Publications

2022
Working Paper

Social Protection and Social Distancing During the Pandemic: Mobile Money Transfers in Ghana

By: Dean Karlan, Matt Lowe, Robert Osei, Isaac Osei-Akoto, Benjamin N. Roth and Christopher Udry

We study the impact of mobile money transfers to a representative sample of low-income Ghanaians during the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement of the upcoming transfers affects neither consumption, well-being, nor social distancing. Once disbursed,... View Details

Keywords: Social Distancing; Social Welfare; Economic Relief; Health Pandemics; Poverty

Read Now

2015
Other Unpublished Work

Democracy and Women's Rights in America: The Fight over the ERA

By: David Moss, Amy Smekar, Dean Grodzins, Rachel Wilf and Marc Campasano

20 Dec 2016
Research & Ideas

The 10 Most Popular 'Cold Call' Podcasts

Ramarajan Striking a careful balance between professional image and personal passion is difficult, as a case study on high-profile banker and gospel singer Carla Ann Harris underscores. Professor Lakshmi Ramarajan discusses the case in this Cold Call podcast. Why... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

04 Nov 2008
First Look

First Look: November 4, 2008

organizational boundaries. Innovations cannot reach a sufficient level of scale and impact unless they are integrated into the larger operations of the corporation. And yet, say recently retired Harvard Business School dean Cash, Oxford... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2007 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Kibera and the Kenya Slum Upgrading Project (A)

By: Nicolas P. Retsinas, Arthur I Segel, Marc Diaz and John Dean Shepherd

Kenya's Minister of Housing faces tremendous pressures in dealing with the pervasive housing troubles in his country. Kibera is the largest slum in Africa and home to more than 800,000 residents, yet only measures two square kilometers, roughly half the size of... View Details

Keywords: Construction; Housing; Urban Development; Poverty; Kenya

13 Jun 2017
Research & Ideas

Why Global Investments Are Still a Good Bet

sense to be diversified than it used to in the past, since, at the end of the day, all markets are moving together,” says Luis Viceira, George E. Bates Professor and Senior Associate Dean for International Development at Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

July 2021
Supplement

Pershing Square's Pandemic Trade (B)

By: Emil N. Siriwardane, Luis M. Viceira and Dean Xu

July 2020
Case

Mortgage Backed Securities and the Covid-19 Pandemic

By: Emil N. Siriwardane, Luis M. Viceira and Dean Xu

In April 2020, global financial markets were still reeling as the COVID-19 pandemic spread rapidly across the world. Global equity markets had initially fallen by 30% in response to the pandemic, and high-yield credit markets had dropped by nearly 20%. In contrast,... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Mortgage-backed Securities; Health Pandemics; Financial Markets; Assets; Resource Allocation; Financial Instruments; Decision Making

June 2009 (Revised February 2014)
Case

Evaluating Microsavings Programs: Green Bank of the Philippines (A)

By: Nava Ashraf, Dean Karlan, Wesley Yin and Marc Shotland

Green Bank of the Philippines was known for its product innovation and its ability to bring new products to market. In 2002, Green Bank designed an untested commitment savings product that both gave individuals access to formal savings and helped them commit to... View Details

Keywords: Saving; Innovation and Invention; Measurement and Metrics; Product Design; Success; Performance Evaluation; Banking Industry; Philippines

05 Dec 2013
What Do You Think?

Is Walmart Defying Economic Gravity?

information-driven model by gaining a better understanding of product and customer relationships." Dean Vella cited Walmart's innovation in supply chain management and sustainability as ways in which it is reducing the friction... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail

January 2, 2020
Article

Changes in Quality of Care After Hospital Mergers and Acquisitions

By: Nancy Dean Beaulieu, Leemore S. Dafny, B. E. Landon, Jesse Dalton, Ifedayo Kuye and J. Michael McWilliams

Background: The hospital industry has consolidated substantially during the past two decades and at an accelerated pace since 2010. Multiple studies have shown that hospital mergers have led to higher prices for commercially insured patients, but research about effects... View Details

Keywords: Hospitals; Mergers and Acquisitions; Health Care and Treatment; Quality

Find at Harvard

Register to Read

07 Oct 2009
Research Event

HBS Past and Present

Editor's Note: This is a summary of an HBS Business Summit presentation. View a full summary and video of the event on the HBS Centennial Web site linked below. Date of Event: October 12, 2008 Speakers: Jay O. Light, Dean of HBSF. Warren... View Details

Keywords: & F. Warren McFarlan; Education

28 Oct 2009
Lessons from the Classroom

HBS Begins Teaching Consumer Finance

dovetailed nicely with my role as senior associate dean for Planning and University Affairs. Q: It would seem that the timing was perfect given the many consumer credit and debt issues that played key roles in the economic crisis that hit... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Financial Services; Education

Article

Savings in Transnational Households: A Field Experiment Among Migrants from El Salvador

By: Nava Ashraf, Diego Aycinena, Claudia Martinez A. and Dean Yang

While remittance flows to developing countries are very large, it is unknown whether migrants desire more control over how remittances are used. This research uses a randomized field experiment to investigate the importance of migrant control over the use of... View Details

Keywords: Migration; Remittances; Intrahousehold Allocation; Savings; Saving; Residency; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; El Salvador; United States

Find at Harvard

Read Now

Article

Mechanisms and Significance of Spike-timing Dependent Plasticity

By: Uma R. Karmarkar, Mark T. Najarian and Dean V. Buonomano

Find at Harvard

26 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

Clayton M. Christensen, Acclaimed Author and Teacher, Dies At 67

Business School. He was granted tenure at the School in 1998 and named to a chaired professorship in 2001. “Clayton Christensen was one of the world’s greatest scholars on innovation and a remarkable person who had a profound influence on his students and colleagues,”... View Details

2024
Working Paper

Do Collusive Norms Maximize Profits? Evidence From a Vegetable Market Experiment in India

By: Abhijit Banerjee, Greg Fischer, Dean Karlan, Matt Lowe and Benjamin N. Roth

Social norms have been shown to facilitate anti-competitive behavior in decentralized markets. We demonstrate that these norms can also reduce aggregate profits. First, we present descriptive evidence of competition-suppressing norms in Kolkata vegetable markets.... View Details

Keywords: Collusion; Competition; Market Entry and Exit; Small Business; Microeconomics; Kolkata