: Information; Cost; Mathematical Methods; Developing Countries and Economies; Telecommunications Industry

April 2025
Article

Serving with a Smile on Airbnb: Analyzing the Economic Returns and Behavioral Underpinnings of the Host’s Smile

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Elizabeth Friedman, Kannan Srinivasan, Ravi Dhar and Xupin Zhang

Non-informational cues, such as facial expressions, can significantly influence judgments and interpersonal impressions. While past research has explored how smiling affects business outcomes in offline or in-store contexts, relatively less is known about how smiling... View Details

Keywords: Sharing Economy; Airbnb; Image Feature Extraction; Machine Learning; Facial Expressions; Prejudice and Bias; Nonverbal Communication; E-commerce; Consumer Behavior; Perception

Article

The Future of Economic, Business, and Social History

By: G. Jones, Marco H.D. van Leeuwen and Stephen Broadberry

Three leading scholars in the fields of business, economic, and social history review the current state of these disciplines and reflect on their future trajectory. Geoffrey Jones reviews the development of business history since its birth at the Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Economic History; Business History; History; Asia; Africa; Europe; Latin America; North and Central America

2014
Working Paper

Bridging Science and Technology Through Academic-Industry Partnerships

By: Sen Chai and Willy C. Shih

Scientific research and its translation into commercialized technology is a driver of wealth creation and economic growth. Partnerships to foster the translational processes from public research organizations, such as universities and hospitals, to private firms are a... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Firm Performance; Public-private Partnership Funding; Translational Research; Small And Medium Enterprises; Partners and Partnerships; Public Sector; Private Sector; Performance; Science-Based Business; Innovation and Invention

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