Publications

SSRN

2024
Working Paper

Public Debt and Investment Under Political Competition: Evidence from Toxic Loans

By: Julien Sauvagnat and Boris Vallée

We examine how political considerations shape local government responses to a substantial rise in indebtedness. We use the delayed yet sharp deterioration of “toxic” loans held by French municipalities as a quasi-natural experiment to empirically investigate such... View Details

Keywords: Public Debt; Public Investments; Political Contestation; Toxic Loans; Borrowing and Debt; Investment; Public Sector; Government and Politics; Local Range; Financing and Loans

11 Feb 2015
Research & Ideas

Politicians Benefited From Using Toxic Loans

Talk of the recent financial crisis often falls into a simplistic narrative of villainous banks, marketing toxic financial products to innocent customers who did not understand their risks. Among the storied victims are municipal... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

18 Jan 2016
Research & Ideas

Hazard Warning: The Unacceptable Cost of Toxic Workers

Toxic workers aren’t just a pain in the rear; they’re also a pain in the bottom line, according to a new Harvard Business School working paper. Dylan Minor, visiting assistant professor of business administration in the HBS Strategy unit,... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland

1984
Other Unpublished Work

Legitimizing Risk Management for Toxic Chemicals

By: Dutch Leonard and Richard Zeckhauser

Keywords: Risk Management; Chemicals; Pollutants; Chemical Industry

February 3, 2009
Article

How to Value Toxic Bank Assets

By: Robert C. Pozen

Keywords: Value; Banks and Banking; Assets

October 22, 2012
Column

Toxics Release Inventory: A Case Study in Information Disclosure Regulation

By: Glen W. S. Dowell and Michael W. Toffel

February 1980 (Revised November 1981)
Case

Work of a Regulatory Agency: The EPA and Toxic Substances

By: J. Ronald Fox and Lynne O. Cabot

Keywords: Government Administration; Environmental Sustainability; Policy; Public Administration Industry; United States

June 1981
Teaching Note

Work of a Regulatory Agency: The EPA and Toxic Substances TN

By: J. Ronald Fox

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; United States

August 1984
Case

Work of a Regulatory Agency: The EPA and Toxic Substances (Condensed)

By: Joseph L. Bower

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Pollutants; Public Administration Industry

February 20, 2025
Article

How to Build a Life: The Ultimate Antidote to Toxic Behavior Online

By: Arthur C. Brooks

Register to Read

March 2021 (Revised January 2023)
Case

The Trouble with TCE

By: Vincent Pons, Rafael Di Tella and Galit Goldstein

Trichloroethylene, or TCE, was a chemical used by tens of thousands of businesses in the United States. It was an affordable tool for many. Yet, TCE had been associated with important health risks, including cancer and autoimmune disease. TCE potentially posed other... View Details

Keywords: Trichloroethylene; Toxicity; Lobbying; Chemicals; Health Disorders; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Ethics; Business and Government Relations; Chemical Industry; United States

Educators

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August 19, 2021
Article

How to Build a Life: Fake Forgiveness Is Toxic for Relationships

By: Arthur C. Brooks

Register to Read

2016
Working Paper

Workplace Design: The Good, the Bad, and the Productive

By: Michael Housman and Dylan Minor

We study the effects of performance spillover in the workplace-both positive and negative-on several dimensions, and find that it is pervasive and decreasing in the physical distance between workers. We also find that workers have different strengths, and that while... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Human Resource Management; Peer Effects; Productivity; Spillovers; Toxic Worker; Strategy; Working Conditions; Performance Productivity; Human Resources

SSRN

03 Dec 2014
What Do You Think?

Can the Brilliant Jerk Be Managed Effectively?

Summing Up Can the Brilliance of the "Jerk" Be Tapped? The best business problem cases are those that divide a class into groups making two or more persuasive arguments. The questions of whether or not and how to make investments in "brilliant... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

22 Jan 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

Why You Are Unhappy at Work

importance of being supportive. Hazard Warning: The Unacceptable Cost of Toxic Workers A productive workplace can be easily disrupted by one unruly employee. Here's what companies can do to detox the problem-makers. If the CEO’s High... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

03 Nov 2015
First Look

November 3, 2015

discretion. This is because, when faced with similar applicant pools, managers who exercise more discretion (as measured by their likelihood of overruling job test recommendations) systematically end up with worse hires. Download working paper:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2017
Article

The Political Economy of Financial Innovation: Evidence from Local Governments

By: Christophe Pérignon and Boris Vallée

We examine the toxic loans sold by investment banks to local governments. Using proprietary data, we show that politicians strategically use these products to increase chances of being re-elected. Consistent with greater incentives to hide the cost of debt, toxic loans... View Details

Keywords: Financial Innovation; Political Elections; Financing and Loans; Innovation and Invention

Purchase

June 18, 2022
Article

In Defense of Online Anonymity

By: Michael Luca

Lack of transparency on the internet may help fuel toxic dialogue, but it also encourages honest feedback and protects people against discrimination View Details

Keywords: Transparency; Anonymity; Honesty; Social Media; Prejudice and Bias