Publications

2012
Book

Strength in Numbers: The Political Power of Weak Interests

By: Gunnar Trumbull

This book investigates the sources of interest group influence on public policy. Trumbull argues that diffuse groups like consumers are more influential, and industry less influential, than we commonly assume. View Details

Keywords: Government and Politics; Interests; Power and Influence; Demand and Consumers; Policy

2016
Working Paper

Credit Migration and Covered Interest Rate Parity

By: Gordon Y Liao

I document economically large and persistent discrepancies in the pricing of credit risk between corporate bonds denominated in different currencies. The discrepancies amount to 50-100 basis points on trillions of dollars of debt notional. I relate this violation of... View Details

Keywords: Market Segmentation; Debt Issuance; Covered Interest Rate Parity; Cross-currency Basis; Credit Risk; Financial Markets; Credit

Person Page

Disclosure of potential conflict of interests

By: William R. Kerr

This is a voluntary disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. This is recommended but not currently required of faculty members at Harvard Business School.

During the past three years, I have worked with the following organizations in advisory, board of... View Details

2018
Chapter

Competing Interests

By: Joel Goh

Book Abstract: The editors, aided by a team of internationally acclaimed experts, have curated this timely volume to help newcomers and seasoned researchers alike to rapidly comprehend a diverse set of thrusts and tools in this rapidly growing cross-disciplinary field.... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Analytics; Health Care and Treatment; Research; Competition

Web

Conflict of Interest | About

Conflict of Interest HBS strives to adhere to the highest standard of integrity, ethics and respect in a manner consistent with HBS Community Standards. To view the staff... View Details

2021
Article

Consumer Disclosure

By: Tami Kim, Kate Barasz and Leslie John

As technological advances enable consumers to share more information in unprecedented ways, today’s disclosure takes on a variety of new forms, triggering a paradigm shift in what “disclosure” entails. This review introduces two factors to conceptualize consumer... View Details

Keywords: Disclosure; Passive Disclosure; Information; Internet and the Web; Consumer Behavior; Situation or Environment

2018
Article

Overcoming Barriers to Time-Saving: Reminders of Future Busyness Encourage Consumers to Buy Time

By: A. V. Whillans, Elizabeth W. Dunn and Michael I. Norton

Spending money on time-saving purchases improves happiness. Yet, people often fail to spend their money in this way. Because most people believe that the future will be less busy than the present, they may underweight the value of these purchases. We examine the impact... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Choice; Sharing Economy; Opportunity Cost; Time-as Money; Well-being; Time Management; Happiness; Perception; Behavior

2000
Chapter

Strategies of Consumer Group Mobilization

By: Gunnar Trumbull

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Consumer Behavior; Marketing Strategy; Groups and Teams

October 2019
Article

Correcting Consumer Misperception

By: Omar Isaac Asensio

For the well informed, taking actions to curb energy consumption from household appliances is uncomplicated. Now, research shows that simple information provision interventions can correct consumer misperceptions of the energy consumed by common appliances, offering... View Details

Keywords: Energy Conservation; Knowledge Dissemination

September 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Santander Consumer Finance

By: J. Gunnar Trumbull, Elena Corsi and Andrew Barron

A Spanish company has to decide if they should expand into the fragmented European consumer finance market and has to make important organizational strategy decisions in the midst of the world economic downturn that followed the 2007 U.S. credit crunch. Since 2002, the... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Financial Markets; International Finance; Personal Finance; Consolidation; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Financial Services Industry; European Union; Spain

Educators

Attention is a necessary ingredient for effective advertising. The market for consumer attention (or “eyeballs”) has become so competitive that attention can be regarded as a currency. The rising cost of this ingredient in the marketplace is causing marketers to... View Details

Research Summary

Consumer Habituation

This paper examines how consumers willingness to pay for goods is determined by past patterns of consumption. The central result is a theorem of interior maximum, which states that willingness to pay for a good is maximized at a moderate level of habitual... View Details

Research Summary

Principal Research Interests

My research is principally focused on nineteenth- and twentieth-century subjects, with an emphasis on economic and especially financial history. I am interested in the role of banks and capital markets in the process of economic development as well as in the political... View Details

September 1985
Background Note

Evolution of Consumer Financial Products

By: Dwight B. Crane

2021
Working Paper

Consuming Contests: Outcome Uncertainty and Spectator Demand for Contest-based Entertainment

By: Patrick J. Ferguson and Karim R. Lakhani

Contests that are designed to be consumed for entertainment by non-contestants are a fixture of economic, cultural and political life. In this paper, we examine whether individuals prefer to consume contests that have more uncertain outcomes. We look to... View Details

Keywords: Contest Design; Information Preferences; Consumer Demand; Sports; Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Demand and Consumers; Outcome or Result

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