Publications

15 May 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, May 15, 2018

to make predictions and teaches the core metrics to evaluate how accurate predictions are. It helps students understand how to choose among alternative model specifications and introduces the concepts of overfitting and in-sample versus... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

21 Apr 2015
First Look

First Look: April 21

nations, among them Germany, Japan, and Sweden. This note provides background on aspects of economic inequality. It begins by describing both income inequality and wealth inequality, providing an explanation of two widely used metrics and... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel & Sean Silverthorne

20 Jan 2015
First Look

First Look: January 20

They recommend a more coherent strategy that divides CSR efforts into three categories including those related to philanthropy, operational effectiveness, and shaping the firm's business model to better create shared value. Consideration is also given to developing... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2012
Article

The Changing Ecology of Teams: New Directions for Teams Research

By: Ruth Wageman, Heidi K. Gardner and Mark Mortensen

The nature of collaboration has been changing at an accelerating pace, particularly in the last decade. Much of the published work in teams research, however, is still focused on the archetypal team that has well-defined membership, purposes, leadership, and standards... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Research; Change Management; Leadership; Standards; Performance Effectiveness; Theory; Civil Society or Community

October 2002 (Revised February 2006)
Case

Codex Alimentarius and Food Labeling

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Hal Hogan

Codex Alimentarius is a set of international food standards devised by the Codex Commission, a body within the United Nations jointly sponsored by the FAO and WHO. The purpose of the standards is to harmonize global trade in food products and agricultural commodities,... View Details

Keywords: Standards; Trade; Agreements and Arrangements; Food; Agribusiness; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Globalization; Health; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

November 2009 (Revised August 2013)
Case

IFRS in China

By: Karthik Ramanna, G.A. Donovan and Nancy Dai

In 2005, China announced plans to "converge with," but not completely adopt, IFRS. China also began to lobby for changes to specific IFRS provisions, such as for related party disclosures by state-owned firms, to bring them more into line with Chinese interests.... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; International Accounting; Corporate Disclosure; Standards; State Ownership; Business and Government Relations; China

May 2008
Article

Excess Comovement of Stock Returns: Evidence from Cross-sectional Variation in Nikkei 225 Weights

By: Robin Greenwood

In the presence of limits to arbitrage, cross-sectional variation in periodic investor demand should be related to the degree of comovement of returns. I exploit the unusual weighting system of the Nikkei 225 index in Japan to identify cross-sectional variation in... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Investment; Investment Return; Market Transactions; Weight; Performance Expectations; Behavior; Japan

17 Feb 2003
Research & Ideas

Rating Fund Managers by the Company They Keep

from the Working Paper.Ann Cullen: How is your system different than traditional mutual fund rating systems? Cohen: Our method takes advantage of a wealth of previously unexploited information about fund holdings. Standard metrics rate... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen

20 May 2013
Research & Ideas

The Long-Term Fix to US Competitiveness

bottom line is that the government has grown too big, promised too much, waited too long to restructure, and it needs to restructure sooner rather than later," Walker said. He said the government lacks three things taught in every management 101 class: a plan, a... View Details

Keywords: by Stephanie Schorow & Harvard Gazette

20 Nov 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, November 20, 2018

implementing value-based reimbursement models. Infrastructure requirements, including information technology (indicated by 42% of respondents), and changing regulation/policy (34%) are the top two. There is strong consensus on the broad View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

24 Apr 2013
Research & Ideas

Who Sets Your Benchmarks?

feeling! I internalized these standards and began to believe that academic metrics and accomplishments would be critical in determining where I could go to college and the kinds of jobs I would be able to get after college. To the extent... View Details

December 2012
Article

Evidence on the Use of Unverifiable Estimates in Required Goodwill Impairment

By: Karthik Ramanna and Ross L. Watts

SFAS 142 requires managers to estimate the current fair value of goodwill to determine goodwill write-offs. In promulgating the standard, the FASB predicted managers will, on average, use the fair value estimates to convey private information on future cash flows. The... View Details

Keywords: Goodwill Impairment; Fair-value Accounting; FASB; SFAS 142; Fair Value Accounting; Standards; Cash Flow; Agency Theory; Motivation and Incentives; Forecasting and Prediction; Goodwill Accounting

SSRN

September – October 2008
Article

Care Platforms: A Basic Building Block for Care Delivery

By: Richard Bohmer and David Lawrence

Without significant operational reform within the nation's health care delivery organizations, new financing models, payment systems, or structures are unlikely to realize their promise. Adapting insights from high-performing companies in other high-risk, high-cost,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Management Systems; Standards; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Business Processes; Organizational Design; Customization and Personalization; Health Industry

2021
Working Paper

Hidden Software and Veiled Value Creation: Illustrations from Server Software Usage

By: Raviv Murciano-Goroff, Ran Zhuo and Shane Greenstein

How do you measure the value of a commodity that transacts at a price of zero from an economic standpoint? This study examines the potential for and extent of omission and misattribution in standard approaches to economic accounting with regards to open source... View Details

Keywords: Server Software; Open Source Distribution; Applications and Software; Analytics and Data Science; Economics; Value Creation; Measurement and Metrics

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2011
Working Paper

When Smaller Menus Are Better: Variability in Menu-Setting Ability

Are large menus better than small menus? Recent literature argues that individuals' apparent preference for smaller menus can be explained by choosers' behavioral biases or informational limitations. These explanations imply that absent behavioral or informational... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment; Investment Portfolio; Size; Quality

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February 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Background Note

Note on Measuring Controlling Shareholder's Ownership, Voting, and Control Rights

Founders and their families can raise equity without relinquishing control of their companies through the use of mechanisms such as dual-class stock, pyramidal ownership, voting agreements, and disproportionate board representation. The use of these mechanisms in... View Details

Keywords: Equity; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Measurement and Metrics; Ownership Stake; Business and Shareholder Relations; Valuation

2009
Working Paper

Why Do Countries Adopt International Financial Reporting Standards?

By: Karthik Ramanna and Ewa Sletten

In a sample of 102 non-European Union countries, we study variations in the decision to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). There is evidence that more powerful countries are less likely to adopt IFRS, consistent with more powerful countries being... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; International Accounting; Globalized Economies and Regions; Network Effects; Standards; Adoption

SSRN

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2006
Working Paper

Too Motivated?

By: Eric J. Van den Steen

I show that an agent's motivation to do well (objectively) may be unambiguously bad in a world with differing priors, i.e., when people openly disagree on the optimal course of action. The reason is that an agent who is strongly motivated is more likely to follow... View Details

Keywords: Governance Controls; Employees; Wages; Measurement and Metrics; Outcome or Result; Performance; Agency Theory; Motivation and Incentives