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September 2014
Article

Income Inequality and Social Preferences for Redistribution and Compensation Differentials

By: William R. Kerr

In cross-sectional studies, countries with greater income inequality typically exhibit less support for government-led redistribution and greater acceptance of wage inequality (e.g., United States versus Western Europe). If individual nations evolve along this pattern,... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Income; Government and Politics

08 Mar 2019
Blog Post

Reclaiming Feminism: A Celebration of International Women’s Day

from the WSA Feminism, at its core, is singular in its intent: equality of the sexes. Yet it’s often been called “the other F-word.” A dirty word. But what does it mean when we think that a synonym for “champion for View Details

2023
White Paper

Unlocking Economic Prosperity: Career Navigation in a Time of Rapid Change

By: Joseph B. Fuller, Kerry McKittrick, Sherry Seibel, Cole Wilson, Vasundhara Dash and Ali Epstein

Keywords: Wages; Personal Development and Career; Equality and Inequality

September–October 2024
Article

Working Around the Clock: Temporal Distance, Intrafirm Communication, and Time Shifting of the Employee Workday

By: Jasmina Chauvin, Prithwiraj Choudhury and Tommy Pan Fang

This paper examines the effects of temporal distance generated by time zone separation on communication in geographically distributed organizations. We build on prior research, which highlights time zone separation as a significant challenge, but argue that employees... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Employees; Behavior; Equality and Inequality

June 23, 2020
Article

Inequality in Socially Permissible Consumption

By: Serena Hagerty and Kate Barasz

Lower-income individuals are frequently criticized for their consumption decisions; this research examines why. Eleven preregistered studies document systematic differences in permissible consumption—interpersonal judgments about what is acceptable (or not) for others... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Judgments; Consumption; Economic Inequalty; Income; Equality and Inequality; Spending; Judgments

June 2013
Article

Dysfunction in the Boardroom: Understanding the Persistent Gender Gap at the Highest Levels

By: Boris Groysberg and Deborah Bell

The article examines the gender gap that is present in boardrooms in U.S. corporations and internationally in 2013 as more women attempt to reach executive-level positions. Countries in the European Union are attempting to institute laws regarding the minimum... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Governing and Advisory Boards; Gender; United States; European Union

Article

Caste and Entrepreneurship in India

By: Lakshmi Iyer, Tarun Khanna and Ashutosh Varshney

It is now widely accepted that the lower castes have risen in Indian politics. Has there been a corresponding change in the economy? Using comprehensive data on enterprise ownership from the Economic Censuses of 1990, 1998, and 2005, we document substantial caste... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Income; Entrepreneurship; Rank and Position; India

Purchase

12 Jan 2018
Cold Call Podcast

Leadership Lessons from a Young Martin Luther King, Jr.

“And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So, I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the... View Details

July 2021
Article

Redistribution through Markets

By: Piotr Dworczak, Scott Duke Kominers and Mohammad Akbarpour

Policymakers frequently use price regulations as a response to inequality in the markets they control. In this paper, we examine the optimal structure of such policies from the perspective of mechanism design. We study a buyer-seller market in which agents have private... View Details

Keywords: Optimal Mechanism Design; Redistribution; Inequality; Welfare Theorems; Market Design; Equality and Inequality

Web

2015 Symposium - Race, Gender & Equity

Tomaskovic-Devey on what impedes equal opportunity in organizations Research to Change the World: Don Tomaskovic-Devey on what impedes equal opportunity in organizations Don Tomaskovic-Devey Don... View Details

October 31, 2017
Article

In Tackling #MeToo, Don’t Ignore Micro-Insults That Harm Women’s Careers

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

The Harvey Weinstein horror show has brought attention to previously unspoken abuses of male power to sexually harass and suppress women. Prominent women are joining the #MeToo moment, feeling safety in numbers as they reveal facing egregious bullying. Businesses are... View Details

Keywords: Sexual Harassment; Gender Inequality; Gender; Equality and Inequality; Change; Safety; Corporate Governance

11 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

Shrinking the Racial Wealth Gap, One Mortgage at a Time

Hiring more minority loan officers could help people of color secure significantly more home loans and address one of the biggest factors driving the racial wealth gap, new research finds. In the white-dominated US banking industry, minority borrowers’ applications are... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

January 1990 (Revised March 1994)
Case

Accountants and Business Advisors, Inc.: City Office

Over the past several years both the share of women receiving accounting degrees and the share of women entering public accounting have risen substantially. However, the number of women holding senior positions, such as partner, remains low. This case provides data on... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Retention; Gender; Accounting Industry

August 2023
Article

Taking Stock of the Implementation Gap in Climate Policy

By: Taryn Fransen, Jonas Meckling, Anna Stunzi, Tobias Schmidt, Florian Egli, Nicolas Schmid and Christopher Beaton

A gap persists between the emissions reductions pledged by countries under the Paris Agreement and those resulting from their domestic policies. We argue that this gap in fact contains two parts: one in the policies that countries adopt, and the other in the outcomes... View Details

Keywords: Emission Reduction; Outcome or Result; Policy; Environmental Regulation; Equality and Inequality

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01 Mar 2019
News

Research Brief: Unveiling the Truth about Transparency

Zoë Cullen (photo by Russ Campbell) Zoë Cullen (photo by Russ Campbell) Wage transparency is a concept that is most often rallied against by employers, while employees presume it will benefit them by equalizing wages and reducing the... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Myers

26 Sep 2005
Research & Ideas

What Perceived Power Brings to Negotiations

year in the journal Group Decisions and Negotiation, authors Rebecca L. Wolfe and Kathleen McGinn found that in negotiations where participants shared relatively equal perceived power, the outcome tended to address the needs of both... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark

01 Dec 2003
News

Good Day Sunshine

implement the $365,000 project. Robertson and Cook, copresidents of the HBS Sustainable Development Society, say the panels will provide 15 to 25 percent of Shad’s daily electricity needs and eliminate carbon dioxide emissions equal to... View Details

21 Jul 2015
Blog Post

3 Things Women Need to Know About Business School

second year mentoring programs, to advocating for more female case protagonists. I think the biggest impact for me has been the subtle cultural shift on campus towards gender equality – seeing female students representing women as strong... View Details

March 2022
Article

How Much Does Your Boss Make? The Effects of Salary Comparisons

By: Zoë B. Cullen and Ricardo Perez-Truglia

The vast majority of the pay inequality in an organization comes from differences in pay between employees and their bosses. But are employees aware of these pay disparities? Are employees demotivated by this inequality? To address these questions, we conducted a... View Details

Keywords: Salary; Inequality; Managers; Career Concerns; Pay Transparency; Wages; Equality and Inequality; Perception; Behavior