Publications

Roe, Mark J., and Jordan I. Siegel. "Political Instability: Effects on Financial Development, Roots in the Severity of Economic Inequality." Journal of Comparative Economics 39, no. 3 (September 2011): 279–309. (We here bring forward strong evidence that political instability impedes financial development, with its variation a primary determinant of differences in financial development around the world. As such, it needs to be added to the short list of major determinants of financial development. First, structural conditions first postulated by Engerman and Sokoloff (2002) as generating long-term inequality are shown here empirically to be exogenous determinants of political instability. Second, that exogenously-determined political instability in turn holds back financial development, even when we control for factors prominent in the last decade's cross-country studies of financial development. The findings indicate that inequality-perpetuating conditions that result in political instability are fundamental roadblocks for international organizations like the World Bank that seek to promote financial development. The evidence here includes country fixed effect regressions and an instrumental model inspired by Engerman and Sokoloff's (2002) work, which to our knowledge has not yet been used in finance and which is consistent with current tests as valid instruments. Four conventional measures of national political instability — Alesina and Perotti's (1996) well-known index of instability, a subsequent index derived from Banks' (2005) work, and two indices of managerial perceptions of nation-by-nation political instability — persistently predict a wide range of national financial development outcomes for recent decades. Political instability's significance is time consistent in cross-sectional regressions back to the 1960's, the period when the key data becomes available, robust in both country fixed-effects and instrumental variable regressions, and consistent across multiple measures of instability and of financial development. Overall, the results indicate the existence of an important channel running from structural inequality to political instability, principally in nondemocratic settings, and then to financial backwardness. The robust significance of that channel extends existing work demonstrating the importance of political economy explanations for financial development and financial backwardness. It should help to better understand which policies will work for financial development, because political instability has causes, cures, and effects quite distinct from those of many of the key institutions most studied in the past decade as explaining financial backwardness.)

01 Jun 2015
Research & Ideas

The Surprising Benefits of Oversharing

On Facebook and a myriad of other social media platforms, you can find out who your friends are dating, see pictures of their last vacation, and even know what they had for lunch yesterday. It is now becoming more unusual when someone chooses not to divulge their... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

06 Dec 2022
Research & Ideas

Latest Isn’t Always Greatest: Why Product Updates Capture Consumers

Suppose you’re in the market for a new selfie stick for an upcoming vacation. You see two models online—one that extends to 24 inches and the other to 16. Seems obvious that you’d pick the longer one, right? Bigger and better panoramic pics! Well, not necessarily. When... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Consumer Products; Retail

04 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

Navigating Consumer Data Privacy in an AI World

mindful of different cultural perspectives. For instance, when the FBI tried to get access to iPhones, Apple refused. While consumers in the US might view this as a step on privacy protection, perceptions can vary globally. I've seen... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology; Information Technology

13 Jun 2022
Research & Ideas

Extroverts, Your Colleagues Wish You Would Just Shut Up and Listen

behavior. In other words, more extroverted individuals were seen as worse listeners. "Extroverts may need to start thinking about different ways to engage in conversations." In a second study, the researchers investigated whether the same View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

26 Mar 2013
Working Paper Summaries

How Elastic Are Preferences for Redistribution? Evidence from Randomized Survey Experiments

Keywords: by Ilyana Kuziemko, Michael I. Norton, Emmanuel Saez & Stefanie Stantchev

23 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

How to Brand a Next-Generation Product

tended to expect features that were distinctly different or new," Ofek says. "With a name continuation, they just expected improved performance on existing features." “The perception is that if it's a brand name... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

February 2009
Article

Just Because I'm Nice, Don't Assume I'm Dumb

By: Amy Cuddy

We often judge colleagues on the basis of their perceived warmth and competence, finding clues to these qualities in stereotypes rooted in race, gender, or nationality. Many of our decisions about fellow workers are thus premised on faulty data—harming judged and... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Perception; Nationality; Race; Judgments; Competency and Skills; Gender

August 2021
Article

Anger Damns the Innocent

By: Katherine DeCelles, Gabrielle Adams, Holly S. Howe and Leslie K. John

False accusations of wrongdoing are common and can have grave consequences. In six studies, we document a worrisome paradox in perceivers’ subjective judgments of a suspect’s guilt. Specifically, we find that laypeople (online panelists; N = 4,983) use suspects’ angry... View Details

Keywords: Morality; Accusations; Deception; Guilt; Affect; Emotions; Behavior; Perception; Judgments; Decision Making

2022
Working Paper

The Gender Gap in Confidence: Expected But Not Accounted For

By: Christine L. Exley and Kirby Nielsen

We investigate how the gender gap in confidence affects the views that evaluators (e.g., employers) hold about men and women. If evaluators fail to account for the confidence gap, it may cause overly pessimistic views about women. Alternatively, if evaluators expect... View Details

Keywords: Confidence; Experiments; Gender; Perception; Values and Beliefs; Performance Evaluation; Analysis

10 Feb 2021
Research & Ideas

Has #MeToo Changed How Hollywood Hires?

so that they can lessen the negative public perception and media scrutiny,” Luo says. “We do see an increase in their likelihood of working with female writers after #MeToo, but much less so than female producers.” In fact, among... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Media & Broadcasting

13 Feb 2012
Research & Ideas

The Case Against Racial Colorblindness

government subcontractors—the argument goes—then Whites' right for equal protection may be violated." In a related article, Whites See Racism as a Zero-Sum Game That They Are Now Losing, Norton and Sommers surveyed 100 white and 100 black respondents about their View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

19 Oct 2022
Op-Ed

Cofounder Courtship: How to Find the Right Mate—for Your Startup

expose perceptions and expectations of each other and how the leadership of the business will play out. Experienced hiring managers know that it is rare they’ll hire the first candidate they interview for a newly created role because they... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

April 2019
Article

Rituals and Nuptials: The Emotional and Relational Consequences of Relationship Rituals

By: Ximena Garcia-Rada, Ovul Sezer and Michael I. Norton

Four studies reveal the benefits of relationship rituals: couples with relationship rituals report more positive emotions and greater relationship satisfaction and commitment than those without them. We show that rituals are crucial for understanding consumption... View Details

Keywords: Rituals; Relationship Satisfaction; Relationships; Satisfaction; Spending; Behavior; Perception; Emotions

05 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Six Ways to Build Trust in Negotiations

mean missing out on significant opportunities. For this reason, fostering trust on the fly is a critical skill for managers. As Kristen knew, the first step to inspiring trust is to demonstrate trustworthiness. All negotiators can apply the six strategies that follow... View Details

Keywords: by Deepak Malhotra

29 Jul 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Firsthand Experience and the Subsequent Role of Reflected Knowledge in Cultivating Trust in Global Collaboration

Keywords: by Mark Mortensen & Tsedal Neeley

March 2025
Article

Differentiating on Diversity: How Disclosing Workforce Diversity Influences Consumer Choice

By: Maya Balakrishnan, Jimin Nam and Ryan W. Buell

Companies are facing increased pressure to “walk the talk” on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in their operations. One specific call-to-action from stakeholders is the public disclosure of EEO-1s. Companies with 100+ employees are federally mandated to annually... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Corporate Disclosure; Diversity; Employees; Perception

Purchase

5 Sep 2013
Conference Presentation

The Color of Taste: Selling Food in Clear Packages in the Early-Twentieth-Century United States

By: Ai Hisano

This paper examines the role of color in the marketing and retailing of food products by focusing on the increasingly popular presentation of food in clear packages in the early-twentieth-century United States. In the 1910s, a candy company began using cellophane to... View Details

Keywords: Food; Product Marketing; Food and Beverage Industry