Publications

February 2021 (Revised September 2022)
Case

Marie Curie: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Shirley Sun

This case describes the rise of Marie Curie from a poor family in Poland to the pinnacle of scientific fame. The case describes how Curie, as a young woman interested in science, found a way to earn a doctorate at the Sorbonne and perform pathbreaking research on... View Details

Keywords: Legacy; Impact; Science; Research; Personal Characteristics; Mission and Purpose; Success; Work-Life Balance; Higher Education; Personal Development and Career

September 2016 (Revised August 2018)
Case

Pi Investments

By: Vikram S. Gandhi and Tony L. He

Pi was a large family office pioneering the concept of 100% portfolio impact investing. Tasked with preserving capital, generating moderate returns and advancing the family’s social justice goals – Pi’s Managing Directors had to identify appropriate products across... View Details

Keywords: Investment Fund; Impact Investing; Investment Portfolio; Investment Funds

Article

Multinationale et fermetures de filiales : les conséquences sociales et politiques de décisions économiques

By: Sabine Pitteloud and Leo Grob

À travers l’analyse détaillée de deux cas de fermeture de filiale dans les années 1970, cet article s’intéresse aux conséquences sociales et politiques multiples des décisions de désinvestissement des sociétés multinationales. La première étude de cas porte sur la... View Details

Keywords: Multinationals; Labor Relations; Corporate Citizenship; Business ＆ Government Relations; Disinvestment; Multinational Firms and Management; Business and Government Relations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

September 2022
Case

HPP: Tapping the Netherlands’ Potential

By: Brian Trelstad and Idelès Kaandorp

Stichting Het Potentieel Pakken (HPP) was launched to solve a systemic problem in the Dutch Labor Market: gender inequity that was leading to a large number of women to work part-time in fields that were in desperately short supply of labor, like health care, child... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Grants; Scaling And Growth; Nonprofit Organizations; Opportunities; Gender; Income; Employment; Health Care and Treatment; Human Capital; Mission and Purpose; Motivation and Incentives; Growth and Development Strategy; Employment Industry; Health Industry; Education Industry; Consulting Industry; Europe; Netherlands

2024
Working Paper

The Impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act on the U.S. Economy

By: Joe Long, Carlo Medici, Nancy Qian and Marco Tabellini

This paper investigates the economic consequences of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned immigration from China. The Act reduced the number of Chinese workers of all skill levels living in the United States. It also reduced the labor supply and the quality of... View Details

Keywords: Growth; Productivity; Economic Development; Business History; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Business and Government Relations; Prejudice and Bias; Government Legislation; Immigration; United States

Article

The Impact of Penalties for Wrong Answers on the Gender Gap in Test Scores

By: Katherine B. Coffman and David Klinowski

Multiple-choice exams play a critical role in university admissions across the world. A key question is whether imposing penalties for wrong answers on these exams deters guessing from women more than men, disadvantaging female test-takers. We consider data from a... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Economics; Standardized Testing; Gender; Higher Education; Prejudice and Bias

January 2020
Case

Terra Nova: A Social Business Trying to Unlock Land Rights for the Urban Poor in Brazil

By: Julie Battilana, Ruth Costas, Marissa Kimsey and Priscilla Zogbi

Brothers André and Daniel Albuquerque founded the company Terra Nova in 2001 to mediate land disputes between poor families illegally living in urban areas and the official landowners—with the aspiration to improve the lives of the poor. A business-led approach to the... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Entrepreneurship; Negotiation; Power and Influence; Social Issues; Conflict and Resolution; Business and Government Relations; Infrastructure; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; Brazil; Latin America

Web

Ripple Effect | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

management and strategic thinking tools in the social sector,” he recalls. In that class, however, Nicolette grappled much more deeply with the challenges and injustices faced by urban school districts in America. “That realization... View Details

2009
Working Paper

Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines

By: Nava Ashraf, Dean Karlan and Wesley Yin

Female "empowerment" has increasingly become a policy goal, both as an end to itself and as a means to achieving other development goals. Microfinance in particular has often been argued, but not without controversy, to be a tool for empowering women. Here, using a... View Details

Keywords: Saving; Microfinance; Personal Finance; Decision Making; Microeconomics; Gender; Power and Influence; Philippines

2007
Report

Compounding Impact: Mission Investing by U.S. Foundations

By: Mark R. Kramer and Sarah E. Cooch

If foundations are to achieve their lofty ambitions for social impact, they must find creative ways to use every resource they possess. Enter mission investing (now more popularly called impact investing), a practice of using financial investments as tools to achieve a... View Details

Keywords: Foundations; Mission Investing; Impact Investing; Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Investment

Register to Read

24 May 2023
Blog Post

Innovating, Funding, and Scaling Climate Solutions at Harvard Business School: Day Three of Harvard Climate Action Week

This is a repost from HBS Newsroom, see the original post here. “Climate change, and the energy and materials transition, is one of the most complicated and challenging business, geopolitical, and social issues of our century. At the same... View Details

2021
Working Paper

Does Social Media Cause Polarization? Evidence from Access to Twitter Echo Chambers during the 2019 Argentine Presidential Debate

By: Rafael Di Tella, Ramiro H. Gálvez and Ernesto Schargrodsky

We study how two groups, those inside vs. those outside echo chambers, react to a political event when we vary social media status (Twitter). Our treatments mimic two strategies often suggested as a way to limit polarization on social media: they expose people to... View Details

Keywords: Political Polarization; Political Elections; Internet and the Web; Attitudes; Social Media; Argentina

20 Nov 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Impact Evaluation Methods in Public Economics: A Brief Introduction to Randomized Evaluations and Comparison with Other Methods

Keywords: by Dina Pomeranz; Public Administration

31 Aug 2021
Blog Post

Exploring the Art of Business: Social Enterprise Summer Fellow Felipe Ceron (MBA 2022)

How can someone learn more about your organization? Visit the School's website and Instagram. This story was originally published on the Social Enterprise Impact Insights blog. View Details

20 Oct 2020
Blog Post

Exploring Technology and Public Impact Through the HBS/HKS Joint Degree Program

undergraduate degree. I spent my first couple of years at the company in the San Francisco Bay area and London in roles across the Marketing organization, including working on brand, reputation, and social responsibility initiatives. In... View Details

17 Jun 2021
News

Investing in a Post-COVID World; Exploring the Pandemic’s Impact on Gender Equity

women leaders in the HBS alumni community with events, initiatives and social impact scholarships. So when Club President Boris Tsimerinov (PLDA 16) and Stark were planning events for 2021, they decided to... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

November 2008
Article

Getting off the Hedonic Treadmill, One Step at a Time: The Impact of Regular Religious Practice and Exercise on Well-Being

By: Daniel Mochon, Michael I. Norton and Dan Ariely

Many studies have shown that few events in life have a lasting impact on subjective well-being because of people's tendency to adapt quickly; worse, those events that do have a lasting impact tend to be negative. We suggest that while major events may not provide... View Details

Keywords: Health; Religion; Behavior; Happiness; Welfare