Publications

Article

No Taxation Without Information: Deterrence and Self-Enforcement in the Value Added Tax

By: Dina Pomeranz

Claims that the VAT facilitates tax enforcement by generating paper trails on transactions between firms contributed to widespread VAT adoption worldwide, but there is surprisingly little evidence. This paper analyzes the role of third-party information for VAT... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Product Development; Chile

Research Summary

Financial Markets and Corporate Governance

By: Dwight B. Crane

Corporate scandals beginning in the late 1990s focused renewed attention on corporate governance, but significant cracks in the governance system also contributed to recent problems. Deregulation and growth of financial markets, as well as changes in the competitive... View Details

Article

California Fair Trade: Antitrust and the Politics of 'Fairness' in U.S. Competition Policy

By: Laura Phillips Sawyer

In the decades before World War II, U.S. antitrust law was anything but settled. Considerable pressure for antitrust revision came from the states. A perhaps unlikely leader, Edna Gleason, organized California's retail pharmacists and coordinated trade networks to... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Fairness; Laws and Statutes; Policy; United States

2021
Working Paper

Nonbank Lending and Credit Cyclicality

By: Quirin Fleckenstein, Manasa Gopal, German Gutierrez and Sebastian Hillenbrand

We document three facts about nonbank lending in the syndicated loan market. First, nonbank lending is more than twice as cyclical as bank lending. Second, declines in nonbank lending explain most of the declines in syndicated lending during the Great Recession and... View Details

Keywords: Nonbank Lending; Credit Cycles; CLO; Mutual Funds; Leveraged Lending; COVID-19; Great Migration; Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financing and Loans; Business Cycles

SSRN

May 2017
Article

Distracted Shareholders and Corporate Actions

By: Elisabeth Kempf, Alberto Manconi and Oliver Spalt

Investor attention matters for corporate actions. Our new identification approach constructs firm-level shareholder "distraction" measures, by exploiting exogenous shocks to unrelated parts of institutional shareholders' portfolios. Firms with "distracted" shareholders... View Details

Keywords: Investors; Business and Shareholder Relations; Executive Compensation; Stocks; Mergers and Acquisitions

Article

Family Control of Firms and Industries

We test what explains family control of firms and industries and find that the explanation is largely contingent on the identity of families and individual blockholders. Founders and their families are more likely to retain control when doing so gives the firm a... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Cost vs Benefits; Governance Controls; Family Ownership; Business and Shareholder Relations; Competitive Advantage

Research Summary

Conditional Cash Transfers in Brazil

(with Leonardo Bursztyn and Daniel Carvalho)
Conditional Cash Transfer programs are becoming increasingly popular throughout the developing world. Brazil alone spends close to $1Bn every year on such programs. These programs aim to alleviate poverty through two... View Details

2024
Working Paper

Investor Influence on Media Coverage: Evidence from Venture Capital-Backed Startups

By: Brian K. Baik and Albert Shin

We examine the role of investors on the media coverage of their private firm investments. Specifically, we survey VC investors and find that 78% of the respondents take active steps to increase their portfolio companies’ media coverage. The survey results also... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Media; Reputation; Information

November 1989 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Automation Consulting Services

By: Robert Simons and Hilary Weston

Illustrates the management control challenges that are associated with rapid growth and geographic expansion. Situated at an offsite Executive Committee Retreat. The three founding partners of a specialized consulting firm are grappling with several difficult questions... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Governance Controls; Policy; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Expansion; Consulting Industry

17 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

What’s Good about Quiet Rule-Breaking

practice becomes necessary: Setting one or two clothing items aside can be tolerated; setting aside ten for resale should be sanctioned. Q: How will gray zones evolve in the future? A: The fact that contemporary organizations might rely on more elaborate employee View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

06 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 6

Science (forthcoming) Abstract While monitoring and regulation can be used to combat socially costly unethical conduct, their intended targets are often able to avoid regulation or hide their behavior. This surrenders at least part of the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

19 Mar 2013
First Look

First Look: March 19

Electronic Monitoring Authors:Di Tella, Rafael, and Ernesto Schargrodsky Publication:Journal of Political Economy Abstract We study criminal recidivism in Argentina by focusing on the re-arrest rates of two groups: individuals released... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2017 (Revised December 2018)
Case

Tamarin App: Natural Language Processing

By: Srikant M. Datar and Caitlin N. Bowler

In this case, students explore the challenges of using sentiment analysis to monitor and understand public perception around a software application, Tamarin SEO App. Technical topics include building a filtering classifier using naive Bayes and sentiment analysis This... View Details

Keywords: Data Science; Branding; Data Analytics; Analytics and Data Science; Brands and Branding; Analysis; Perception; Planning

26 Sep 2012
Working Paper Summaries

License to Cheat: Voluntary Regulation and Ethical Behavior

Keywords: by Francesca Gino, Erin L. Krupka & Roberto A. Weber

August 2013
Teaching Note

Nutricia Middle East: Measuring Sales Force Effectiveness

By: F. Asis Martinez-Jerez

Nutricia's Middle East and African region is transitioning from a trading to a customer focus. CEO Ernest Vandenbussche must decide how to market infant milk formula most effectively in a region where the information environment is much less rich than in other... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Customer Relationship Management; Commercialization; Management Practices and Processes; Salesforce Management; Nutrition; Performance Evaluation; Information Management; Health Industry; Africa; Middle East

May 2004
Article

The Case for International Coordination of Electricity Regulation: Evidence from the Measurement of Efficiency in South America

A decade of experience has shown that monitoring the performance of public and private monopolies is the hardest part of electricity sector reform in South America—because operators control most of the information needed for effective regulation. South American... View Details

Keywords: Information; Mathematical Methods; Monopoly; Globalization; Energy Sources; Energy Industry; South America

April 2006
Case

Nutricia Middle East: Measuring Sales Force Effectiveness

Nutricia's Middle East and African region is transitioning from a trading to a customer focus. CEO Ernest Vandenbussche must decide how to market infant milk formula most effectively in a region where the information environment is much less rich than in other... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Salesforce Management; Customer Relationship Management; Emerging Markets; Nutrition; Performance Effectiveness; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Health Industry; Middle East; Africa

May 2008
Article

Coerced Confessions: Self-Policing in the Shadow of the Regulator

By: Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel

As part of a recent trend toward more cooperative relations between regulators and industry, novel government programs are encouraging firms to monitor their own regulatory compliance and voluntarily report their own violations. In this study, we examine how regulatory... View Details

Keywords: Governance Compliance; Law Enforcement; Corporate Disclosure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Environmental Sustainability; Programs; Power and Influence; Organizations; Decisions; Business and Government Relations; United States

November 2001 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Digital Angel

By: Youngme E. Moon and Kerry Herman

Digital Angel is considering the appropriate marketing plan for the launch of its new locator device. The device, a watch and pager worn in combination, provides GPS location information and monitors heart rate and body temperature via body sensors. Parents of young... View Details

Keywords: Information; Safety; Rights; Market Entry and Exit; Ethics; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Product Development