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All HBS Web
(1,027)
- Faculty Publications (357)
- December 2022
- Article
The Emotional Rewards of Prosocial Spending Are Robust and Replicable in Large Samples
By: Lara B. Aknin, Elizabeth W. Dunn and Ashley V. Whillans
Past studies show that spending money on other people—prosocial spending—increases a person’s happiness. However, foundational research on this topic was conducted prior to psychology’s credibility revolution (or “replication crisis”), so it is essential to ask...
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Aknin, Lara B., Elizabeth W. Dunn, and Ashley V. Whillans. "The Emotional Rewards of Prosocial Spending Are Robust and Replicable in Large Samples." Current Directions in Psychological Science 31, no. 6 (December 2022): 536–545.
- Winter 2022
- Article
Vaccines and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons from Failure and Success
By: Scott Duke Kominers and Alex Tabarrok
The losses from the global COVID-19 pandemic have been staggering—trillions in economic costs, on top of significant losses of life, health, and well-being. The world made significant and successful investments in vaccines to mitigate the pandemic, yet there were...
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Keywords:
COVID-19;
Vaccination;
Market Design;
Health Pandemics;
Loss;
Outcome or Result;
Opportunities;
Crisis Management
Kominers, Scott Duke, and Alex Tabarrok. "Vaccines and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons from Failure and Success." Oxford Review of Economic Policy 38, no. 4 (Winter 2022): 719–741.
- November 14, 2022
- Article
Policies for Adapting to the ‘New Normal’ of the Anthropocene
By: Andrew J. Hoffman, P. Devereaux Jennings and Nicholas A. Poggioli
Keywords:
Natural Environment;
Environmental Management;
Economic Systems;
Behavior;
Technological Innovation
Hoffman, Andrew J., P. Devereaux Jennings, and Nicholas A. Poggioli. "Policies for Adapting to the ‘New Normal’ of the Anthropocene." Behavioral Scientist (November 14, 2022).
- November 2022
- Article
Measuring Inequality beyond the Gini Coefficient May Clarify Conflicting Findings
By: Kristin Blesch, Oliver P. Hauser and Jon M. Jachimowicz
Prior research has found mixed results on how economic inequality is related to various outcomes. These contradicting findings may in part stem from a predominant focus on the Gini coefficient, which only narrowly captures inequality. Here, we conceptualize the...
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Keywords:
Economic Inequalty;
Gini Coefficient;
Income Inequality;
Equality and Inequality;
Social Issues;
Health;
Status and Position
Blesch, Kristin, Oliver P. Hauser, and Jon M. Jachimowicz. "Measuring Inequality beyond the Gini Coefficient May Clarify Conflicting Findings." Nature Human Behaviour 6, no. 11 (November 2022): 1525–1536.
- November 2022
- Article
The Sharp Spikes of Poverty: Financial Scarcity Is Related to Higher Levels of Distress Intensity in Daily Life
By: Jon M. Jachimowicz, Erin L. Frey, Sandra C. Matz, Bertus F. Jeronimus and Adam D. Galinsky
Although income is an important predictor of life satisfaction, the precise forces that drive this relationship remain unclear. We propose that financial resources afford individuals a path to reducing the distressing impact of everyday hassles, in turn increasing...
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Keywords:
Distress;
Affect;
Control;
Financial Scarcity;
Life Satisfaction;
Income;
Poverty;
Well-being
Jachimowicz, Jon M., Erin L. Frey, Sandra C. Matz, Bertus F. Jeronimus, and Adam D. Galinsky. "The Sharp Spikes of Poverty: Financial Scarcity Is Related to Higher Levels of Distress Intensity in Daily Life." Social Psychological & Personality Science 13, no. 8 (November 2022): 1187–1198.
- 2023
- Working Paper
Scapegoating and Discrimination in Times of Crisis: Evidence from Airbnb
By: Michael Luca, Elizaveta Pronkina and Michelangelo Rossi
We present evidence that discrimination against Asian-American Airbnb users sharply increased at the
start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a DiD approach, we find that hosts with distinctively Asian
names experienced a 20 percent decline in guests relative to hosts...
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Keywords:
Discrimination;
Behavioral Economics;
Market Design;
Health Pandemics;
Prejudice and Bias;
Digital Platforms;
Design
Luca, Michael, Elizaveta Pronkina, and Michelangelo Rossi. "Scapegoating and Discrimination in Times of Crisis: Evidence from Airbnb." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 23-012, August 2022. (Revised March 2023.)
- 2022
- Working Paper
The Impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act on the U.S. Economy
By: Joe Long, Carlo Medici, Nancy Qian and Marco Tabellini
This paper studies the impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned Chinese immigration to the United States after 1882, across U.S. counties between 1870 and 1940. We find that the Act reduced labor supply for both the Chinese and other groups (i.e., white and...
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Keywords:
Immigration;
Growth;
Productivity;
Business History;
Economic Slowdown and Stagnation;
Business and Government Relations;
Prejudice and Bias;
Government Legislation;
United States
Long, Joe, Carlo Medici, Nancy Qian, and Marco Tabellini. "The Impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act on the U.S. Economy." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 23-008, March 2022.
- 2022
- Book
Making Meritocracy: Lessons from China and India, from Antiquity to the Present
By: Tarun Khanna and Michael Szonyi
How do societies identify and promote merit? Enabling all people to fulfill their potential, and ensuring the selection of competent and capable leaders are central challenges for any society. These are not new concerns. Scholars, educators, and political and economic...
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Keywords:
Merit;
Meritocracy;
Society;
Government and Politics;
History;
Power and Influence;
Leadership;
Competency and Skills;
China;
India
Khanna, Tarun, and Michael Szonyi, eds. Making Meritocracy: Lessons from China and India, from Antiquity to the Present. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2022.
- 2022
- Working Paper
Overreaction and Diagnostic Expectations in Macroeconomics
By: Pedro Bordalo, Nicola Gennaioli and Andrei Shleifer
We present the case for the centrality of overreaction in expectations for addressing important challenges in finance and macroeconomics. First, non-rational expectations by market participants can be measured and modeled in ways that address some of the key challenges...
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Keywords:
Overreaction;
Rational Expectations;
Macroeconomics;
Market Participation;
Social Psychology
Bordalo, Pedro, Nicola Gennaioli, and Andrei Shleifer. "Overreaction and Diagnostic Expectations in Macroeconomics." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 30356, August 2022.
- July 28, 2022
- Article
How to Build a Life: How to Be Happy in a Recession
By: Arthur C. Brooks
Brooks, Arthur C. "How to Build a Life: How to Be Happy in a Recession." The Atlantic (July 28, 2022).
- July 2022
- Article
The Developmental Origins and Behavioral Consequences of Attributions for Inequality
By: Antonya Marie Gonzalez, Lucia Macchia and Ashley V. Whillans
Attributions, or lay explanations for inequality, have been linked to inequality-relevant behavior. In adults and children, attributing inequality to an individual rather than contextual or structural causes is linked to greater support for economic inequality and less...
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Gonzalez, Antonya Marie, Lucia Macchia, and Ashley V. Whillans. "The Developmental Origins and Behavioral Consequences of Attributions for Inequality." Art. 104329. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 101 (July 2022).
- June 2022
- Case
Mossadeq’s Gambit: The US, UK, and Iranian Oil Nationalization
By: Jeremy Friedman and Jingyu Liu
Many of the West’s political problems in the Middle East and in Iran in particular can be traced to the overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh by military forces supported by the American CIA and the British MI6 in August 1953. Mossadegh, at the head of a...
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Keywords:
Neo-imperialism;
History;
Conflict Management;
War;
Globalized Economies and Regions;
Natural Resources;
National Security;
Government and Politics;
Globalized Markets and Industries;
Middle East;
Iran
Friedman, Jeremy, and Jingyu Liu. "Mossadeq’s Gambit: The US, UK, and Iranian Oil Nationalization." Harvard Business School Case 722-065, June 2022.
- 2022
- Article
How to Choose a Default
By: John Beshears, Richard T. Mason and Shlomo Benartzi
We have developed a model for setting a default when a population is choosing among ordered choices—that is, ones listed in ascending or descending order. A company, for instance, might want to set a default contribution rate that will increase employees’ average...
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Keywords:
Nudge;
Choice Architecture;
Behavioral Economics;
Behavioral Science;
Default;
Savings;
Decision Choices and Conditions;
Behavior;
Motivation and Incentives
Beshears, John, Richard T. Mason, and Shlomo Benartzi. "How to Choose a Default." Behavioral Science & Policy 8, no. 1 (2022): 1–15.
- 2022
- Working Paper
Measuring the Tolerance of the State: Theory and Application to Protest
By: Veli Andirin, Yusuf Neggers, Mehdi Shadmehr and Jesse M. Shapiro
We develop a measure of a regime's tolerance for an action by its citizens. We ground our measure in an economic model and apply it to the setting of political protest. In the model, a regime anticipating a protest can take a costly action to repress it. We define the...
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Keywords:
Political Protests;
Modeling And Analysis;
Government and Politics;
Conflict and Resolution
Andirin, Veli, Yusuf Neggers, Mehdi Shadmehr, and Jesse M. Shapiro. "Measuring the Tolerance of the State: Theory and Application to Protest." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 30167, June 2022.
- 2022
- Working Paper
The Impact of Minority Representation at Mortgage Lenders
By: W. Scott Frame, Ruidi Huang, Erik J. Mayer and Adi Sunderam
We study links between the labor market for loan officers and access to mortgage credit. Using novel data matching the (near) universe of mortgage applications to loan officers, we find that minorities are significantly underrepresented among loan officers. Minority...
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Keywords:
Household Finance;
Demographic Economics;
Financial Institutions;
Diversity;
Prejudice and Bias;
Mortgages;
Banking Industry
Frame, W. Scott, Ruidi Huang, Erik J. Mayer, and Adi Sunderam. "The Impact of Minority Representation at Mortgage Lenders." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 30125, June 2022.
- April 27, 2022
- Article
Inequality in Researchers' Minds: Four Guiding Questions for Studying Subjective Perceptions of Economic Inequality
By: Jon M. Jachimowicz, Shai Davidai, Daniela Goya-Tocchetto, Barnabas Szaszi, Martin Day, Stephanie Tepper, L. Taylor Phillips, M. Usman Mirza, Nailya Ordabayeva and Oliver P. Hauser
Subjective perceptions of inequality can substantially influence policy attitudes, public health metrics, and societal well-being, but the lack of consensus in the scientific community on how to best operationalize and measure these perceptions may impede progress on...
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Jachimowicz, Jon M., Shai Davidai, Daniela Goya-Tocchetto, Barnabas Szaszi, Martin Day, Stephanie Tepper, L. Taylor Phillips, M. Usman Mirza, Nailya Ordabayeva, and Oliver P. Hauser. "Inequality in Researchers' Minds: Four Guiding Questions for Studying Subjective Perceptions of Economic Inequality." Journal of Economic Surveys (April 27, 2022).
- 2023
- Working Paper
Can Evidence-Based Information Shift Preferences Towards Trade Policy?
By: Laura Alfaro, Maggie X. Chen and Davin Chor
We investigate the role of evidence-based information in shaping individuals' preferences for trade policies through a series of survey experiments that contain randomized information treatments. Each treatment provides a concise statement of economics research...
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Alfaro, Laura, Maggie X. Chen, and Davin Chor. "Can Evidence-Based Information Shift Preferences Towards Trade Policy?" Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 22-062, March 2022. (Revised May 2023. NBER Working Paper Series, No. 31240, May 2023)
- March 2022
- Module Note
A Behavioral Science Perspective on Motivation and Incentives
By: John Beshears and Ashley Whillans
This module note for instructors describes a module that integrates insights from the behavioral science of motivation into the economic analysis of incentive systems.
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Keywords:
Motivation;
Incentives;
Behavioral Science;
Behavioral Economics;
Motivation and Incentives;
Economics;
Analysis;
Human Resources
Beshears, John, and Ashley Whillans. "A Behavioral Science Perspective on Motivation and Incentives." Harvard Business School Module Note 922-033, March 2022.
- 2021
- Working Paper
Racial Disparities in the Paycheck Protection Program
By: Sergey Chernenko and David S. Scharfstein
Using a large sample of Florida restaurants, we document significant racial disparities in borrowing through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and investigate the causes of these disparities. Black-owned restaurants are 25% less likely to receive PPP loans....
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Keywords:
Discrimination;
Paycheck Protection Program;
Economic Injury Disaster Loans;
Bank Lending;
Nonbank Lending;
Banks and Banking;
Financing and Loans;
Prejudice and Bias;
Race
Chernenko, Sergey, and David S. Scharfstein. "Racial Disparities in the Paycheck Protection Program." SSRN Working Paper Series, August 2021. (NBER Working Paper Series, No. 29748, February 2022.)
- 2022
- Article
Alleviating Time Poverty Among the Working Poor: A Pre-Registered Longitudinal Field Experiment
By: A.V. Whillans and Colin West
Poverty entails more than a scarcity of material resources—it also involves a shortage of time. To examine the causal benefits of reducing time poverty, we conducted a longitudinal feld experiment over six consecutive weeks in an urban slum in Kenya with a sample of...
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Keywords:
Time;
Subjective Well Being;
Administrative Costs;
Friction;
Poverty;
Well-being;
Money;
Perception;
Kenya
Whillans, A.V., and Colin West. "Alleviating Time Poverty Among the Working Poor: A Pre-Registered Longitudinal Field Experiment." Art. 719. Scientific Reports 12 (2022).