Publications

Article

The Impact of Penalties for Wrong Answers on the Gender Gap in Test Scores

By: Katherine B. Coffman and David Klinowski

Multiple-choice exams play a critical role in university admissions across the world. A key question is whether imposing penalties for wrong answers on these exams deters guessing from women more than men, disadvantaging female test-takers. We consider data from a... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Economics; Standardized Testing; Gender; Higher Education; Prejudice and Bias

2018
Working Paper

Detecting Anomalies: The Relevance and Power of Standard Asset Pricing Tests

By: Malcolm Baker, Patrick Luo and Ryan Taliaferro

The two standard approaches for identifying capital market anomalies are cross-sectional coefficient tests, in the spirit of Fama and MacBeth (1973), and time-series intercept tests, in the spirit of Jensen (1968). A new signal can pass the first test, which we label a... View Details

Keywords: Investment Management; Anomalies; Portfolio Construction; Transaction Costs; Investment; Management; Asset Pricing; Market Transactions; Cost

March 1987
Article

Using Survey Data to Test Standard Propositions Regarding Exchange Rate Expectations

By: J. Frankel and K. A. Froot

Keywords: Currencies; Exchange Rates; Asset Pricing; International Macroeconomics; Monetary Policy; Currency Controls; Fixed Exchange Rates; Floating Exchange Rates; Currency Bands; Currency Zones; Currency Areas; Rational Expectations; Analytics and Data Science; Finance

December 2013 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Atlanta Schools: Measures to Improve Performance

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

The widespread cheating scandal that rocked the Atlanta public school system in 2010 and 2011 illustrates how high-stakes performance pressure, without sufficient risk controls, can drive dangerous behavior. After becoming superintendent of the low-income and... View Details

Educators

Purchase

01 Dec 2020
News

Tried and Tested

on standardized tests can be found here. Zoë Cullen studies the design of labor markets and the choices of employers and labor platforms that affect matters of public interest, such as pay transparency, pay... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Scientific Research and Development Services

03 Dec 2013
News

PISA Test Results For U.S. Students Are 'Sobering'

March 2008
Article

Testing a Purportedly More Learnable Auction Mechanism

We describe an auction mechanism in the class of Groves mechanisms that has received attention in the computer science literature because of its theoretical property of being more "learnable" than the standard second price auction mechanism. We bring this mechanism,... View Details

Keywords: Market Design; Auctions; Learning; Economics

24 Feb 2016
News

Why It's Best to Take Tests Early in the Day

Research Summary

Portfolio Betas Do Not Make for Better Asset Pricing Tests

Many papers claim that because using portfolios instead of individual stocks as test assets minimizes idiosyncratic volatility, their use also yields more precise estimates of risk premia. I show that while portfolio formation does lead to more efficient beta... View Details

24 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

Why It's Best to Take Tests Early in the Day

Here’s a tip for parents of school-aged children. If your kids must take a standardized test, it’s best to do so either first thing in the morning or right after recess. On average, students perform best on View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education

03 Mar 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Testing a Purportedly More Learnable Auction Mechanism

Keywords: by Katherine L. Milkman, James Burns, David C. Parkes, Gregory M. Barron & Kagan Tumer; Web Services

2017
Supplement

Uncommon Schools (B): Seeking Excellence at Scale through Standardized Practice

By: John J-H Kim and Sarah McAra

The (B) case provides an update to the (A) case by illustrating how charter school management organization Uncommon Schools responded to the disparity in its students’ 2013 standardized test results. In 2015, CEO Brett Peiser and his management team decided to align... View Details

Keywords: Charter Schools; Nonprofit Organizations; Strategy; Teaching; Talent And Talent Management; Innovation; Education; Early Childhood Education; Middle School Education; Organizational Structure; Performance Consistency; Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Education Industry

2021
Working Paper

Pandemic Schooling Mode and Student Test Scores: Evidence from U.S. States

By: Clare Halloran, Rebecca Jack, James C. Okun and Emily Oster

We estimate the impact of district-level schooling mode (in-person versus hybrid or distance learning) on test scores. We combine Spring 2021 state standardized test score data with comprehensive data on schooling in the 2020-21 school year across 12 states. We find... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; In-person Schooling; Distance Learning; Outcomes Measurement; Health Pandemics; Education; Performance Evaluation

17 Sep 2018
Working Paper Summaries

The Impact of Penalties for Wrong Answers on the Gender Gap in Test Scores

Keywords: by Katherine B. Coffman and David Klinowski; Education

14 Jan 2019
Op-Ed

These 4 CEOs Created a New Standard of Leadership

earned him the United Nations Foundation’s Champion for Global Change Award in 2014. Polman faced his toughest test when Kraft Heinz launched a hostile takeover bid in 2017. Within 48 hours, Polman rejected the bid and convinced Kraft... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Health; Banking; Food & Beverage; Consumer Products

2016
Working Paper

Experimental Evidence on Policies Aimed at Closing the Gender Gap in Willingness to Guess on Multiple-Choice Tests

By: Katherine Baldiga Coffman

Research has shown that women skip more questions than men on multiple-choice tests with penalties for wrong answers. We propose and test five policy changes aimed at eliminating this source of gender bias in test scores. Our data show that simply removing the penalty... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Behavior; Decision Choices and Conditions; Gender

March 16, 2021
Article

From Driverless Dilemmas to More Practical Commonsense Tests for Automated Vehicles

By: Julian De Freitas, Andrea Censi, Bryant Walker Smith, Luigi Di Lillo, Sam E. Anthony and Emilio Frazzoli

For the first time in history, automated vehicles (AVs) are being deployed in populated environments. This unprecedented transformation of our everyday lives demands a significant undertaking: endowing complex autonomous systems with ethically acceptable behavior. We... View Details

Keywords: Automated Driving; Public Health; Artificial Intelligence; Transportation; Health; Ethics; Policy; AI and Machine Learning