Publications

2020
Working Paper

Prioritarianism and Optimal Taxation

By: Matti Tuomala and Matthew C. Weinzierl

Prioritarianism has been at the center of the formal approach to optimal tax theory since its modern starting point in Mirrlees (1971), but most theorists’ use of it is motivated by tractability rather than explicit normative reasoning. We characterize analytically and... View Details

Keywords: Prioritarianism; Optimal Taxation; Utilitarianism; Redistribution; Inverse-optimum; Taxation; Theory

09 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 9, 2015

beneficial effect reverses (i.e., cost transparency backfires) when it is revealed that a firm's profit margins are high relative to those of its competitors. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=48019 Paying Up for Fair Pay: Consumers... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2020
Working Paper

Designing, Not Checking, for Policy Robustness: An Example with Optimal Taxation

By: Benjami Lockwood, Afras Y. Sial and Matthew C. Weinzierl

Economists typically check the robustness of their results by comparing them across plausible ranges of parameter values and model structures. A preferable approach to robustness—for the purposes of policymaking and evaluation—is to design policy that takes these... View Details

Keywords: Optimal Taxation; Robust Optimization; Taxation; Income; Policy; Design

30 Jul 2013
First Look

First Look: July 30

Rucker Abstract—Previous research suggests that people draw inferences about their attitudes and preferences based on their own thoughtfulness. The current research explores how observing other individuals make decisions more or less... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

Article

The CMS New Rule on Ambulatory Surgical Centers Earns Only Partial Credit

By: Junaid Nabi and Robert S. Kaplan

The Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that it will be removing more... View Details

Keywords: Ambulatory Care; Payment Policy; Health Care and Treatment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

January 1999 (Revised November 1999)
Case

Metapath Software: September 1997

By: G. Felda Hardymon and Bill Wasik

In September 1997, John Hansen called together his board to debate an interesting choice that his company had to make. Hansen--the CEO of Metapath Software, a provider of software and services to wireless carriers--had two offers to describe. The first was an offer to... View Details

Keywords: Private Ownership; Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Teams; Stocks; Public Ownership; Negotiation Deal; Telecommunications Industry; Information Technology Industry

Educators

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May 2024
Article

Selfish Corporations

By: Emanuele Colonnelli, Niels Gormsen and Timothy McQuade

We study how perceptions of corporate responsibility influence policy preferences and the effectiveness of corporate communication when agents have imperfect memory recall. Using a new large-scale survey of U.S. citizens on their support for corporate bailouts, we... View Details

Keywords: Public Opinion; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Policy

Purchase

24 Jun 2008
First Look

First Look: June 24, 2008

plants are a significant determinant of cross-country differences in income per worker. For this purpose, we use a standard version of the neoclassical growth model augmented to incorporate monopolistic competition among heterogeneous firms. For our View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

15 Jan 2013
First Look

First Look: January 15

paper: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2190963 Which Does More to Determine the Quality of Corporate Governance in Emerging Economies, Firms or Countries? Authors:Hugill, Andrea, and Jordan Siegel Abstract Scholars of corporate View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

30 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 30

happiness-if you follow five core principles of smarter spending. Purchase the book: http://www.amazon.com/Happy-Money-Science-Smarter-Spending/dp/1451665067/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0/181-7319636-0911428 The Role of Organizational Scope and View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

19 Jan 2016
First Look

January 19, 2016

sons' active engagement in family care. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=49311 Risk Preferences and Misconduct: Evidence from Politicians By: Minor, Dylan Abstract—When seeking new leaders, business... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

30 Jan 2018
First Look

January 30, 2018

Luck and Support for Classical Benefit-based Taxation By: Weinzierl, Matthew C. Abstract—U.S. survey respondents' views on distributive justice differ in two specific, related ways from what is conventionally assumed in modern optimal tax research. When expressing... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2011
Article

Truth in Giving: Experimental Evidence on the Welfare Effects of Informed Giving to the Poor

By: Christina Fong and Felix Oberholzer-Gee

It is often difficult for donors to predict the value of charitable giving because they know little about the persons who receive their help. This concern is particularly acute when making contributions to organizations that serve heterogeneous populations. While we... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Policy; Information; Knowledge Acquisition; Game Theory; Prejudice and Bias; Poverty; Welfare

2010
Working Paper

Trade Policy and Firm Boundaries

By: Laura Alfaro, Paola Conconi, Harald Fadinger and Andrew F. Newman

We study how trade policy affects firms' ownership structures. We embed an incomplete contracts model of vertical integration choices into a standard perfectly-competitive international trade framework. Integration decisions are driven by a trade-off between the... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Policy; Vertical Integration; Business and Government Relations; Boundaries; Ownership; Mathematical Methods

2009
Other Paper

Trade Policy and Firm Boundaries

By: Laura Alfaro, Paola Conconi, Andrew F. Newman and Harald Fadinger

We examine how trade policy affects firms' organizational choices. We embed a model of firms' vertical integration decisions into a standard perfectly-competitive international trade framework. In the model, integration decisions are driven by a trade-off... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Policy; Ownership; Business and Government Relations; Vertical Integration; Boundaries

21 Aug 2006
Research & Ideas

How Europe Wrote the Rules of Global Finance

research project began in the classroom during my first year as a professor at HBS. In the winter of 2000, my students and I were discussing the financial crises that erupted in Asia during 1997 and 1998. Unlike its neighbors, the View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen

13 Mar 2018
First Look

March 13, 2018

February 2018 Management Science Laboratory Evidence on the Effects of Sponsorship on the Competitive Preferences of Men and Women By: Baldiga, Nancy R., and Katherine Baldiga Coffman Abstract—Sponsorship programs have been proposed as... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2022
Chapter

Capitalism and the Environment

By: Geoffrey Jones

Capitalism drove the environmental decimation of the planet. The environment was seen as a free good, while the consequences of dirty industrial and agricultural processes were seen as external to the firm. Public policies largely allowed this to happen, as politicians... View Details

Keywords: History; Environment; Sustainability; Capitalism; Ethics; Business History; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology; Pollution; Climate Change