Publications

17 May 2022
News

Harvard Professor Reveals Why You Feel Lost & Unhappy in Life | Arthur Brooks on Impact Theory

Article

Why A Behavioral Theory of Labor Negotiations Remains a Triumph at Fifty but the Labels 'Distributive' and 'Integrative' Should Be Retired

By: James K. Sebenius

Richard Walton and Robert McKersie's closeness to practice, disciplinary rigor, and successful search for powerful generalizations help explain the lasting impact of the Behavioral Theory of Labor Relations. Ironically, the names they chose for the fundamental... View Details

Keywords: Bargaining; Integrative Bargaining; Distributive Bargaining; Negotiation; Labor Unions

12 Oct 2020
News

MBA/DBA Alum Wins Nobel Prize in Economics

news: He and fellow Stanford professor Paul Milgrom had won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Economics for their improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats. Milgrom had his phone in Do Not Disturb mode. Wilson, who lives... View Details

Keywords: Nobel Prize; negotiation; auction theory; career paths

Article

Deep Down My Enemy Is Good: Thinking about the True Self Reduces Intergroup Bias

By: Julian De Freitas and Mina Cikara

Intergroup bias—preference for one's in-group relative to out-groups—is one of the most robust phenomena in all of psychology. Here we investigate whether a positive bias that operates at the individual-level, belief in a good true self, may be leveraged to reduce... View Details

Keywords: Intergroup Bias; True Self; Essentialism; Lay Theories

Article

Experience Theory, or How Desserts Are Like Losses

By: Jolie M. Martin, Martin Reimann and Michael I. Norton

While many experiments have explored risk preferences for money, few have systematically assessed risk preferences for everyday experiences. We propose a conceptual model and provide convergent evidence from seven experiments that, in contrast to a typical “zero”... View Details

Keywords: Experiences; Monetary Gambles; Risk Preferences; Experience Theory; Risk and Uncertainty; Behavior; Decision Choices and Conditions

Teaching Interest

Economics

Instructor, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, MPA Mid-Career Summer Program View Details

Keywords: Economics; Game Theory; Quantitative Analysis

2001
Working Paper

Social Enterprise Series No. 20: Business Leadership Coalitions and Public-Private Partnerships in American Cities: A Perspective on Regime Theory

By: James E. Austin and Arthur McCaffrey

Book Review

Book Review of Identity in Organizations: Building Theory Through Conversations edited by David A. Whetten and Paul C. Godfrey

By: J. Polzer

Keywords: Identity; Organizations; Theory; Communication

June 2012 (Revised December 2017)
Technical Note

Strategy and Strategic Decisions

By: Eric Van den Steen

This note introduces a framework for formulating strategy that helps a manager identify which decisions are strategic—and thus which decisions to focus on (both when developing strategy and when executing it)—and that provides a practical test for whether a particular... View Details

Keywords: Formulating Strategy; Strategic Theory; Strategy Test; Strategic Analysis; Strategy; Theory; Strategic Planning

Educators

Purchase

Research Summary

Market Triads: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of Market Intermediation (Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, June 2002)

By: Rakesh Khurana

This paper examines the role of executive search firms in CEO search. The paper argues that the numerical shift from two party market transactions (e.g. buyers and sellers) to three party transactions (e.g. buyers, sellers, and third party) transforms market exchanges... View Details

June 1977
Article

An Analytic Derivation of the Cost of Deposit Insurance and Loan Guarantees : An Application of Modern Option Pricing Theory

By: Robert C. Merton

Keywords: Cost; Insurance; Financing and Loans; Price; Theory

2006
Chapter

A Decision Perspective on Organizations: Social Cognition, Behavioral Decision Theory and the Psychological Links to Micro and Macro Organizational Behaviour

By: M. A. Neale, A. E. Tenbrunsel, T. Galvin and M. H. Bazerman

Keywords: Decision Making; Perspective; Behavior; Cognition and Thinking; Organizations; Mathematical Methods

2016
Article

Recursive Mentalizing and Common Knowledge in the Bystander Effect

By: Kyle A. Thomas, Julian De Freitas, Peter DiScioli and Steven Pinker

The more potential helpers there are, the less likely any individual is to help. A traditional explanation for this bystander effect is that responsibility diffuses across the multiple bystanders, diluting the responsibility of each. We investigate an... View Details

Keywords: Bystander Effect; Diffusion Of Responsibility; Volunteer's Dilemma; Common Knowledge; Theory Of Mind; Behavior; Theory

Web

Bibliography - Option Pricing in Theory & Practice: The Nobel Prize Research of Robert C. Merton - Exhibits - Historical Collections

HBS Quick Links HBS Home MBA Executive Education Doctoral Programs Faculty and Research Alumni Publishing Site Index HBS Home Contact Us Map/Directions Option Pricing in Theory & Practice: The Nobel Prize Research of Robert C. Merton View... View Details

Web

Introduction - Option Pricing in Theory & Practice: The Nobel Prize Research of Robert C. Merton - Exhibits - Historical Collections

HBS Quick Links HBS Home MBA Executive Education Doctoral Programs Faculty and Research Alumni Publishing Site Index HBS Home Contact Us Map/Directions Option Pricing in Theory & Practice: The Nobel Prize Research of Robert C. Merton View... View Details

July 9, 2019
Article

Common Knowledge, Coordination, and Strategic Mentalizing in Human Social Life

By: Julian De Freitas, Kyle A. Thomas, Peter DiScioli and Steven Pinker

People often coordinate for mutual gain, such as keeping to opposite sides of a stairway, dubbing an object or place with a name, or assembling en masse to protest a regime. Because successful coordination requires complementary choices, these opportunities raise the... View Details

Keywords: Coordination; Common Knowledge; Theory Of Mind; Bystander Effect; Knowledge; Cooperation

2013
Working Paper

Is a VC Partnership Greater Than the Sum of Its Partners?

By: Michael Ewens and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

This paper investigates whether individual venture capitalists have repeatable investment skill and to what extent their skill is impacted by the VC firm where they work. We examine a unique dataset that tracks the performance of individual venture capitalists'... View Details

Keywords: Investing; Persistence; Performance Persistence; Theory Of The Firm; Venture Capital; Organizations; Human Capital; Performance Evaluation

March 2020
Article

Explaining the Persistence of Gender Inequality: The Work-family Narrative as a Social Defense Against 24/7 Work Culture

By: Irene Padavic, Robin J. Ely and Erin M. Reid

It is widely accepted that the conflict between women’s family obligations and professional jobs’ long hours lies at the heart of their stalled advancement. Yet research suggests that this “work-family narrative” is incomplete: men also experience it and nevertheless... View Details

Keywords: 24/7 Work Culture; Hegemonic Narrative; Social Defense; Work-family Conflict; Systems-psychodynamic Theory; Work-Life Balance; Personal Development and Career; Gender; Equality and Inequality; Organizational Culture