Publications

2022
Working Paper

Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy: Experimental Evidence from Nine Countries during the COVID-19 Pandemic

By: Vincenzo Galasso, Vincent Pons, Paola Profeta, Michael Becher, Sylvain Brouard and Martial Foucault

Millions of people refuse COVID-19 vaccination. Using original data from two surveys in nine OECD countries, we analyze the determinants of anti-vax intentions in December 2020 and show that half of the anti-vax individuals were vaccinated by summer 2021. Vaccinations... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Vaccination; Vaccine Hesitancy; Information Campaigns; Health Pandemics; Behavior; Information

September 2021
Case

Brown Capital Management

By: Luis M. Viceira, Emily R. McComb and Sarah Mehta

Set in July 2021, this case looks at several growth strategies under consideration at Brown Capital, the second-oldest Black-owned asset management firm in the U.S. Since its 1983 founding, Baltimore-based Brown Capital has specialized in small company growth... View Details

Educators

February 2014
Article

National Institutions and Subnational Development in Africa

By: Stelios Michalopoulos and Elias Papaioannou

We investigate the role of national institutions on subnational African development in a novel framework that accounts both for local geography and cultural-genetic traits. We exploit the fact that the political boundaries in the eve of African independence partitioned... View Details

Keywords: Ethnicity; Development Economics; Local Range; Government and Politics; Africa

September 2014
Teaching Plan

Linden Lab: Crossing the Chasm

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

In early 2009, managers at Linden Lab, creator of the virtual world Second Life, faced decisions about the company's growth strategy. Despite profound initial skepticism about demand for a user-generated virtual world that was not a traditional game, Second Life was... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Technology Industry

June 2009 (Revised July 2010)
Case

Microfin

By: Michael Chu and Enrique Kramer

The case presents the management dilemmas of a new institution in an undeveloped microfinance market in Latin America. Supported by a globally recognized industry player, it is the result of the efforts of two fledgling local entrepreneurs with a business model they... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Developing Countries and Economies; Social Entrepreneurship; Microfinance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Industry Structures; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Latin America

April 2009 (Revised August 2009)
Case

Linden Lab: Crossing the Chasm

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

In early 2008, managers at Linden Lab, creator of the virtual world Second Life, faced decisions about the company's growth strategy. Despite profound initial skepticism about demand for a user-generated virtual world that was not a traditional game, Second Life had... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Infrastructure; Technology Adoption; Digital Platforms

Educators

March 2008
Article

Can Civil Law Countries Get Good Institutions? Lessons from the History of Creditor Rights and Bond Markets in Brazil

By: Aldo Musacchio

Does a legal tradition adopted in the distant past constrain a country's ability to provide the protection that investors need for financial markets to develop? This paper contributes to the literature that studies the connection between law and finance by looking at... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Financial Markets; Investment; Code Law; Contracts; Law Enforcement; Size; Brazil

Article

Wealth-Making in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Britain: Industry v. Commerce and Finance

By: Tom Nicholas

This paper refutes the hypothesis put forward by W.D. Rubinstein that a disproportionately large share of Britain's wealth makers were active in commercial and financial trades in London. We use a data set of businessmen active in nineteenth- and early... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Finance; Commercialization; Mathematical Methods; Wealth and Poverty; Great Britain; London

We investigate the role of national institutions on subnational African development in a novel framework that accounts both for local geography and cultural-genetic traits. We exploit the fact that the political boundaries in the eve of African independence... View Details

Broadening Focus: Spillovers, Complementarities and Specialization in the Hospital Industry

The long-standing argument that focused operations outperform others stands in contrast to claims about the benefits of broader operational scope. Within the literature on corporate strategy, this tension between focus and breadth is reconciled by the concept of... View Details

October 2022
Exercise

Shanty Real Estate: Confidential Information for iBuyer 1

By: Michael Luca, Jesse M. Shapiro and Nathan Sun

Shanty is a simulation in which students inhabit the role of either a traditional home buyer or an iBuyer, both bidding on the same condo. The traditional home buyer has access to a “comp sheet” of similar properties that have recently sold, and has done a walkthrough.... View Details

Keywords: Algorithm; Decision Choices and Conditions; Decision Making; Measurement and Metrics; Market Timing

October 2022
Exercise

Shanty Real Estate: Confidential Information for Homebuyer 3

By: Michael Luca, Jesse M. Shapiro and Nathan Sun

Shanty is a simulation in which students inhabit the role of either a traditional home buyer or an iBuyer, both bidding on the same condo. The traditional home buyer has access to a “comp sheet” of similar properties that have recently sold, and has done a walkthrough.... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Decision Making; Measurement and Metrics; Market Timing

2022
Working Paper

Failing Just Fine: Assessing Careers of Venture Capital-backed Entrepreneurs via a Non-wage Measure

By: Natee Amornsiripanitch, Paul Gompers, George Hu, Will Levinson and Vladimir Mukharlyamov

This paper proposes a non-pecuniary measure of career achievement, Seniority. Based on a database of over 5 million resumes, this metric exploits the variation in job titles and how long they take to attain. When non-monetary factors influence career choice, inference... View Details

Keywords: Career Outcomes; Founders; Personal Development and Career; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship

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2018
Working Paper

Trade Creditors' Information Advantage

By: Victoria Ivashina and Benjamin Iverson

Using information on the sales of debt claims for 132 U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, we show that large trade creditors’ decisions to sell receivables of a distressed company in bankruptcy are predictive of lower recovery rates, and that in such cases these... View Details

Keywords: Trade Credit; Distress; Bankruptcy; Credit; Information; Insolvency and Bankruptcy

November 2016 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Lynda Bussgang's Stages

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Lynda Bussgang is getting ready for her 25th Harvard College reunion and for the first time she is actually looking forward to it. Unlike some of her classmates she has charted her own course to happiness. This path took her from musical theater, to non-profit work to... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Success

Educators