Publications

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20 Jan 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Income Inequality and Social Preferences for Redistribution and Compensation Differentials

Keywords: by William R. Kerr

08 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 8, 2010

nature of willpower and are reliable predictors of economic outcomes in the adult. The implication is that one might, for example, be able to strengthen a "weak" child's ability to resist temptation, and in so doing offer View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2009
Working Paper

Modeling a Paradigm Shift: From Producer Innovation to User and Open Collaborative Innovation

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and Eric von Hippel

In this paper we assess the economic viability of innovation by producers relative to two increasingly important alternative models: innovations by single user individuals or firms, and open collaborative innovation projects. We analyze the design costs and... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Policy; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Independent Innovation and Invention; Intellectual Property; Rights; Welfare

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12 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

COVID Tested Global Supply Chains. Here’s How They’ve Adapted

operations back from China. The authors examine the effects of these variables between 2017 and 2022, a tumultuous period that put stress on the global economic system. They crunch product-level trade statistics from United Nations... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

September 2014 (Revised May 2015)
Case

The United Kingdom and the Means to Prosperity

By: Laura Alfaro, Lakshmi Iyer and Hilary White

After struggling through the country's longest recession since 2008, the U.K. was expected to grow faster than any other G7 nation in 2014. Analysts wondered whether the return to growth was because, or in spite of, Prime Minister David Cameron's controversial £113... View Details

05 Dec 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Seesaws and Social Security Benefits Indexing

Keywords: by Matthew Weinzierl

April 1993 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai, India: In Service for Sight, The

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Starting as a modest 20-bed hospital, Aravind had grown into a 1,400-bed hospital complex by 1992. It had by then screened 3.65 million patients and performed 335,000 cataract surgeries, nearly 70% of them free of cost for the poorest of India's blind population.... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Social Marketing; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Welfare; Expansion; Health Industry; India

18 Aug 2022
Op-Ed

Your Best Employees Are Burning Out: A Framework for Retaining Talent

burnout started to percolate. "Generation X entered the workforce after the tumultuous economic recovery of the 1970s and enjoyed the roaring ‘90s, only to experience the dot.com bust, followed by the financial crisis in 2008.” Generation... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson and MaShon Wilson

July 2012
Case

Generation Investment Management

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Matthew Preble

Examines the investment process of Generation Investment Management, a "sustainable" investing firm established in 2004 by David Blood and U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Places students in the position of David Lowish, director of global industrials, who must decide... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Energy Generation; Investment; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants; Welfare; Financial Services Industry; India; United Kingdom

12 Jul 2011
First Look

First Look: July 12

ruling was also followed by an increase in average leverage and a reduction in covenant use. Finally, we estimate the welfare implications of this change and find that firm values increased when the rules were introduced. We conclude that... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

May 2017 (Revised July 2017)
Supplement

Aadhaar: From Voluntary to Mandatory

By: Tarun Khanna, Anjali Raina and Rachna Chawla

Approximately 1.1 billion residents of India (99% of the population) had a unique biometric identity—Aadhaar—by 2017. In six years, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had achieved an unprecedented milestone in emerging and developed markets. The... View Details

24 Mar 2015
First Look

First Look: March 24

Michalopoulos Abstract—Is financial innovation necessary for sustaining economic growth? To address this question, we build a Schumpeterian model in which entrepreneurs earn profits by inventing better goods, and profit-maximizing... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2005 (Revised December 2006)
Case

Japan: Deficits, Demography, and Deflation

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

By 2005, Japan's debt had risen to 163% of GDP. For more than a decade, the government had run huge deficits, trying unsuccessfully to stimulate economic growth. Interest rates, meanwhile, had been zero for years. But with slow growth and banks in crisis, nothing had... View Details

Keywords: Economy; Economic Growth; Demographics; Financial Condition; Inflation and Deflation; Banks and Banking; Borrowing and Debt; Macroeconomics; Policy; Government and Politics; Welfare; Health Care and Treatment; Japan

2014
Article

Prosocial Spending and Happiness: Using Money to Benefit Others Pays Off

By: Elizabeth W. Dunn, Lara B. Aknin and Michael I. Norton

While a great deal of research has shown that people with more money are somewhat happier than people with less money, our research demonstrates that how people spend their money also matters for their happiness. In particular, both correlational and... View Details

Keywords: Prosocial Spending; Well-being; Happiness; Money; Spending; Welfare; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

Find at Harvard

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25 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

In America, Immigrants Really Do Get the Job Done

for policy choices.” Kerr, the Dimitri V. D’Arbeloff–MBA Class of 1955 Professor of Business Administration, has researched the economic effects of global migration of workers for more than a decade, sometimes partnering with his wife,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Technology; Service

16 Nov 2010
First Look

First Look: November 16, 2010

We close with an attempt to identify strategies to close the gap between the unethical people we are and the ethical people that we strive to be. Truth in Giving: Experimental Evidence on the Welfare Effects of Informed Giving to the Poor... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Jun 2022
Book

The Moral Enterprise: How Two Companies Profit with Purpose

How can government and business work together in this fractious political moment, when finding solutions to pressing problems like inequality and climate change are more urgent than ever? Rebecca Henderson, Harvard University’s John and Natty McArthur University... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

October 2008 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Lawrence Trinh: Venturing to Vietnam

By: Joshua D. Margolis and Rachel Gordon

Should Lawrence Trinh pursue his aspiration of working in Vietnam—and if so, what set of principles and practices should he adopt if he encounters corruption? These are questions that reverberate for many students who wish to work in emerging markets and other contexts... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Ethics; Investment; Leadership Development; Emerging Markets; Personal Development and Career; Welfare; Financial Services Industry