Publications

September 26, 2024
Article

A Better Way to Measure Social Impact

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Constance Spitzer

All impact investors report the financial returns from their funds and investments, and many provide metrics on intended social outcomes, such as numbers of individuals served, or quality jobs created. But investors do not supply metrics about their impacts on... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Social Impact Investment; Inclusive Growth; Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability

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November–December 2024
Article

Loss of Peers and Individual Worker Performance: Evidence From H-1B Visa Denials

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Kirk Doran, Astrid Marinoni and Chungeun Yoon

We study how restrictive immigration policies that result in the unexpected loss of co-workers affect the performance of skilled migrants employed in organizations. Specifically, we examine the impact of the loss of team members on their co-workers’ performance in... View Details

Keywords: Immigration; Performance Productivity; Employees; Human Capital; Ethnicity; Groups and Teams

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2025
Working Paper

Impact Investing and Worker Outcomes

By: Josh Lerner, Markus Lithell and Gordon M. Phillips

Impact investors claim to distinguish themselves from traditional venture capital and growth equity investors by also pursuing ESG objectives. Whether they successfully do so in practice is unclear. We use confidential Census Bureau microdata to assess worker... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Private Equity; Venture Capital; Wages

SSRN

2012
Working Paper

Learning from Customers: Individual and Organizational Effects in Outsourced Radiological Services

By: Jonathan R. Clark, Robert S. Huckman and Bradley R. Staats

The ongoing fragmentation of work has resulted in a narrowing of tasks into smaller pieces that can be sent outside the organization and, in many instances, around the world. This trend is shifting the boundaries of organizations and leading to increased outsourcing.... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Learning; Health Care and Treatment; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Knowledge Acquisition; Volume; Performance Productivity; Health Industry

SSRN

01 Jun 2014
News

Early Impact

changing needs of the School. Three new building projects focus on Executive Education, recognizing the growing reach and impact the School is achieving through the more than 8,000 participants who come to campus each year. Tata Hall... View Details

Keywords: Construction of Buildings; Construction; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

September–October 2013
Article

Learning from Customers: Individual and Organizational Effects in Outsourced Radiological Services

By: Jonathan R. Clark, Robert S. Huckman and Bradley R. Staats

The ongoing fragmentation of work has resulted in a narrowing of tasks into smaller pieces that can be sent outside the organization and, in many instances, around the world. This trend is shifting the boundaries of organizations and leading to increased outsourcing.... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Medical Specialties; Health Care and Treatment; Customer Focus and Relationships; Learning; Customer Satisfaction; Health Industry

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Impact Investing: Challenges and Opportunities

Never has there been a time when so many believed in both the ability and responsibility of the private sector to combat the world's greatest social challengesfrom poverty to climate change to accessible health care. Recent years have seen the creation of thousands of... View Details

01 Jun 2016
News

Fellowships Have Impact

others who are here because of financial aid. It is not just about you as an individual — it is about the group as a whole.” Tim Massey (MBA 2016) Colin Taylor (MBA 1990) and Family Fellowship Edmund (MBA 1964) and Barbara Hajim Financial... View Details

Video

Introduction to Power and Influence for Positive Impact

February 2018
Article

The Impact of a Surprise Donation Ask

By: Christine L. Exley and Ragan Petrie

Individuals frequently exploit "flexibility" built into decision environments to give less. They use uncertainty to justify options benefiting themselves over others, they avoid information that may encourage them to give, and they avoid the ask itself. In this paper,... View Details

Keywords: Charitable Giving; Prosocial Behavior; Self-serving Biases; Excuses; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Behavior

July 2017
Article

The Impact of 'Display-Set' Options on Decision-Making

By: Uma R. Karmarkar

The way a choice set is constructed can have a significant influence on how individuals perceive and evaluate their options and make decisions between them. Here, I examine whether a “display set” of visible but unavailable options can exert these same types of... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making Process; Heuristics; Similarity; Categorization; Marketing Insight; Marketing; Choice; Choice Architecture; Choice Sets; Display; Retail; Consumer Behavior; Decision Choices and Conditions; Decisions; Decision Making; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry

01 Mar 2013
News

Sizing Up Social Impact

government and individual donors may have different priorities and demands, and soon a nonprofit trying to please too many (including the general public) pleases no one—least of all those constituents they were hoping to help.... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Crop Production; Agriculture; Administration of Economic Programs; Government; Administration of Housing Programs, Urban Planning, and Community Development; Government; Water, Sewage and Supply Systems; Utilities

Research Summary

Notes on the Impact of Wealth in Bargaining

Joint work with Chen-Ying Huang, National Taiwan University.

We provide the first investigation of the politically important question of whether wealthy individuals are advantaged or disadvantaged in bargaining. We show that in a simple Nash-Rubinstein style model,... View Details

14 Sep 2015
News

Helping Investors Have an Impact

Philo Alto (MBA/MPA 2000) founded Asia Value Advisors to engage individuals and organizations in philanthropic ventures that create positive, sustainable impact. The advisory platform encourages cross-sector leadership and thinking among... View Details

Web

Case Studies - Social Impact Collaboratory

investors to customize their portfolio as per their individual preferences. OpenInvest seeks to combine the strengths of both index investing and personalized impact portfolios. Examples of the latter... View Details

2023
Article

On the Impact of Actionable Explanations on Social Segregation

By: Ruijiang Gao and Himabindu Lakkaraju

As predictive models seep into several real-world applications, it has become critical to ensure that individuals who are negatively impacted by the outcomes of these models are provided with a means for recourse. To this end, there has been a growing body of research... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; AI and Machine Learning; Outcome or Result