Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(679)
- Faculty Publications (151)
- Summer 2019
- Article
The Political Influence of Voters' Interests on SEC Enforcement
By: Jonas Heese
I examine whether political influence as a response to voters’ interest in employment levels is reflected in the enforcement actions of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). I find that large employers are less likely to experience SEC enforcement actions.... View Details
- May 28, 2019
- Other Article
How Russia Found a Disinformation Haven in America
By: Rawi Abdelal and Galit Goldstein
The Mueller Report established that “the Russians” undertook information operations campaigns to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Though this has been clear for a long time, Americans continue to discuss Russian information operations in the wrong way.... View Details
- February 2019 (Revised March 2021)
- Case
India: State Capacity and Unity in Diversity
By: Alberto Cavallo, Matthew Weinzierl and Robert Scherf
As 2018 drew to a close, India prepared to once again carry out the largest democratic exercise in human history, as in less than six months more than 850 million eligible voters would have the chance to choose their representatives to the Lok Sabha—the country’s lower... View Details
- February 2019 (Revised March 2022)
- Case
Mexico: Shifting Left with AMLO
Andrés Manuel López Obrador became president of Mexico on December 1, 2018. His election, and the victory of his new Party, MORENA, represent a sharp shift to the left by Mexico’s political system. Previously, President Peña Nieto and his party, the PRI, had initiated... View Details
- January 2019 (Revised January 2022)
- Case
Chinese Infrastructure Investments in Sri Lanka: A Pearl or a Teardrop on the Belt and Road?
By: Meg Rithmire and Yihao Li
In 2015, a surprise presidential election result seemed to imperil Chinese investments in Sri Lanka, which were associated with China’s Belt and Road Initiative to build global infrastructure. In the previous decade, China had undertaken two major projects in the... View Details
- January 2019
- Article
Increasing the Electoral Participation of Immigrants: Experimental Evidence from France
By: Vincent Pons and Guillaume Liegey
Improving the political participation of immigrants could advance their interests and foster their integration into receiving countries. In this study, 23,800 citizens were randomly assigned to receive visits from political activists during the lead-up to the 2010... View Details
- November 2018 (Revised June 2019)
- Case
The Rise of Populism and Italy's Electoral 'Tsunami'
By: Rawi Abdelal, Dante Roscini and Elena Corsi
Italy’s March 2018 elections led to a populist government that included the right-wing League and the anti-establishment 5 Star Movement. To respect their electoral promises, the two parties came up with a budget plan that provided for a public deficit at 2.4%, a... View Details
- October 2018 (Revised August 2019)
- Case
Everybody Knows: Russia and the Election
By: Rawi Abdelal, Rafael Di Tella and Galit Goldstein
Following a contentious presidential race, Donald Trump’s 2016 election destabilized America’s status quo. Academics, journalists, politicians and the public at large examined why Trump had won. Many Americans, inside and outside the government, asserted that a... View Details
Keywords: Strategic Industry; Strategic Alliances (Business); Business And Government; Business And Public Policy; Business And Society; Media Businesses; Media Content; Media Slant; Media Regulation; Internet Of Everything; Government Policy; Politics; Political Campaigns; Political Strategy; Political Turmoil; Government; Government Regulation; Security; International Business; International Relations; National Security; Political Elections; News; Media; Internet and the Web; Rights; Problems and Challenges; Globalization; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Government Legislation; Risk and Uncertainty; Cognition and Thinking; Conflict and Resolution; Identity; Civil Society or Community; Culture; Public Opinion; Social Issues; War; Social Media; Public Administration Industry; United States; Russia
- September 2018
- Article
Expressive Voting and Its Cost: Evidence from Runoffs with Two or Three Candidates
By: Vincent Pons and Clémence Tricaud
In French parliamentary and local elections, candidates ranked first and second in the first round automatically qualify for the second round, while a third candidate qualifies only when selected by more than 12.5 percent of registered citizens. Using a fuzzy RDD... View Details
- August 2018 (Revised April 2023)
- Case
Facebook—Can Ethics Scale in the Digital Age?
By: George A. Riedel and Carin-Isabel Knoop
Since its founding in 2004, Facebook has built a phenomenally successful business at global scale to become the fifth most valuable public company in the world. The revelation of Cambridge Analytica events in March 2018, where 78 million users' information was leaked... View Details
- June 2018
- Article
Will a Five-Minute Discussion Change Your Mind? A Countrywide Experiment on Voter Choice in France
By: Vincent Pons
This paper provides the first estimate of the effect of door-to-door canvassing on actual electoral outcomes, via a countrywide experiment embedded in François Hollande's campaign in the 2012 French presidential election. While existing experiments randomized... View Details
- May 2018 (Revised October 2018)
- Case
Argentina Power—Don't Cry for Me Argentina
By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Sayiddah Fatima McCree
In 2016, Bruce Wayne, Managing Director of Energy Finance Corporation (“EFC”), was refining the Investment/Credit Committee materials for the development of up to 10 power generating plants in Argentina. As a subsidiary of the much larger International Conglomerate... View Details
Keywords: Cross Border; Energy Markets; Infrastructure Finance; Infrastructure Development; Business Subsidiaries; Business Cycles; Macroeconomics; Energy Generation; International Finance; Project Finance; Government and Politics; Demand and Consumers; Infrastructure; Utilities Industry; Energy Industry; Financial Services Industry; Argentina; Latin America
- March 2018
- Teaching Note
Making Target the Target: Boycotts and Corporate Political Activity (A) and (B)
By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Victor Wu
Through the challenges facing Target, the case examines the ways in which corporations can become involved in political and legislative debates and processes, ranging from campaign contributions to lobbying. In 2016, Target CEO Brian Cornell must determine how to... View Details
Keywords: Public Opinion; Social Issues; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Problems and Challenges; Laws and Statutes; Rights; Crisis Management; Risk Management; Media; Political Elections; Taxation; Corporate Accountability; Values and Beliefs; Fairness; Diversity; Customers; Communication; Business and Government Relations; Retail Industry; United States
- Article
Orienteering for Electioneering
By: Jonah Kallenbach, Robert Kleinberg and Scott Duke Kominers
In this paper, we introduce a combinatorial optimization problem that models the investment decision a political candidate faces when treating his or her opponents’ campaign plans as given. Our formulation accounts for both the time cost of traveling between districts... View Details
- February 2018 (Revised June 2018)
- Case
Uruguay: Facing the 21st Century
By: Sophus A. Reinert, Michael Chu and Carin-Isabel Knoop
In the fall of 2017, self-made business leader Edgardo Novick pondered his campaign to be elected President of Uruguay, “the Switzerland of Latin America.” Inspired by populist revolts against the status quo observable worldwide, Novick hoped he could ride popular... View Details
- 2018
- Working Paper
Trust and Democracy: Leader Turnover during Economic Crises
By: Nathan Nunn, Nancy Qian and Jaya Y. Wen
We study the relationship between interpersonal trust and political stability in democratic countries. Using a six-decade-long annual country-level panel dataset, we find that recessions are more likely to cause political turnover in countries with lower levels of... View Details
- November 2017
- Technical Note
21st Century Populism
By: George Serafeim and David Freiberg
While the first decade of the 21st century saw a massive financial crisis that led to significant economic downturn, the second decade saw the rise of political leaders, who built their support upon a political message that championed the common person against the... View Details
Keywords: Populism; Market Efficiency; Market Liberalization; Political Influence; Political Instability; Capital Controls; Partnerships; Coalition; Inequality; Role Of Business In Society; Government Intervention In The Markets; Labor Market; Equality and Inequality; Financial Markets; Social Issues; Immigration; Financial Crisis; Capital Markets; Business and Government Relations
- 2017
- Working Paper
Voter Mobilization and Trust in Electoral Institutions: Evidence from Kenya
By: Benjamin Marx, Vincent Pons and Tavneet Suri
Voter mobilization campaigns face trade-offs in young democracies. In a large-scale experiment implemented in 2013 with the Kenyan Electoral Commission (IEBC), text messages intended to mobilize voters boosted participation but also decreased trust in electoral... View Details
- September 2017 (Revised January 2019)
- Case
Public Entrepreneurs? Picking a Path
By: Mitchell Weiss and Matthew Segneri
Direct entry into government remained an uncommon post-HBS path, with only 1%–2% of recent classes going directly into the public sector. But, for public-minded MBAs, government wasn’t the sole province for public problem-solving. MBAs could join or launch companies... View Details
Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Careers; Tri-sector Athlete; Job Searching; Government Innovation; Govtech; CivicTech; Civic Technology; Civic Innovation; Government Technology; MBA Class Of 2017; Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Public Sector; Government Administration; Job Search; Jobs and Positions; Innovation Leadership; Technology Industry; Public Administration Industry; United States
- August 2017
- Article
Voter Registration Costs and Disenfranchisement: Experimental Evidence from France
By: Céline Braconnier, Jean-Yves Dormagen and Vincent Pons
A large-scale randomized experiment conducted during the 2012 French presidential and parliamentary elections shows that voter registration requirements have significant effects on turnout, resulting in unequal participation. We assigned 20,500 apartments to one... View Details