Publications

June 2010
Article

What Causes Industry Agglomeration? Evidence from Coagglomeration Patterns

By: Glenn Ellison, Edward Glaeser and William R. Kerr

Why do firms cluster near one another? We test Marshall's theories of industrial agglomeration by examining which industries locate near one another, or coagglomerate. We construct pairwise coagglomeration indices for US manufacturing industries from the Economic... View Details

Keywords: Production; Economics; Industry Clusters; Analytics and Data Science; Labor; Theory; Goods and Commodities; United States; United Kingdom

Research Summary

An Empirical Approach to Understanding Privacy Valuation

The purpose of this research is to detect the presence of sophisticated economic motives behind individual concerns for privacy. Recent theories of privacy demands in commercial contexts have assumed an economically aware and sophisticated consumer, capable of... View Details

July 2021
Article

Discovering Auctions: Contributions of Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson

By: Alex Teytelboym, Shengwu Li, Scott Duke Kominers, Mohammad Akbarpour and Piotr Dworczak

The 2020 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was awarded to Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson for “improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats.” In this survey article, we review the contributions of the... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Auctions; Theory; Design

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June 1991 (Revised April 1997)
Background Note

Managing the Multibusiness Corporation

By: David J. Collis

Lays out some ideas on how to restructure a multibusiness corporation. Identifies sixteen elements of organization design, and then applies contingency theory to argue that these elements need to be aligned with the tasks the corporation uses to create value across its... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Alignment; Corporate Strategy; Theory; Value Creation

Educators

30 May 2019
Working Paper Summaries

US Antitrust Law and Policy in Historical Perspective

Keywords: by Laura Phillips Sawyer; Education

Research Summary

Overview

Yusaku's interests lie in the dynamics of shared beliefs, shared values, and organizational capabilities, as well as the role of leadership in them. Of particular approach is to understand the ways in which beliefs become justified, socially, so as to become "justified... View Details

24 Oct 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Individual Experience of Positive and Negative Growth Is Asymmetric: Global Evidence from Subjective Well-being Data

Keywords: by Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, George W. Ward, Femke De Keulenaer, Bert Van Landeghem, Georgios Kavetsos & Michael I. Norton

16 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

Adam Smith, Behavioral Economist?

Economic Perspectives, the authors find that Smith's insights from 1759 can contribute to modern thinking on everything from our fascination with celebrity to the theory of loss aversion. In fact, says... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen

Fall 2013
Article

In Strange Company: The Puzzle of Private Investment in State-Controlled Firms

By: Mariana Pargendler, Aldo Musacchio and Sergio G. Lazzarini

A large legal and economic literature describes how state-owned enterprises (SOEs) suffer from a variety of agency and political problems. Less theory and evidence, however, have been generated about the reasons why state-owned enterprises listed in stock markets... View Details

Keywords: State-owned Enterprises; Oil Companies; Corporate Governance; Business and Shareholder Relations; Energy Industry; Brazil; Mexico; Norway

SSRN

Research Summary

Business History

By: Walter A. Friedman

Walter Friedman serves as co-editor of Business History Review. He has a special interest in the history of marketing and personal selling, and is author of Birth of a Salesman: The Transformation of Selling in America (Harvard, 2004). He is also interested in the... View Details

2018
Chapter

How Geography Shapes—and Is Shaped by—the Internet

By: Shane Greenstein, Avi Goldfarb and Chris Forman

Book Abstract: The first 15 years of the 21st century have thrown into sharp relief the challenges of growth, equity, stability, and sustainability facing the world economy. In addition, they have exposed the inadequacies of mainstream economics in providing answers to... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Geographic Location; Internet

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Research Summary

Overview

By: Susanna Gallani

In her current research, Professor Gallani draws on economic and sociological theories to analyze the design of incentive and performance management systems. She explores the effectiveness of monetary and non-monetary incentives, feedback systems, and types of... View Details

2019
Chapter

A Claim to Own Productive Property

By: Nien-hê Hsieh

BOOK ABSTRACT: The status of economic liberties remains a serious lacuna in the theory and practice of human rights. Should a minimally just society protect the freedoms to sell, save, profit, and invest? Is being prohibited to run a business a human rights violation?... View Details

August 2015 (Revised January 2017)
Background Note

Evolving Trends in Global Trade

By: Dante Roscini and Annelena Lobb

The note, while not intended to be historically comprehensive, explores the regulation of international trade from the period after World War II to developments in 2010, focusing on shifts in trade theory and policy as well as economic benefits and disadvantages... View Details

Keywords: Trade Negotiations; Development Economics; Developing Countries and Economies; Governance; Negotiation; Globalization; Trade; Policy; History; Europe; Latin America; North and Central America; Asia; Africa; China

Educators

October 2010
Article

Culture Clash: The Costs and Benefits of Homogeneity

By: Eric Van den Steen

This paper develops an economic theory of the costs and benefits of corporate culture-in the sense of shared beliefs and values in order to study the effects of "culture clash" in mergers and acquisitions. I first use a simple analytical framework to show that shared... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Organizational Culture; Economics; Information Management; Forecasting and Prediction; Values and Beliefs; Mergers and Acquisitions; Framework; Satisfaction; Motivation and Incentives; Power and Influence; Communication

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2018
Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 5 Complementarity

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

The purpose of this chapter is to relate the theory of task networks and technology set forth in previous chapters to theories of firm boundaries from economics and management. Complementary goods have more value when used together than separately. Complementarity may... View Details

Keywords: Complementarity

SSRN

2009
Working Paper

Culture Clash: The Costs and Benefits of Homogeneity

By: Eric J. Van den Steen

This paper develops an economic theory of the costs and benefits of corporate culture—in the sense of shared beliefs and values—in order to study the effects of "culture clash" in mergers and acquisitions. I first use a simple analytical framework to show that shared... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Cost vs Benefits; Values and Beliefs; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Motivation and Incentives; Theory