Price Discrimination - Publications - Faculty & Research

2022
Working Paper

Why Do Index Funds Have Market Power? Quantifying Frictions in the Index Fund Market

By: Zach Y. Brown, Mark Egan, Jihye Jeon, Chuqing Jin and Alex A. Wu

Index funds are one of the most common ways investors access financial markets and are perceived to be a transparent and low-cost alternative to active investment management. Despite these purported virtues of index fund investing and the introduction of new products... View Details

Keywords: Mutual Funds; Passive Investing; Asset Management; Financial Markets; Investment Funds; Financial Management; Financial Services Industry; United States

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05 Apr 2017
Research & Ideas

For Women Especially, It Pays to Know What Car Repairs Should Cost

Women who come prepared to challenge an auto repair quote can overcome gender discrimination and negotiate a fairer price, according to recently published research. That's one conclusion from the research study Repairing the Damage: The... View Details

Keywords: by Wendy Guild Swearingen; Auto; Service

24 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, October 24, 2017

discriminate in hiring on the basis of sexual orientation. The veiled methodology also produces larger estimates of the fraction of the population that identifies as LGBT or has had a sexual experience with a member of the same sex.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Feb 2018
Research & Ideas

The Airbnb Effect: Cheaper Rooms for Travelers, Less Revenue for Hotels

"The benefits to travelers and the reduction in pricing power of hotels is really concentrated in particular cities during certain times," says Chiara Farronato, a co-author of the study. "When hotels are fully booked,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Travel

10 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 10, 2018

easy to compare online, discount coupons and codes have high uptake, and sellers often bear the cost of shipping products to buyers. In addition to these factors, online selling precludes many methods of price View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

10 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Is Groupon Good for Retailers?

customers more than others. But once discount voucher services become known to most consumers, price discrimination will become considerably more difficult. In principle, discount offers can be customized... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Advertising; Technology

21 Jul 2021
Research & Ideas

What Does an ESG Score Really Say About a Company?

Receiving more information can clarify the complex, but not when it comes to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores. A recent study shows that the more information a company discloses about its ESG practices, the more rating agencies disagree on how well... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

18 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

When Bias Creeps into AI, Managers Can Stop It by Asking the Right Questions

algorithm generates fair outcomes. As the algorithm sorts through information to optimize its objective, BEAT detects and eliminates bias at key points in the training process. For instance, BEAT could help a car service charge surge View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

15 Mar 2016
First Look

March 15, 2016

evidence that such “CEO activism” can influence public opinion and consumer attitudes. Our field experiment examines the impact of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s public statements opposing a pending religious freedom law that critics warned would allow View Details

10 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

COVID-19 Lessons: Social Media Can Nudge More People to Get Vaccinated

broader social impact of their products and platforms,” says Luca. In his years at HBS, Luca has focused his research on, among other things, ways to tackle discrimination in online platforms, coming up with a series of recommendations... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis; Health; Technology

20 Sep 2022
Research & Ideas

How Partisan Politics Play Out in American Boardrooms

Republican—are 3.2 percent more likely to leave their companies when they are “politically misaligned” with their colleagues. Shareholders collectively lose $238 million, on average, after their departure is announced, the research shows. When politically misaligned... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

25 Oct 2016
First Look

October 25, 2016

segmentation, and price discrimination through consumer self-selection. I evaluate these perspectives in the context of a major fashion goods firm using newly available and highly granular data. Model-free... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Dec 2016
Research & Ideas

How The 2016 Presidential Candidates Misled Us With Truthful Statements

innocent. Though Trump was young (27 years old), he was the company’s president. And though there may have been other firms sued at other times, the Trumps were the only one sued at that particular time. Click to watch.Trump defends himself against housing View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

04 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

How Schmoozing with the Boss Helps Men Get Promoted

39 percent of the gender pay gap The social advantage male employees enjoyed with male bosses didn’t occur instantly when they were first paired together, which suggests that knee-jerk discrimination and chauvinism are probably not at... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

19 Sep 2016
Research & Ideas

Why Isn't Business Research More Relevant to Business Practitioners?

successful fights against adware and spyware companies, and coauthored multiple studies that revealed racial discrimination among Airbnb hosts and guests. He also has published numerous articles in top academic journals. That said, he has... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education

29 Oct 2018
Research & Ideas

Hunting for a Hot Job in High Tech? Try 'Digitization Economist'

consider potential partnerships with, say, Apple Wallet. Price setting. At Uber, a team of economists work on how to design and fine-tune its surge pricing system, which changes fares in real time and... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Technology; Education

12 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

Michael Porter’s Prescription For the High Cost of Health Care

Aetna, another covered by Blue Cross, and another self-insured. Payers could negotiate, but price changes would have to benefit all patients, not just their own. The cost of treating a medical condition has nothing to do with who the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter; Health

08 Sep 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

Capitalism Works Better When I Can See What You're Doing

Transparency, the concept if not the reality, is all the rage in business circles. If you knew why a company charged a certain price for a product, would you be more willing to pay it? If your boss confessed her managerial screw-ups,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

06 Nov 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, November 6, 2018

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55194 Large Banks and Small Firm Lending By: Bord, Vitaly, Victoria Ivashina, and Ryan D. Taliaferro Abstract—We show that since 2007, there was a large and persistent shift in the composition of lenders to small firms.... View Details