Publications

February 2021
Article

Topic Classification of Electric Vehicle Consumer Experiences with Transformer-Based Deep Learning

By: Sooji Ha, Daniel J Marchetto, Sameer Dharur and Omar Isaac Asensio

The transportation sector is a major contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is a driver of adverse health effects globally. Increasingly, government policies have promoted the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) as a solution to mitigate GHG emissions.... View Details

Keywords: Natural Language Processing; Analytics and Data Science; Environmental Sustainability; Infrastructure; Transportation; Policy

2022
Working Paper

When Do Individuals Give Up Agency? The Role of Decision Avoidance

By: Holly Dykstra, Christine L. Exley and Muriel Niederle

A common policy problem is that individuals reject recommended options and insist on making their own choices. Via a large-scale experiment, we document and investigate what factors contribute to this preference for agency. Our main results show that individuals’... View Details

Keywords: Choice; Decision Making; Policy; Cognition and Thinking

2017
Working Paper

A Welfarist Role for Nonwelfarist Rules: An Example with Envy

By: Matthew Weinzierl

I propose and formalize an argument for why economists working in the welfarist normative tradition should include nonwelfarist principles in how they judge economic policy. The key idea behind this argument is that the world is too complex, and our ability to model it... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Policy; Economics

SSRN

15 Mar 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Targeted Price Controls on Supermarket Products

Keywords: by Alberto Cavallo and Diego Aparicio; Food & Beverage

February 1992 (Revised October 1996)
Case

CUC International, Inc. (A)

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Paul M. Healy

The case series examines the role of financial reporting and corporate finance policies as vehicles for communication between managers and outside investors. This case describes management's concern that the company's stock is undervalued because analysts viewed the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Stocks; Financial Management; Decisions; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Management Style; Management Practices and Processes; Business and Shareholder Relations; Value; Financial Services Industry

November 1978 (Revised June 1982)
Case

Federal Express (B)

Federal Express is a small-package airline operating throughout the United States. After initial heavy losses, it is now profitable. Management is examining the services offered by the firm and believes that there is great potential for "Courier Pak," an overnight... View Details

Keywords: Product; Product Marketing; Air Transportation Industry; Service Industry; United States

19 May 2017
News

Minimum wage increases can kill businesses — if they already stink

750 Gun Deaths a Year Are Prevented by Waiting Periods, Study Finds

Waiting periods in 17 states for handgun purchases prevent about 750 gun deaths each year in the United States, new research has found.

An estimated 910 gun deaths could also be avoided if those policies were adopted... View Details

Web

Admissions & Financial Aid | MBA

MS/MBA Biotechnology: Life Sciences students are subject to HBS Financial Aid policies and limits (e.g. student budgets, loans and veterans benefits). Harvard Business School Student Budget Harvard Business School Financial Aid View Details

January 2014 (Revised February 2014)
Case

Japan: Betting on Inflation?

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

The case focuses on the challenges still confronting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the end of 2013, a year after he has been in office. It also gives an overview of Japan's earlier economic performance, focusing primarily on the period after it suffered a stock market... View Details

Keywords: Quantitative Easing; Debt Sustainability; International Relations; Borrowing and Debt

February 2008 (Revised August 2008)
Background Note

Note on the Law of Sexual Harassment

By: Lynn Sharp Paine and Lara Adamsons

This note provides an introduction to the law of sexual harassment. It has three parts. Part One describes the laws on harassment in the United States. Part Two explores controversial and emerging aspects of the American legal framework. Part Three gives a brief... View Details

Keywords: Social Issues; Laws and Statutes; Policy; Gender; Asia; Latin America; United States; Europe

03 Dec 2008
What Do You Think?

Can Housing and Credit be “Nudged” Back to Health?

Summing Up The current global recession has, judging from responses to this month's column, many origins, among them housing and credit. All, of course, are traceable to human responses to both perceived opportunities and calamities, which in turn have been engineered... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

January 1997 (Revised October 1997)
Case

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. Nigeria

A new bank rose from nothing to sixth place in Nigeria by turning its back on traditional practices (corruption, bribery, political favoritism) and adopting policies of high integrity and high employee involvement. They said it couldn't be done, but it was. The... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Success; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Nigeria

Find at Harvard

24 Jun 2016
News

56 Successful Business Leaders, Including Republicans, Now Back Hillary Clinton

2021
Working Paper

How Much Should We Trust Staggered Difference-In-Differences Estimates?

By: Andrew C. Baker, David F. Larcker and Charles C.Y. Wang

Difference-in-differences analysis with staggered treatment timing is frequently used to assess the impact of policy changes on corporate outcomes in academic research. However, recent advances in econometric theory show that such designs are likely to be biased in the... View Details

Keywords: Difference In Differences; Staggered Difference-in-differences Designs; Generalized Difference-in-differences; Dynamic Treatment Effects; Mathematical Methods

SSRN

2007
Other Unpublished Work

Implementing Technology

By: Diego Comin and Bart Hobijn

We introduce a tractable model of endogenous growth in which the returns to innovation are determined by the technology adoption decisions of the users of new technologies. Technology adoption involves an implementation investment that determines the initial... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Investment; Investment Return; Innovation and Invention; Growth and Development Strategy; Performance Productivity; Technology Adoption

September 1987 (Revised December 1996)
Case

Patten Corp.

By: Krishna G. Palepu

Forbes Magazine criticized the revenue recognition policy of Patten Corp. As a result, the company's stock price dropped by a significant amount. The students are asked to discuss if the criticism by Forbes is justified, and if not, what the company should do. View Details

Keywords: Fair Value Accounting; Financial Statements; Budgets and Budgeting; Problems and Challenges; Financial Condition; Spending; Revenue; Planning; Quality; Stocks; Journalism and News Industry

February 1991 (Revised April 1991)
Case

Zenith and High-Definition Television--1990

By: Benjamin Gomes-Casseres, David B. Yoffie and Heather A. Hazard

Describes Zenith's strategy in HDTV and high resolution monitors. Includes overview of HDTV industry with profiles of major competitors worldwide and policies of U.S., Japanese, and European governments. Focuses on competition over standards setting, industrial policy,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Standards; Production; Corporate Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Electronics Industry; Technology Industry