Publications

SSRN

July 2017 (Revised March 2019)
Technical Note

The Future of Mobility: Economic, Environmental, and Social Implications

By: George Serafeim and David Freiberg

This technical note explores how advancements in technology are fundamentally transforming how consumers interact with mobility. Transformation is being driven by three independent trends: the emergence of affordable electric vehicles, the development of autonomous... View Details

Keywords: Oil ＆ Gas; Automobile Manufacturing; Technological And Scientific Innovation; Mobility; Inequality; Electric Vehicles; Ride-sharing; Ambidexterity; Transformation; Disruption; Change; Technological Innovation; Transportation; Equality and Inequality; Auto Industry; Technology Industry; Transportation Industry; Distribution Industry

Educators

Purchase

27 Jul 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Gender Inequality in Research Productivity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Keywords: by Ruomeng Cui, Hao Ding, and Feng Zhu

2007
Working Paper

The Dynamic Interplay of Inequality and Trust - An Experimental Study

By: Ben Greiner, Axel Ockenfels and Peter Werner

We study the interplay of inequality and trust in a dynamic game, where trust increases efficiency and thus allows higher growth of the experimental economy in the future. We find that trust is initially high in a treatment starting with equal endowments, but decreases... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Performance Efficiency; Trust; Economics

04 Jun 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Accountability and Inequality in Single-Party Regimes: A Comparative Analysis of Vietnam and China

Keywords: by Regina Abrami, Edmund Malesky & Yu Zheng

July 2021
Article

Invisible Inequality Leads to Punishing the Poor and Rewarding the Rich

By: Oliver P. Hauser, Gordon T. Kraft-Todd, David Rand, Martin A. Nowak and Michael I. Norton

Four experiments examine how the lack of awareness of inequality affects behaviour towards the rich and poor. In Experiment 1, participants who became aware that wealthy individuals donated a smaller percentage of their income switched from rewarding the wealthy to... View Details

Keywords: Income Transparency; Income; Wealth; Equality and Inequality; Knowledge; Behavior; Outcome or Result; Society; Policy

10 Jul 2024
Video

Inequality in the Digital Age | An interview with Mahzarin Banaji from Harvard University

July 2011
Article

Institutions and Inequality in Single Party Regimes: A Comparative Analysis of Vietnam and China

Despite the fact that China and Vietnam have been the world's two fastest growing economies over the past two decades, their income inequality patterns are very different. In this paper, we take a deep look at political institutions in the two countries, demonstrating... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Developing Countries and Economies; Motivation and Incentives; Government and Politics; Policy; Power and Influence; Decision Making; Income; China; Viet Nam

2016
Working Paper

Popular Acceptance of Inequality Due to Innate Brute Luck and Support for Classical Benefit-Based Taxation

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl

U.S. survey respondents' views on distributive justice are shown to differ in two specific, related ways from what is conventionally assumed in modern optimal tax research. A large share of respondents, and in some cases a large majority, resist the full equalization... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Attitudes; Taxation; Theory; United States

10 Apr 2015
News

America’s failing report card for social progress

Article

Relational Reconciliation: Socializing Others Across Demographic Differences

By: Lakshmi Ramarajan and Erin M. Reid

In demographically diverse organizations, employees charged with socializing others— socialization agents—must navigate a deep tension between the organization’s needs to integrate individuals into a collective and individuals’ needs for recognition of their unique... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Organizational Culture; Identity; Employees

2008
Working Paper

Structural Closure and Exposure: Formation of Structural Inequality in Managerial Labor Markets

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski

Positional advantages arise when actors obtain rewards attached to positions they occupy, but these rewards are not merited by their performance. Existing theory suggests that in competitive markets there should be no positional advantages. This paper proposes a model... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Jobs and Positions; Managerial Roles; Performance Improvement; Alignment; Competitive Advantage; Equality and Inequality

26 Oct 2015
News

Exposure To Harmful Workplace Practices Could Account For Inequality In Life Spans Across Different Demographic Groups

Article

We Have a Rare Opportunity to Create a Stronger, More Equitable Society

By: Shai Davidai, Martin Day, Daniela Goya-Tocchetto, Oliver Hauser, Jon M. Jachimowicz, M. Usman Mirza, Nailya Ordabayeva, L. Taylor Phillips, Barnabas Szaszi and Stephanie Tepper

Income inequality in the United States was at historic levels before the coronavirus hit. Now, as the disease—and the social and economic implications it brings—spread across the country, it is likely to create even deeper fissures between the poor and rich. View Details

Keywords: Socioeconomic Status; Coronavirus; Inequality; Work; Income; Equality and Inequality; Health Pandemics; Gender; Money; Policy; Race; Society

2021
Working Paper

The Great Unequalizer: Initial Health Effects of COVID-19 in the United States

By: Marcella Alsan, Amitabh Chandra and Kosali I. Simon

We measure inequities from the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality and hospitalizations in the United States during the early months of the outbreak. We discuss challenges in measuring health outcomes and health inequality, some of which are specific to COVID-19 and others... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Health Inequality; Health Pandemics; Demographics; Equality and Inequality

2014
Article

Children Develop a Veil of Fairness

By: Alex Shaw, Natalia Montinari, Marco Piovesan, Kristina Olson, Francesca Gino and Michael I. Norton

Previous research suggests that children develop an increasing concern with fairness over the course of development. Research with adults suggests that the concern with fairness has at least two distinct components: a desire to be fair and a desire to signal to others... View Details

Keywords: Inequity Aversion; Social Signaling; Social Cognitive Development; Communication Intention and Meaning; Fairness; Age; Reputation; Growth and Development; Cognition and Thinking

May 2025
Background Note

Social Enterprise in Latin America

By: Brian L. Trelstad and Karina Souza

This research note provides an overview of the social enterprise ecosystem in Latin America, exploring current dynamics across key markets, including country-specific insights on Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Central America. In a region characterized... View Details

Educators

January 2015
Article

Costly Third-party Punishment in Young Children

By: Katherine McAuliffe, Jillian J. Jordan and Felix Warneken

Human adults engage in costly third-party punishment of unfair behavior, but the developmental origins of this behavior are unknown. Here we investigate costly third-partypunishment in 5- and 6-year-old children. Participants were asked to accept (enact) or reject... View Details

Keywords: Third-party Punishment; Inequity Aversion; Social Cognition; Cooperation; Fairness; Behavior