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- Research (217)
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Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(327)
- News (60)
- Research (217)
- Multimedia (3)
- Faculty Publications (134)
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- Research Summary
Overview
By: Mark L. Egan
When considering how households make investment decisions, Professor Egan became intrigued by the question, “What makes a bank ‘special’ when compared to other lending institutions?” Focusing on empirical industrial organization with applications to finance and... View Details
- June 2019
- Article
Brokers vs. Retail Investors: Conflicting Interests and Dominated Products
By: Mark Egan
I study how brokers distort household investment decisions. Using a novel convertible bond dataset, I find that consumers often purchase dominated bonds—cheap and expensive versions of otherwise identical bonds coexist in the market. The empirical evidence suggests... View Details
Keywords: Brokers; Fiduciary Standard; Consumer Finance; Structured Products; Household; Investment; Decisions; Motivation and Incentives; Conflict of Interests
Egan, Mark. "Brokers vs. Retail Investors: Conflicting Interests and Dominated Products." Journal of Finance 74, no. 3 (June 2019): 1217–1260.
- 2023
- Working Paper
Who Invests in Crypto? Wealth, Financial Constraints, and Risk Attitudes
By: Darren Aiello, Scott R. Baker, Tetyana Balyuk, Marco Di Maggio, Mark J. Johnson and Jason Kotter
We provide a first look into the drivers of household cryptocurrency investing. Analyzing
consumer transaction data for millions of U.S. households, we find that, except for high income
early adopters, cryptocurrency investors resemble the general population. These... View Details
Keywords: Consumer Finance; Cryptocurrency; Fintech; Inflation; Portfolio Choice; Stimulus; Consumer Behavior; Risk and Uncertainty; Investment
Aiello, Darren, Scott R. Baker, Tetyana Balyuk, Marco Di Maggio, Mark J. Johnson, and Jason Kotter. "Who Invests in Crypto? Wealth, Financial Constraints, and Risk Attitudes." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 23-073, May 2023. (Revised November 2023. NBER Working Paper Series, No. 31856, November 2023)
- 16 Dec 2019
- Research & Ideas
Taking on the Taboos That Keep Women Out of India's Workforce
“If I increase your bargaining power over the share of household income you benefit from, I strengthen your position in the household,” she explains. “And, because you’re now in a position to assert your preferences more, traditional... View Details
Keywords: by Julia Hanna
- 05 May 2022
- Research & Ideas
Why Companies Raise Their Prices: Because They Can
Döpper and Joel Stiebale in Rising Markups and the Role of Consumer Preferences. The research sheds light on how markups on key household items had already taken off in the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic. “I was surprised to... View Details
Keywords: by Rachel Layne
- Article
Happiness on Tap: Piped Water Adoption in Urban Morocco
By: Florencia Devoto, Esther Duflo, Pascaline Dupas, William Pariente and Vincent Pons
Connecting private dwellings to the water main is expensive and typically cannot be publicly financed. We show that households' willingness to pay for a private connection is high when it can be purchased on credit, not because a connection improves health but because... View Details
Devoto, Florencia, Esther Duflo, Pascaline Dupas, William Pariente, and Vincent Pons. "Happiness on Tap: Piped Water Adoption in Urban Morocco." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 4, no. 4 (November 2012): 68–99.
- 2021
- Working Paper
Housing Consumption and the Cost of Remote Work
By: Christopher Stanton and Pratyush Tiwari
This paper estimates housing choice differences between households with and without remote workers. Prior to the pandemic, the expenditure share on housing was more than seven percent higher for remote households compared to similar non-remote households in the same... View Details
Stanton, Christopher, and Pratyush Tiwari. "Housing Consumption and the Cost of Remote Work." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 28483, February 2021.
- 2025
- Working Paper
Climate Risk and the U.S. Insurance Gap: Measurement, Drivers and Implications
By: Parinitha Sastry, Tess Scharlemann, Ishita Sen and Ana-Maria Tenekedjieva
In a world with rising risk, how much are U.S. households willing to pay for homeowners insurance, and what does their demand imply for the future of insurance markets? We provide the first estimates of household willingness to pay for homeowners insurance and the... View Details
Keywords: Climate Change; Risk and Uncertainty; Insurance; Personal Finance; Consumer Behavior; Mortgages
Sastry, Parinitha, Tess Scharlemann, Ishita Sen, and Ana-Maria Tenekedjieva. "The Limits of Insurance Demand and the Growing Protection Gap." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 25-054, February 2025.
- 05 Aug 2024
- Research & Ideas
Watching for the Next Economic Downturn? Follow Corporate Debt
countries. Construction, finance, and household credit, which is more prominent in wealthier countries. Firms that offer lending but aren’t subject to the same stringent rules as banks, including leasing or View Details
Keywords: by Rachel Layne
- March 2025
- Article
Optimal Illiquidity
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, Christopher Clayton, Christopher Harris, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian
We study the socially optimal level of illiquidity in an economy populated by households with taste shocks and present bias with naive beliefs. The government chooses mandatory contributions to accounts, each with a different pre-retirement withdrawal penalty.... View Details
Beshears, John, James J. Choi, Christopher Clayton, Christopher Harris, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "Optimal Illiquidity." Art. 103996. Journal of Financial Economics 165 (March 2025).
- September 2003 (Revised January 2004)
- Case
Alessi: Evolution of an Italian Design Factory (A)
By: Youngme E. Moon, Vincent Dessain and Anders Sjoman
Alessio Alessi, head of distribution at family-run Alessi S.p.A., is facing price and brand confusion among customers and is considering reorganizing Alessi's worldwide network of distributors. By describing the challenges facing Alessi, an internationally acclaimed... View Details
Keywords: Family Business; Transition; Cost Management; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Distribution; Production; Problems and Challenges; Networks; Consumer Products Industry
Moon, Youngme E., Vincent Dessain, and Anders Sjoman. "Alessi: Evolution of an Italian Design Factory (A)." Harvard Business School Case 504-018, September 2003. (Revised January 2004.)
- Teaching Interest
Overview
By: Peter Tufano
Tufano is the convener for an innovative global doctoral reading group, The Financial Economics of Climate and Sustainability (FECS). This novel course, taught with professors from Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Texas, Imperial, NYU, Mannheim, and Oxford brings together... View Details
- Article
Targeting Weather Insurance Markets
By: Anita Mukherjee, Shawn Cole and Jeremy Tobacman
The suitability of insurance products often depends greatly on individual circumstances. This paper examines the challenges of heterogeneity in a relatively new product, weather‐indexed insurance. This index insurance product has been launched in over a dozen... View Details
Keywords: Index Insurance; Labor Markets; Self-insurance; Self-protection; Weather; Insurance; Markets; Household; Risk Management
Mukherjee, Anita, Shawn Cole, and Jeremy Tobacman. "Targeting Weather Insurance Markets." Journal of Risk and Insurance 88, no. 3 (September 2021): 757–784.
- Article
Present Bias Causes and Then Dissipates Auto-enrollment Savings Effects
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Peter Maxted
Present bias causes procrastination, which leads households to stick with auto-enrollment defaults. However, present bias also engenders overconsumption. Separation from each employer generates a rollover of 401(k) balances to an individual retirement account (IRA)... View Details
Keywords: Present Bias; Procrastination; Personal Finance; Decision Making; Social Psychology; Retirement
Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Peter Maxted. "Present Bias Causes and Then Dissipates Auto-enrollment Savings Effects." AEA Papers and Proceedings 112 (May 2022): 136–141.
- 20 Feb 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Stock Market Returns and Consumption
- 2010
- Other Unpublished Work
Is High School the Right Time to Teach Self-control? The Effect of Financial Education and Mathematics Courses on Savings Behavior
By: Shawn A. Cole and Gauri Kartini Shastry
Household financial behavior affects household welfare and the economy at large. Yet our understanding of how to improve financial decisions is limited. Recent literature and policy attention have focused on financial education, for example, in high school. We use... View Details
Keywords: Saving; Financial Management; Secondary Education; Behavior; Decision Choices and Conditions; Personal Finance; Household
Cole, Shawn A., and Gauri Kartini Shastry. "Is High School the Right Time to Teach Self-control? The Effect of Financial Education and Mathematics Courses on Savings Behavior." June 2010.
- 2022
- Working Paper
Credit and the Family: The Economic Consequences of Closing the Credit Gap of U.S. Couples
By: Olivia S. Kim
Marital property rights strengthen secondary earners’ economic power by giving them access to credit markets. I study how this crucial yet understudied feature of property laws influences household decision-making. The 2013 reversal of the Truth-in-Lending Act... View Details
Keywords: Household; Credit; Equality and Inequality; Income; Policy; Family and Family Relationships
Kim, Olivia S. "Credit and the Family: The Economic Consequences of Closing the Credit Gap of U.S. Couples." Working Paper. (Job Market Paper, Revise & Resubmit, Journal of Political Economy.)
- 29 Apr 2009
- Working Paper Summaries
Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines
- 2022
- Working Paper
Optimal Illiquidity
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, Christopher Clayton, Christopher Harris, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian
We calculate the socially optimal level of illiquidity in an economy populated by households with taste shocks and naive present bias. The government chooses mandatory contributions to accounts, each witha different pre-retirement withdrawal penalty. Collected... View Details
Keywords: Illiquidity; Commitment; Flexibility; Savings; Social Security; Retirement; Government Legislation; Taxation; Saving
Beshears, John, James J. Choi, Christopher Clayton, Christopher Harris, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "Optimal Illiquidity." Working Paper, July 2022.
- 2006
- Working Paper
The Effect of Dividends on Consumption
By: Malcolm Baker, Stefan Nagel and Jeffrey Wurgler
Classical models predict that the division of stock returns into dividends and capital appreciation does not affect investor consumption patterns, while mental accounting and other economic frictions predict that investors have a higher propensity to consume from stock... View Details
Baker, Malcolm, Stefan Nagel, and Jeffrey Wurgler. "The Effect of Dividends on Consumption." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 12288, June 2006. (First Draft in 2005.)