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  • Forthcoming
  • Article

On the Economic Origins of Concerns Over Women’s Chastity

By: Anke Becker
This paper studies the origins and function of customs and norms that intend to keep women from being promiscuous. Using large-scale survey data from more than 100 countries, I test the anthropological theory that a particular form of preindustrial... View Details
Keywords: Infibulation; Female Sexuality; Paternity Uncertainty; Concern About Women's Chastity; Pastoralism; Economic Anthropology; History; Gender; Social Issues; Culture
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  • Article

Tabulated Nonsense? Testing the Validity of the Ethnographic Atlas

By: Duman Bahrami-Rad, Anke Becker and Joseph Henrich
The Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock, 1967), an anthropological database, is widely used across the social sciences. The Atlas is a quantified and discretely categorized collection of information gleaned from ethnographies covering more than 1200... View Details
Keywords: Ethnographic Atlas; Validation; Culture; Economic Anthropology
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  • Working Paper

Trade and Geography in the Origins and Spread of Islam

By: Stelios Michalopoulos, Alireza Naghavi and Giovanni Prarolo
This study examines the spatial distribution of Muslim societies shedding light on its geographic origins. The empirical analysis conducted across countries, virtual countries, and ethnicities establishes that geographic inequality and proximity to pre-Islamic trade... View Details
Keywords: Geography; Religion; Trade
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  • 26 Nov 2017
  • News

‘Entrepreneurs here think technology can solve everything’

  • 29 Jan 2024
  • Research & Ideas

Do Disasters Rally Support for Climate Action? It's Complicated.

Environmental disasters like wildfires can ignite awareness of climate change and boost eco-friendly politicians’ careers. But do voters perceive a tradeoff between environmental policies and local economic growth? In Brazil, home to a majority of the Amazon tropical... View Details
Keywords: by Rachel Layne
  • 08 Nov 2022
  • Research & Ideas

How Centuries of Restrictions on Women Shed Light on Today's Abortion Debate

education, or economic development, finds Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Anke Becker in a recent working paper called “On the Economic Origins of Restricting Women’s Promiscuity.” Her research... View Details
Keywords: by Kara Baskin
  • Article

Values, Purpose, Meaning, and Expectations: Why Culture and Context Matter

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter
The "rational person" standard, based on assumptions of economic self-interest, has long prevailed in legal reasoning. But understanding of decision making, behavioral choices, and possibilities for action must be enlarged to include a variety of factors that give... View Details
Keywords: Standards; Interests; Decision Making; Behavior; Value; Groups and Teams; Performance Expectations; Organizational Culture; Leadership; Business Cycles; Forecasting and Prediction; Motivation and Incentives
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  • Web

Human Relations and Harvard Business School – The Human Relations Movement – Baker Library | Bloomberg Center, Historical Collections

Archives Photograph Collection At Harvard Business School, Dean Donham began to shift the focus from scientific management and applied economics to human relations, a growing course of study. Mayo’s 1935 research course “Human Problems of... View Details
  • 06 Aug 2007
  • Research & Ideas

High Hills, Deep Poverty: Explaining Civil War in Nepal

to prevent them. "The main conclusion from this whole stream of research is that investing in poverty reduction strategies not only has direct economic benefits but also political benefits," says Lakshmi Iyer, a Harvard Business... View Details
Keywords: by Martha Lagace
  • 01 Dec 2022
  • News

Singing to the Corn

growing things could play in educating others about indigenous cultures. Now he talks about the intelligence of corn—how it changes color to optimize filtration of ultraviolet light: Soon, he explains, the corn leaves will be tinted a deep purplish-red. Keen has taught... View Details
Keywords: Julia Hanna; photographed by Vance Jacobs; Agriculture
  • 07 Nov 2006
  • First Look

First Look: November 7, 2006

and how these differences in terms of economic development affect appropriate policy choices. In particular, questions arise as to the role of cluster initiatives, an instrument that has become more widely used in many countries in recent... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
  • 04 Aug 2009
  • First Look

First Look: August 4

http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-004.pdf What Should GAAP Look Like? A Survey and Economic Analysis (revised) Authors:S.P. Kothari, Karthik Ramanna, and Douglas J. Skinner Abstract Based on extant literature, we articulate a positive... View Details
Keywords: Martha Lagace
  • 06 Dec 2011
  • First Look

First Look: Dec. 6

people start believing they will always go down. Success breeds success, and failure or loss breeds loss. The article argues for a broader explanation of behavior beyond economic instrumentality. It is time to turn again to psychology,... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
  • 05 Nov 2009
  • Research & Ideas

A Market for Human Cadavers in All but Name?

(Editor's Note: In a recent issue, Economic Sociology: The European Electronic Newsletter tackled the controversial issue of "commodification of the body." Harvard Business School professor Michel Anteby contributed the... View Details
Keywords: by Michel Anteby; Health
  • 01 Jun 2006
  • News

Profiles from the Class of 2006

economics course, the premed student — whose third language is English, after Russian and Armenian — was instantly heading in a new direction. “I just fell in love,” she says. “I did some research on education policy and its impact, and... View Details
Keywords: Garry Emmons;Margie Kelley;Lewis I. Rice;Roger Thompson; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services
  • Web

2016 Symposium - Race, Gender & Equity

Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland where she spoke about the role of confidence in women's economic empowerment. In 2012 and 2013, she partnered with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to study... View Details
  • 20 Dec 2022
  • News

Singing to the Corn

corn—how it changes color to optimize filtration of ultraviolet light: Soon, he explains, the corn leaves will be tinted a deep purplish-red. Keen has taught a course on the economics of corn at Creighton University's Heider College of... View Details