Publications

27 Aug 2010
News

Hedge funds struggle to justify star rating

March 2022
Case

Metric

By: Christina Wallace, Rebecca Cink and Maria Lappas

Megan Murday, the founder of Metric, an environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) analytics startup, must decide which customer segment to target as a beachhead market. She received positive feedback from a Swiss venture capital (VC) firm, indicating their... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Marketing; Mission and Purpose; Customers

17 Nov 2015
News

What Does Authentic Leadership Really Mean?

April 1985 (Revised November 1987)
Case

Sun Hydraulics Corp. (B)

Fifteen years later, the company has achieved widespread recognition in the industry for its innovative designs, its quality products, and its highly ethical standards for business dealings. This case describes the organization, the plant, and current concerns. View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Ethics; Engineering; Organizational Culture; Technology Industry

June 2023
Case

Tractor Supply Co

By: David L. Ager and Michael A. Roberto

In February 2023, Hal Lawton, CEO of Tractor Supply Co, the largest farm and ranch retailer in the United States reflected on the company’s 70% growth between 2019 and 2022. Economists had begun to predict an economic downturn and experts were predicting softening... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Demand and Consumers; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Retail Industry

February 2013
Article

An Activity-Generating Theory of Regulation

By: Joshua Schwartzstein and Andrei Shleifer

We propose an activity-generating theory of regulation. When courts make errors, tort litigation becomes unpredictable and as such imposes risk on firms, thereby discouraging entry, innovation, and other socially desirable activity. When social returns to activity are... View Details

Keywords: Courts and Trials; Lawsuits and Litigation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Theory

October 2011
Article

Government Advertising and Media Coverage of Corruption Scandals

By: Rafael Di Tella and Ignacio Franceschelli

We construct measures of the extent to which the four main newspapers in Argentina report government corruption in their front page during the period 1998-2007 and correlate them with government advertising. The correlation is negative. The size is considerable: a one... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Advertising; Government and Politics; Newspapers; Media; Argentina

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February 2010
Article

The Optimal Taxation of Height: A Case Study of Utilitarian Income Redistribution

By: N. Gregory Mankiw and Matthew C. Weinzierl

Should the income tax include a credit for short taxpayers and a surcharge for tall ones? The standard Utilitarian framework for tax analysis answers this question in the affirmative. Moreover, a plausible parameterization using data on height and wages implies a... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Wages; Personal Characteristics

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13 Oct 2015
News

How Thin Political Markets Undermine Democracy

08 Aug 2011
News

Treasury, Stock Markets After U.S. Debt Rating Cut

May 2014
Article

Bias in Reduced-form Estimates of Pass-through

By: Alexander MacKay, Nathan H. Miller, Marc Remer and Gloria Sheu

We show that, in general, consistent estimates of cost pass-through are not obtained from reduced-form regressions of price on cost. We derive a formal approximation for the bias that arises even under standard orthogonality conditions. We provide guidance on the... View Details

Keywords: Pass-through; Reduced-form Aggression; Bias

2011
Working Paper

Fractionalization and the Municipal Bond Market

We study the impact of ethnic and religious fractionalization on the U.S. municipal debt market and find that issuers from more ethnically and religiously fractionalized counties pay higher yields on their municipal debt. A two standard deviation increase in religious... View Details

Keywords: Ethnicity Characteristics; Bonds; Financial Markets; Investment Return; Geographic Location; City; Religion; United States

26 Apr 2009
News

Raise the educational bar

28 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Making the Decision to Franchise (or not)

customer-facing operating environment affects organizational design choices such as control systems, incentives, performance measurement, and ownership structures," explains Campbell. "Even firms that have very standardized business... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

December 1994
Background Note

Cost System Analysis

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Describes six characteristics of cost systems: standard vs. actual costs; job-order vs. process costing; variable vs. full costs; disaggregate vs. aggregate cost accumulation; and specific vs. average rates for labor and overhead. A rewritten version of an earlier... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Analysis; System

May 1999 (Revised November 2000)
Case

AES Global Values

By: Lynn S. Paine

Members of the development team for the AES Corp.'s power plant project in India must decide what plant technology to specify in their application for techno-economic clearance from the government of India's Central Electric Authority. Their choice is between more... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Energy Generation; Technology Adoption; Energy Industry; India; United States

December 2003 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Birth of Modern Macroeconomic Policy, The: Sweden and the Great Depression

By: Julio J. Rotemberg and Lisa Lewis

By early 1937, a debate over the proper conduct of monetary policy raged in Sweden. Sweden's response to the Great Depression was unique. It had, in particular, embraced a revolutionary goal for monetary policy when it abandoned the gold standard in 1931. View Details

Keywords: History; Money; Policy; Financial Crisis; Macroeconomics; Sweden

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April 1984 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Waltham Motors Division

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

Loss of a major contract has reduced production volume below the level expected when budget and standard costs were determined. Apparently favorable results for monthly operations result from reduced volume rather than operating efficiency. Rewritten version of a case... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Cost Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Activity Based Costing and Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Accounting Industry; Industrial Products Industry