Publications

May 2005 (Revised January 2006)
Case

Mortgage Backs at Ticonderoga

Ticonderoga is a small hedge fund that trades in mortgage-backed securities--securities created from pooled mortgage loans. They often appear as straightforward so-called "pass-throughs," but can also be pooled again to create collateral for a mortgage security known... View Details

Keywords: Debt Securities; Mortgages; Investment Funds

2006
Working Paper

The Limits of Authority: Motivation versus Coordination

By: Eric J. Van den Steen

This paper studies the effects of open disagreement on motivation and coordination. It shows how, in the presence of differing priors, motivation and coordination impose conflicting demands on the allocation of authority, leading to a trade-off between the... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Governance Controls; Organizational Culture; Agency Theory; Conflict and Resolution; Motivation and Incentives

SSRN

15 Jan 2007
Research & Ideas

The Business of Free Software

latter derives solely from the voluntary efforts of vendors' employees. Not surprisingly, they find that the money-driven cluster consists mostly of high impact OSS projects that draw customers to a vendor's mainly proprietary, core... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Computer

Research Summary

Behavioral Hazard and Public Policy

By: Joshua R. Schwartzstein

It is well recognized that people overuse low-value medical care due to moral hazard—because copays are lower than costs. Now Professor Schwartzstein has introduced the concept of “behavioral hazard” to explain the opposite: people underuse high-value care because... View Details

June 2014 (Revised March 2016)
Case

Relating to Peapod

By: Susan Fournier and Jill Avery

Explores the relationships formed between consumers and the Peapod consumer-direct grocery delivery service, as revealed through an ethnographic study of Boston-area Peapod shoppers conducted between the Summer of 1997 and the Fall of 1999. Three representative case... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Customer Relationship Management; Marketing Strategy; Service Industry; Boston

June 2012
Article

Comovement and Predictability Relationships Between Bonds and the Cross-Section of Stocks

By: Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler

Government bonds comove more strongly with bond-like stocks: stocks of large, mature, low-volatility, profitable, dividend-paying firms that are neither high growth nor distressed. Variables derived from the yield curve that are already known to predict returns on... View Details

Keywords: Relationships; Bonds; Stocks; Investment Return; Cash Flow; Quality; Risk and Uncertainty; Forecasting and Prediction; Profit

Read Now

12 Sep 2006
First Look

First Look: September 12, 2006

Working PapersHow Does Foreign Direct Investment Promote Economic Growth? Exploring the Effects of Financial Markets on Linkages Authors:Laura Alfaro, Areendam Chanda, Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan, and Selin Sayek. Abstract The empirical literature finds mixed evidence on... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Research Summary

Attention Arousal Through Price Partitioning

Existing evidence suggests that preferences are affected by whether a price is presented as one all-inclusive expense or partitioned into a set of mandatory charges. To explain this phenomenon, we introduce a new mechanism whereby price partitioning affects a consumers... View Details

2017
Working Paper

The Importance of Unemployment Insurance as an Automatic Stabilizer

By: Marco Di Maggio and Amir Kermani

We assess the extent to which unemployment insurance (UI) serves as an automatic stabilizer to mitigate the economy's sensitivity to shocks. Using a local labor market design based on heterogeneity in local benefit generosity (defined as the percentage of household... View Details

Keywords: Unemployment Insurance; Automatic Stabilizers; Bartik Shocks; Aggregate Demand; System Shocks; Employment; Balance and Stability; Insurance; Volatility; Insurance Industry

Read Now

January 2013
Article

Not Just for Stereotyping Anymore: Racial Essentialism Reduces Domain-General Creativity

By: Carmit Tadmor, Melody Chao, Ying-yi Hong and Jeff Polzer

Individuals who believe that racial groups have fixed underlying essences use stereotypes more than do individuals who believe that racial categories are arbitrary and malleable social-political constructions. Would this essentialist mind-set also lead to less... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Creativity; Race

Research Summary

Overview

Professor Nagle studies how competitors can collaborate on the creation of core technologies, while still competing on the products and services built on top of them. His research falls into the broader categories of the futures of work, the economics of IT, and... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Strategy; Technological Innovation; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Economic Growth; Entrepreneurship; Technology; Internet; Mobile Technology; Online Technology; Technology Adoption; Technology Networks

2024
Working Paper

Incorporating Micro Data into Differentiated Products Demand Estimation with PyBLP

We delineate a general framework for incorporating many types of micro data from summary statistics to full surveys of selected consumers into Berry, Levinsohn, and Pakes (1995) style estimates of differentiated products demand systems. We extend recommended practices... View Details

2023
Working Paper

The Equity Market Implications of the Retail Investment Boom

By: Philippe van der Beck and Coralie Jaunin

This paper quantifies the impact of Robinhood traders on the US equity market. Within a structural model, we estimate retail and institutional demand curves and derive aggregate pricing implications via market clearing. The inelastic nature of institutional demand... View Details

Keywords: Institutional Investing; Financial Markets; Price; Financial Instruments

SSRN

December 12, 2023
Article

Prices for Common Services at Quaternary vs Nonquaternary Hospitals

By: Brandon W. Yan, Maximilian J. Pany and Leemore S. Dafny

Using commercial health insurance claims data from 2017-2019, we assessed whether quaternary hospitals charged higher prices for common, unspecialized services also offered by nonquaternary hospitals. We found quaternary-hospital price premiums of 8.2 percent, on... View Details

Keywords: Price; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Markets; Health Industry

June 1994
Background Note

Scope and Challenge of Business-to-Business Marketing

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Identifies six key linkages that distinguish business-to-business marketing; three with respect to the external environment (i.e., derived demand, complex buying process, and concentrated customer base) and three with respect to the internal organization (emphasis on... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Customers; Demand and Consumers; Organizational Structure; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Technology

January 2018 (Revised January 2021)
Background Note

Customer Lifetime Social Value (CLSV)

By: Elie Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller

One of the hallmarks of the digital revolution is the rise of the socially connected consumer. Concomitantly, the ability of companies to affect and measure the social interactions among customers has grown tremendously. Consequently, in assessing the full value of... View Details

Keywords: Customer Lifetime Value; Customer Management; Social Contagion; Word Of Mouth; Customer Engagement; Customer Value and Value Chain; Measurement and Metrics; Customer Relationship Management

01 Aug 2006
First Look

First Look: August 1, 2006

Purchase this case: http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=606099 PublicationsThe Derivatives Sourcebook: Foundations and Trends in Finance Author:Terence Lim, Andrew W. Lo, Robert C. Merton,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2019
Book

Problem Solving: HBS Alumni Making a Difference in the World

By: Howard H. Stevenson, Russ Banham and Shirley Spence

Problem Solving is the culmination of four years of research conducted by a small project team from 2015 through 2018 in collaboration with HBS alumni, students, faculty, and staff. Its broad and deep knowledge base is derived from a survey of 13 MBA classes... View Details

Keywords: Harvard Business School; Alumni; Influence; Social Responsibility; Humanitarianism

October 2009 (Revised April 2010)
Supplement

Societe Generale (B): The Jerome Kerviel Affair

By: Francois Brochet

This case illustrates the tension/balance that firms with complex and risky business models must consider in designing their internal controls. It describes the environment in which a derivatives trader engaged in massive directional positions on major European stocks... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Governance Controls; Crisis Management; Financial Services Industry