Publications

2020
Working Paper

Sex Selection and the Indian Marriage Market

By: Reshmaan N. Hussam

I consider the widespread phenomenon of sex ratios skewed by parental preference. Edlund (1999) proposes that if parents prefer sons and permit only women to marry up in social class, sexes will segregate by wealth in equilibrium. Using data on 30,000 Indian children,... View Details

Keywords: Sex Selection; Marriage Market; Bargaining Power; Gender; Information Technology; Household; Outcome or Result; India

2010
Book

Wealth and Justice: The Morality of Democratic Capitalism

By: Peter Wehner and Arthur C. Brooks

Popular opinion would have us believe that America's free market system is driven by greed and materialism, resulting in gross inequalities of wealth, destruction of the environment, and other social ills. Even proponents of capitalism often refer to the free market as... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Economic Systems; Ethics; Moral Sensibility

17 Jan 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Expectations, Network Effects and Platform Pricing

Keywords: by Andrei Hagiu & Hanna Hałaburda; Entertainment & Recreation

Research Summary

Anonymity and Identity

By: John A. Deighton

In most consumer markets, consumers are accustomed to operating in relative anonymity. A complex social adjustment is occurring as people realize that anonymity is often no longer their default condition - it must be sought and in some cases bought. New conceptions of... View Details

Keywords: Privacy; Anonymity

2019
Working Paper

From Know-It-Alls to Learn-It-Alls: Executive Development in the Era of Self-Refining Algorithms, Collaborative Filtering and Wearable Computing

By: Mihnea Moldoveanu and Das Narayandas

We examine the future of executive education on a technological and cultural landscape that is imminent but different to the one we are accustomed to. We show how the contextualization, socialization and personalization of learning—avowed but distal goals of current... View Details

Keywords: Executive Education; Leadership Development; Technological Innovation; Customization and Personalization; Management Skills; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Sharing

Forthcoming
Article

Non-Binary Gender Economics

By: Katherine B. Coffman, Lucas C. Coffman and Keith Marzilli Ericson

Economics research has largely overlooked non-binary individuals. We aim to jump-start the literature by providing data on several economically-important beliefs and preferences. Among many results, non-binary individuals report more gender-based discrimination and... View Details

Keywords: Inclusion; Gender; Prejudice and Bias; Personal Characteristics

December 2024
Article

Public Attitudes on Performance for Algorithmic and Human Decision-Makers

By: Kirk Bansak and Elisabeth Paulson

This study explores public preferences for algorithmic and human decision-makers (DMs) in high-stakes contexts, how these preferences are shaped by performance metrics, and whether public evaluations of performance differ depending on the type of DM. Leveraging a... View Details

Keywords: Public Opinion; Prejudice and Bias; Decision Making

2016
Working Paper

Delay as Agenda Setting

By: James J. Anton and Dennis A. Yao

We examine a dynamic decision-making process involving unrelated issues in which a decision may be endogenously delayed by the allocation of influence resources. Delay is strategically interesting when decision makers with asymmetric preferences face multiple issues... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Resource Allocation; Conflict of Interests; Power and Influence; Strategy

September 7, 2020
Article

Remote Networking as a Person of Color

By: Laura Morgan Roberts and Anthony J. Mayo

In remote work situations, where people cannot rely on impromptu elevator conversations or water cooler chats with coworkers, the answer isn’t to turn inward. In fact, the need for networking is even more important. In particular, our interactions with people whose... View Details

Keywords: Remote Work; Networking; Networks; Interpersonal Communication; Race

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22 May 2024
HBS Case

Banned or Not, TikTok Is a Force Companies Can’t Afford to Ignore

understands users’ emotions TikTok presents videos it thinks a user might engage with, rather than waiting for the user to choose posts they prefer or follow those of influencers or friends. Its single-page vertical videos allow the app... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology

09 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

Chance Encounters: What's at Stake in Return-to-Office Decisions

skepticism of that preference comes from other research I’ve done on the metaverse, a vision for a 3D internet, and other digital technologies that allow people to isolate themselves in a digital environment. There are some real concerns... View Details

Keywords: by Jen McFarland Flint, HBS Alumni Bulletin

27 Sep 2021
Research & Ideas

Managers, Your Employees Don’t Want to Be Facebook ‘Friends’

For the most part, social media is what you make it. You choose whom to keep tabs on, who can follow you back, what you “like,” and which snippets of your life you reveal. But what if those carefully curated depictions are suddenly on the... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Kim Raczka

2025
Working Paper

Home Sweet Home: How Much Do Employees Value Remote Work?

By: Zoë B. Cullen, Bobak Pakzad-Hurson and Ricardo Perez-Truglia

We estimate the value employees place on remote work using revealed preferences in a high-stakes, real-world context, focusing on U.S. tech workers. On average, employees are willing to accept a 25% pay cut for partly or fully remote roles. Our estimates are three to... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Compensation and Benefits; Satisfaction; Value; Research

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February 2012
Article

Walking the Talk in Multiparty Bargaining: An Experimental Investigation

By: Kathleen L. McGinn, Katherine L. Milkman and Markus Noth

We study the framing effects of communication on payoffs in multiparty bargaining. Communication has been shown to be more truthful and revealing than predicted in equilibrium. Because talk is preference revealing, it may effectively frame bargaining around a logic of... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Negotiation Process; Fairness; Negotiation Types; Interpersonal Communication; Game Theory; Cooperation

November 2018
Case

Sportradar (A): From Data to Storytelling

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Karen Elterman and Oliver Gassmann

In 2013, the Swiss sports data company Sportradar debated whether to expand from its core business of data provision to bookmakers into sports media products. Sports data was becoming a commodity, and in the future, sports leagues might reduce their dependence on... View Details

Educators

29 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

Is There a Method to Musk’s Madness on Twitter?

structure is a bit out of hand and, by any metric, above comparable social media companies. And so, there is definitely an incentive here for them to try to get that in line sooner rather than later. If you compare Meta/Facebook to... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Technology

December 2023
Case

TikTok: The Algorithm Will See You Now

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

In a world where attention is a scarce commodity, this case explores the meteoric rise of TikTok—an app that transformed from a niche platform for teens into the most visited domain by 2021—surpassing even Google. Its algorithm was a sophisticated mechanism for... View Details

Keywords: Social Media; Applications and Software; Disruptive Innovation; Business and Government Relations; International Relations; Cybersecurity; Culture; Technology Industry; China; United States; India

Educators