Low-income - Publications - Faculty & Research

14 Mar 2023
In Practice

What Does the Failure of Silicon Valley Bank Say About the State of Finance?

Credit Ratings? Buy Now, Pay Later: How Retail's Hot Feature Hurts Low-Income Shoppers Did Pandemic Stimulus Funds Spur the Rise of 'Meme Stocks'? Feedback or ideas to share? Email the Working Knowledge team at hbswk@hbs.edu. Image:... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Financial Services; Banking

29 Mar 2022
Book

5 Qualities That Help Companies Thrive for Decades—Even Centuries

Shetty, a cardiac surgeon and founder of Narayana Health, built a financially viable enterprise at scale by pioneering low-cost heart surgery for tens of thousands of low-income patients. Shetty was motivated by the widespread... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

September 2020 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Algramo

By: Michael Chu, Monica Silva and Mariana Cal

Founded in 2013 by José Manuel Moller in Chile, Algramo first became known for addressing the “poverty tax” (the surcharge paid by lower income families for staples sold in smaller sizes) through specially-designed dispensers in low-income neighborhood grocery stores... View Details

Keywords: Packaging-as-a-wallet; Plastic Waste; Business At The Base Of The Pyramid; Reusable Packaging; Alliances With FMCGs To Meet ESG Goals; Social Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Strategy; Value Creation; Goals and Objectives; Business Model; Consumer Products Industry; Latin America; South America; Chile

Citation

Educators

Purchase

31 Jan 2023
Op-Ed

Can Insurance Technology Solve the Uninsured Driver Problem?

Insurance technology can enable cash-strapped drivers to access shorter and more affordable durations of coverage. My research finds that many low-income drivers jump at the opportunity to buy coverage when they’re offered the ability to... View Details

Keywords: by Ray Kluender; Insurance

15 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

Why Americans Voted for an Income Tax

have long balanced competing notions of fairness when deciding on policy toward the poor. We want everyone to pitch in, to pay their "fair share," so we have moved away from making cash transfers to low-income households and... View Details

Keywords: by Matthew C. Weinzierl

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

01 Feb 2021
What Do You Think?

Has the New Economy Finally Arrived?

four years came along. It brought tax cuts and higher growth. The unemployment rate fell. Wages, particularly for low-income workers, increased. But contrary to Phillips curve thinking, inflation remained the same or even declined. Even... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

19 May 2021
Op-Ed

Why America Needs a Better Bridge Between School and Career

help young people from low-income communities launch promising careers. The applications provide an inside look at the interplay among short-term training providers, employers, colleges, and high schools. "Policymakers, employers, and... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph B. Fuller and Rachel Lipson

03 May 2022
Research & Ideas

Desperate for Talent? Consider Advancing Your Own Employees First

Job openings in the United States continue to hover at record high levels, exacerbated by the Great Resignation and a sputtering emergence from the pandemic. Competition remains fierce among companies struggling to find qualified workers. Yet many employers,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

24 Sep 2018
Research & Ideas

How Cost Accounting is Improving Healthcare in Rural Haiti

for an individual patient. Ideally, this will help ministries of health in impoverished countries decide how to allocate their limited resources to optimize the quantity, quality, and access to care. “In low-income resource countries,... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

18 Jul 2022
Research & Ideas

After the 'Crypto Crash,' What's Next for Digital Currencies?

non-fungible tokens. This article originally appeared in the Harvard Gazette. You Might Also Like: Are Banks the ‘Bad Guys’? Overdraft Fees Are Crushing Low-Income Customers Why Companies Raise Their Prices: Because They Can The Popular... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Financial Services; Technology

09 Aug 2021
Research & Ideas

OneTen: Creating a New Pathway for Black Talent

dignity, and to give organizations an underleveraged talent pool. Rich communities, resourced schools in America The “American dream” ethos promises prosperity for those who work hard regardless of their background, but it’s a myth for most people. View Details

Keywords: by Rawi E. Abdelal, Katherine Connolly Baden, and Boris Groysberg

23 Jun 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovative Ways to Encourage Personal Savings

the product. We can't say there is a demand at this point, but there is interest in the product from low- to moderate-income households. I don't know if more than half of Americans or even half of low-income Americans would find this... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

24 Mar 2002
Research & Ideas

Are Assets Only for America’s Wealthy?

enough money to prosper, low-income families' access to health benefits, their civic participation, family stability, and mental wellbeing are all diminished by their low success rate in building assets. Peter Tufano, Sylvan C. Coleman... View Details

Keywords: by Carla Tishler

08 Aug 2006
First Look

First Look: August 8, 2006

805-064 Patrimonio Hoy is a program targeting the housing needs of the low-income population by CEMEX, a major Mexican company and a leading global cement producer. Originally conceived as a project to better understand the customers in... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 Mar 2000
Research & Ideas

No Place Like Home: America’s Housing Crisis and Its Impact on Business

affordable housing is the low-income housing tax credit, part of the Tax Reform Act of 1986," she says. "In essence, it provides a tax benefit to private investors — typically banks and insurance companies — in return for their... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Construction; Real Estate

14 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Keeping Credit Flowing to Consumers in Need

rebuilding the housing finance system, the credit needs of low-income consumers, mortgage finance alternatives, and the regulation of consumer financial products. In this e-mail Q&A, we asked Retsinas to discuss some of the issues... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services; Construction; Real Estate

30 Jun 2009
Research Event

Business Summit: The Role of Business Leaders in Sustaining Market Capitalism

for entrepreneurial businesses to market products/services to low-income people, providing a new source of profits and benefitting society. Greater emphasis is needed on employees and the human systems within business. The public and... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

12 Nov 2014
Op-Ed

A Challenge to the New Congress: Pass Housing Finance Reform

communities. In this new system, there is broad agreement across party lines that we must maintain a commitment to support affordable housing for working families, including funds for low-income rental initiatives. We need a common... View Details

Keywords: by Nicolas Retsinas & Rob Couch; Construction; Real Estate

21 Aug 2012
First Look

First Look: August 21

low-income parents than existing U.S. tax policy. The optimal policy increases the probability that low-income children move up the economic ladder, generating a present-value welfare gain of 1.28% of... View Details