Labor - Publications - Faculty & Research

August 2023
Article

What About the Race Between Technology and Education in the Global South? Comparing Skill-premiums in Colonial Africa and Asia

By: Ewout Frankema and Marlous van Waijenburg

Historical research on the race between education and technology has focused on the West but barely touched upon ‘the rest’. A new occupational wage database for 50 African and Asian economies allows us to compare long-run patterns in skill premiums across the colonial... View Details

Keywords: Skill Premium; Human Capital; Wages; History; Education; Africa; Asia

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11 Aug 2014
News

How Uber Explains Our Economic Moment

Keywords: sharing economy; Uber; economic cycles; entrepreneurship

2021
Working Paper

Accounting for Workforce Impact at Scale

By: Adel Fadhel, Katie Panella, Ethan Rouen and George Serafeim

Using new data on workforce composition and wages, we systematically measure the employment impact at U.S. firms from 2008 to 2020, including 2,682 unique firms and 22,322 firm-year observations. We document significant variation across industries and firms within each... View Details

Keywords: Impact Accounting; ESG; Employee Turnover; Wages; Employment; Measurement and Metrics; Human Capital; Diversity; United States

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13 Dec 2011
News

Harvard Business School Launches US Competitiveness Project

and actions that boost the ability of companies in the United States to compete in the global economy and raise American living standards. The announcement included the introduction of a new digital forum dedicated to the topic and comes two weeks after the School... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

01 Mar 2012
News

Competitiveness at Risk

involves cities across America. Our alumni and our alumni clubs will be key partners in organizing and convening not just HBS alumni, but also other business, government, and labor leaders in each region. We want to identify local... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Educational Support Services; Educational Services

22 Apr 2013
Research & Ideas

Earth Day: Recent Research on Sustainability

Regulatory Regimes: How States, Civil Society, and Codes of Conduct Promote Adherence to Global Labor StandardsResponding to regulatory and public pressure, many companies asked their suppliers to adhere to codes of conduct governing... View Details

Philip K. Wrigley

In addition to continuing the success of the chewing gum products, PK Wrigley greatly improved labor relations at the firm, instituting an “income insurance” plan, a gradual retirement program, and an extensive pension system. During... View Details

Keywords: Food & Tobacco

Fast Answer

Workplace Diversity: Data Sources

Where can I find data on diversity in the workplace and labor markets? Resource Type Resource Description US. Government Agencies US Equal Opportunity Commission “Job Patterns For Minorities And Women In Private Industry”... View Details

01 Jun 2000
News

Of Dugouts and Sweatshops

students at the student-organized Leadership and Ethics Forum last March. Under Reich's review was a labor inspector's ruling that a batboy for the minor-league Savannah Cardinals be removed from his dream job because of laws prohibiting... View Details

Keywords: Eileen K. McCluskey

01 Mar 2025
News

Sound Bites: A Degree of Hope

Stephen Moret (MBA 2001) President and CEO, the Strada Education Foundation Illustration by John S. Dykes I grew up as the son of a single mother in rural Mississippi. And while we were never legally poor, there was that sense of economic insecurity the whole way. And... View Details

January 1981 (Revised June 1993)
Background Note

Note on Why Employees Join Unions

By: Michael Beer

Provides some answers to the question of why employees join unions. Summarizes recent data on workers' perceptions of unions: their power and instrumentality. Also explores the special situation of white collar workers. View Details

Keywords: Labor Unions; Employees; Social Psychology

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2020
Working Paper

Why Do Firms Automate Production, and How Do They Adjust? Evidence from the Bell Telephone System over the 20th Century

By: Daniel P. Gross and James J. Feigenbaum

Over the course of the 20th century, AT&T's operating companies replaced telephone operators with mechanical switching and dial telephones. Yet it took AT&T 30 years from the invention of the technology to begin using it, and another 60 years to finish installing it... View Details

Keywords: Employment; Labor; Technology Adoption; Technology Networks; History; Telecommunications Industry; United States

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