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- Faculty Publications (149)
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- All HBS Web (386)
- Faculty Publications (149)
- 30 Jun 2020
- News
What Coronavirus Researchers Can Learn From Economists
Saving More in Groups: Field Experimental Evidence from Chile
We test the effectiveness of self-help peer groups as a commitment device for precautionary savings, through two randomized field experiments among 2,687 microentrepreneurs in Chile. The first experiment finds that self-help peer groups are a powerful tool to... View Details
- 21 May 2012
- Research & Ideas
OSHA Inspections: Protecting Employees or Killing Jobs?
measures. When he and colleague David I. Levine heard of a program at California OSHA to conduct randomized inspections of workplaces, they realized they had the perfect real-world experiment to settle the... View Details
Keywords: by Michael Blanding
- April 2019 (Revised January 2025)
- Case
Clear Link Technologies, LLC: Driving Sales with Peer Effects
By: Christopher Stanton, Richard Saouma and Olivia Hull
The importance of a good peer or coworker is widely discussed, but understanding the glue that makes coworkers valuable is less understood. This case sheds light on the importance of peers and the practices and environments that make a group greater than the sum of its... View Details
Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Interactive Communication; Experience and Expertise; Decision Making; Training; Design; Compensation and Benefits; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Sharing; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Measurement and Metrics; Outcome or Result; Performance; Performance Improvement; Research; Sales; Salesforce Management; Motivation and Incentives; Telecommunications Industry; Utah; United States
Stanton, Christopher, Richard Saouma, and Olivia Hull. "Clear Link Technologies, LLC: Driving Sales with Peer Effects." Harvard Business School Case 819-072, April 2019. (Revised January 2025.)
- 2013
- Article
Rituals Enhance Consumption
By: J. Vohs, Y. Wang, F. Gino and M. I. Norton
Four experiments tested the novel hypothesis that ritualistic behavior potentiates and enhances the enjoyment of ensuing consumption—an effect found for chocolates, lemonade, and even carrots. Experiment 1 showed that ritual behaviors, compared to a no-ritual... View Details
Vohs, J., Y. Wang, F. Gino, and M. I. Norton. "Rituals Enhance Consumption." Psychological Science 24, no. 9 (September 2013): 1714–1721.
- 20 Apr 2012
- News
The American Connection
- August 2020
- Article
Do Physician Incentives Increase Patient Medication Adherence?
By: Edward Kong, John Beshears, David Laibson, Brigitte Madrian, Kevin Volpp, George Loewenstein, Jonathan Kolstad and James J. Choi
We conducted a randomized experiment (911 primary care practices and 8,935 nonadherent patients) to test the effect of paying physicians for increasing patient medication adherence in three drug classes: diabetes medication, antihypertensives, and statins. We measured... View Details
Keywords: Health Economics; Medication Adherence; Physician Payment Incentives; Primary Care; Quality Improvement; Health Care and Treatment; Motivation and Incentives; Behavior
Kong, Edward, John Beshears, David Laibson, Brigitte Madrian, Kevin Volpp, George Loewenstein, Jonathan Kolstad, and James J. Choi. "Do Physician Incentives Increase Patient Medication Adherence?" Health Services Research 55, no. 4 (August 2020): 503–511.
- 30 Mar 2017
- HBS Seminar
David McKenzie, World Bank
- Research Summary
Overview
I am currently a Principal or Co-Principal Investigator of five field-based randomized controlled trials, each of which examines the management of lay health workers in developing countries, with an eye toward generating theoretical insights and policy guidance on how... View Details
- Research Summary
Overview
I am currently a Principal or Co-Principal Investigator of five field-based randomized controlled trials, each of which examines the management of lay health workers in developing countries, with an eye toward generating theoretical insights and policy guidance on how... View Details
No Taxation without Information
Tax evasion generates billions of dollars of losses in government revenue and creates large distortions, especially in developing countries. A growing, mostly theoretical literature argues that information flows are central to understanding effective taxation. This... View Details
- Research Summary
Overview
I am currently a Principal or Co-Principal Investigator of five field-based randomized controlled trials, each of which examines the management of lay health workers in developing countries, with an eye toward generating theoretical insights and policy guidance on how... View Details
- 2016
- Working Paper
Saving More in Groups: Field Experimental Evidence from Chile
By: Felipe Kast, Stephan Meier and Dina Pomeranz
We test the impact of a peer group savings program on precautionary savings through two randomized field experiments among 2,687 microcredit clients. The first experiment finds that the Peer Group Treatment, which combines public goal setting, monitoring in the group,... View Details
Keywords: Saving; Decision Making; Interest Rates; Planning; Performance Effectiveness; Economics; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development; Social Enterprise; Global Range; Chile
Kast, Felipe, Stephan Meier, and Dina Pomeranz. "Saving More in Groups: Field Experimental Evidence from Chile." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 12-060, January 2012. (Revised April 2016. Revision requested by Journal of Development Economics.
Featured in Time, Business Insider, Freakonomics, Wall Street Journal, Yahoo! Finance, and others.)
- September 12, 2017
- Article
What's the Right Kind of Bonus to Motivate Your Sales Force?
By: Doug J. Chung and Das Narayandas
Companies typically compensate their sales force by using some combination of salary, commission, and bonuses, but executives are often unsure which incentives provide the best motivation. Should bonuses be tied to quotas or should they be given unconditionally? Is it... View Details
Chung, Doug J., and Das Narayandas. "What's the Right Kind of Bonus to Motivate Your Sales Force?" Harvard Business Review (website) (September 12, 2017).
- March–April 2013
- Article
Unlocking Innovation Through Business Experimentation
By: Stefan Thomke
There is a downside to businesses that focus heavily on standardization, optimization, and driving out variability: Such organizations leave themselves vulnerable to underinvesting in experimentation and variation, which are the lifeblood of innovation. Good... View Details
Keywords: Experimentation; Innovation Management; Learning And Development; Research; Innovation and Management; Business Processes
Thomke, Stefan. "Unlocking Innovation Through Business Experimentation." European Business Review (March–April 2013): 55–58.
What's the Right Kind of Bonus to Motivate Your Sales Force?
Companies typically compensate their sales force by using some combination of salary, commission, and bonuses, but executives are often unsure which incentives provide the best motivation. Should bonuses be tied to quotas or should they be given unconditionally? Is... View Details
- 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
Hauser, Oliver P., Gordon T. Kraft-Todd, David Rand, Martin A. Nowak, and Michael I. Norton. "Invisible Inequality Leads to Punishing the Poor and Rewarding the Rich." Behavioural Public Policy 5, no. 3 (July 2021): 333–353.
- April 2024
- Article
Pay-As-You-Go Insurance: Experimental Evidence on Consumer Demand and Behavior
By: Raymond Kluender
Pay-as-you-go contracts reduce minimum purchase requirements which may increase market participation. We randomize the introduction and price(s) of a novel pay-as-you-go contract to the California auto insurance market where 17 percent of drivers are uninsured. The... View Details
Kluender, Raymond. "Pay-As-You-Go Insurance: Experimental Evidence on Consumer Demand and Behavior." Review of Financial Studies 37, no. 4 (April 2024): 1118–1148.
Importance of Being Causal
Causal inference is the study of how actions, interventions, or treatments affect outcomes of interest. The methods that have received the lion’s share of attention in the data science literature for establishing causation are variations of randomized... View Details
- 12 Dec 2023
- Blog Post
Bridging Science and Business: My Summer Internship at Eli Lilly
Earlier this year, I had the incredible opportunity to further cultivate my intersecting interests during a transformative internship at Eli Lilly. It wasn't just a summer of tasks and projects—it was an experience that tied together my... View Details