Publications

In this chapter, we survey the theory and evidence of behavioral corporate finance, which generally takes one of two approaches. The market timing and catering approach views managerial financing and investment decisions as rational managerial responses to... View Details

Article

Behavioral Hazard in Health Insurance

By: Katherine Baicker, Sendhil Mullainathan and Joshua Schwartzstein

A fundamental implication of standard moral hazard models is overuse of low-value medical care because copays are lower than costs. In these models, the demand curve alone can be used to make welfare statements, a fact relied on by much empirical work. There is ample... View Details

Keywords: Insurance; Consumer Behavior; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance Industry

2017
Working Paper

The 4 Minds of the Customer: A Framework for Understanding and Applying the Science of Decision Making

By: Ryan Hamilton and Uma R. Karmarkar

Scientists have spent decades creating powerful and detailed descriptions of how people make decisions. Unfortunately, many of these theories make contradictory predictions and are difficult to understand and implement. We introduce the 4 Minds framework as a practical... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Choice; Market Research; Decision Making Process; Decision; Marketing Research; Consumer Behavior; Decision Choices and Conditions; Marketing; Decision Making; Segmentation; Research

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21 Feb 2019
Blog Post

Machine Learning and Behavioral Economics

Parkinson’s, that would otherwise make independent eating difficult or impossible. “We could collect a lot of information on people’s tremors as they use the spoon” says Bracaglia, “giving us insight into how people use it, how their... View Details

Teaching Interest

Micro Topics in Organizational Behavior

By: Alison Wood Brooks

Micro Topics in Organizational Behavior is a PhD seminar course exploring current and seminal research on individual, dyadic, small group, and intra-organizational behavior. Examples of topics at the individual level include emotions, cognition, and behavioral... View Details

11 Aug 2014
HBS Case

The Business of Behavioral Economics

then they'll eat better." But behavioral economics suggests that people make mistakes in their thinking. For example, we have self-control problems that can lead us to knowingly "misbehave." Such biases are... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage; Health

Research Summary

Risk, Trust and Escalation Behavior of Owner Managers

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery

Professor Montgomery and Professor Deepak Malhotra (HBS), together with scientists from Harvard's Program on Evolutionary Dynamics, are studying risk-related decision making of owner managers in newly-founded and established companies. This experimental... View Details

20 Nov 2012
News

Five Self-Defeating Behaviors that Ruin Companies and Careers

2013
Chapter

Behavioral Corporate Finance: A Current Survey

By: Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler

We survey the theory and evidence of behavioral corporate finance, which generally takes one of two approaches. The market timing and catering approach views managerial financing and investment decisions as rational managerial responses to securities mispricing. The... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Theory; Corporate Finance; Financial Management; Investment; Market Timing; Behavioral Finance; Prejudice and Bias; Economics; Forecasting and Prediction

March 1982 (Revised April 1989)
Background Note

Industrial Buyer Behavior

May be used as background material for courses in industrial marketing and industrial procurement. Surveys the economic, behavioral, and organizational influences that shape buying decision-making in corporations and other institutions. Also describes the kinds of... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain; Marketing; Decision Making

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July 2021
Article

Creating Exercise Habits Using Incentives: The Trade-off Between Flexibility and Routinization

By: John Beshears, Hae Nim Lee, Katherine L. Milkman, Robert Mislavsky and Jessica Wisdom

Habits involve regular, cue-triggered routines. In a field experiment, we tested whether incentivizing exercise routines—paying participants each time they visit the gym within a planned, daily two-hour window—leads to more persistent exercise than offering flexible... View Details

Keywords: Behavior And Behavioral Decision Making; Healthcare; Exercise; Habit; Routine; Health; Behavior; Decision Making

12 Jul 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Toward a Theory of Behavioral Operations

Keywords: by Francesca Gino & Gary Pisano

February 2018
Article

Laboratory Evidence on the Effects of Sponsorship on the Competitive Preferences of Men and Women

By: Nancy R. Baldiga and Katherine Baldiga Coffman

Sponsorship programs have been proposed as one way to promote female advancement in competitive career fields. A sponsor is someone who advocates for a protégé, and in doing so, takes a stake in her success. We use a laboratory experiment to explore two channels... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Behavior And Behavioral Decision Making; Laboratory Experiment; Competition; Organizations; Gender; Behavior

2012
Article

Behavioral Economics and the Psychology of Fruit and Vegetable Consumption

By: Joe Price and Jason Riis

Behavioral economics is an emerging paradigm that challenges the assumptions and predictions of classical economics. This new paradigm emphasizes that consumers do not always make optimal use of available information nor do they always make choices and tradeoffs in a... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Food; Social Marketing; Decision Choices and Conditions; Consumer Behavior; Nutrition

2013
Book

Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed and How We Can Stick to the Plan

By: Francesca Gino

You may not realize it but simple, irrelevant factors can have profound consequences on your decisions and behavior, often diverting you from your original plans and desires. Sidetracked will help you identify and avoid these influences so the decisions you make do... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Decision-making; Judgment; Decisions; Strategy; Behavior; Ethics; Attitudes

Research Summary

Overview

Associate Professor Yael Grushka-Cockayne's research and teaching activities focus on data science, forecasting, project management, and behavioral decision-making. View Details

Keywords: Data Science; Project Management; Forecasting; Behavior And Behavioral Decision Making

2016
Working Paper

Pros vs Joes: Agent Pricing Behavior in the Sharing Economy

By: Jun Li, Antonio Moreno and Dennis J. Zhang

One of the major differences between markets that follow a “sharing economy” paradigm and traditional two-sided markets is that the supply side in the sharing economy often includes individual nonprofessional decision makers, in addition to firms and professional... View Details

Keywords: Two-sided Market; Sharing Economy; Behavioral Economics; Revenue Management; Hospitality; Two-Sided Platforms; Price; Behavior; Experience and Expertise

SSRN

Web

Organizational Behavior - Doctoral

Behavior “ In HBS’s Organizational Behavior program I receive outstanding, rigorous training in disciplinary methods and also benefit from the myriad resources that HBS has to... View Details

2019
Article

More Amazon Effects: Online Competition and Pricing Behaviors

By: Alberto Cavallo

I study how online competition, with its shrinking margins, algorithmic pricing technologies, and the transparency of the web, can change the pricing behavior of large retailers in the U.S. and affect aggregate inflation dynamics. In particular, I show that in the past... View Details

Keywords: Amazon; Online Prices; Inflation; Uniform Pricing; Price Stickiness; Monetary Economics; Economics; Macroeconomics; Inflation and Deflation; System Shocks; United States