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- Faculty Publications (155)
- 2022
- Working Paper
Social Protection and Social Distancing During the Pandemic: Mobile Money Transfers in Ghana
By: Dean Karlan, Matt Lowe, Robert Osei, Isaac Osei-Akoto, Benjamin N. Roth and Christopher Udry
We study the impact of mobile money transfers to a representative sample of low-income
Ghanaians during the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement of the upcoming transfers
affects neither consumption, well-being, nor social distancing. Once disbursed,...
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Karlan, Dean, Matt Lowe, Robert Osei, Isaac Osei-Akoto, Benjamin N. Roth, and Christopher Udry. "Social Protection and Social Distancing During the Pandemic: Mobile Money Transfers in Ghana." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 23-010, July 2022.
- June 2022
- Case
The SAH Group: The Time is Right
By: Juan Alcacer and Alpana Thapar
In January 2021, Jalila Mezni, cofounder and CEO of the SAH Group, was preparing to present the company’s future growth plans to its board of directors. The Tunisian company was a leading producer and distributor of personal care and packaged hygiene products. In 2019,...
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Keywords:
Growth Management;
Expansion;
Business Divisions;
Product Positioning;
Brands and Branding;
Competition;
Presentations;
Consumer Products Industry;
Tunisia;
Kenya
Alcacer, Juan, and Alpana Thapar. "The SAH Group: The Time is Right." Harvard Business School Case 722-357, June 2022.
- June 2022 (Revised August 2022)
- Case
Dollar Tree: Breaking the Buck
By: Jill Avery and Marco Bertini
For thirty-five years, Dollar Tree, a discount retail chain selling general merchandise, had held its fixed price point steady, pricing all of its household items, food, stationery, books, seasonal items, gifts, toys, and clothing that made up its diverse and...
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Keywords:
Retailing;
Pricing;
Pricing Strategy;
Discount Retailing;
Discount Store;
Marketing;
Brands and Branding;
Marketing Strategy;
Price;
Inflation and Deflation;
Consumer Behavior;
Retail Industry;
United States
Avery, Jill, and Marco Bertini. "Dollar Tree: Breaking the Buck." Harvard Business School Case 522-091, June 2022. (Revised August 2022.)
- 2021
- Working Paper
Pricing of Climate Risk Insurance: Regulation and Cross-Subsidies
By: Ishita Sen, Ana-Maria Tenekedjieva and Sangmin Oh
Homeowners’ insurance provides households financial protection from climate losses. To improve access and affordability, state regulators impose price controls on insurance companies. Using novel data, we construct a new measure of rate setting frictions for individual...
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Keywords:
Climate Risk;
Homeowners' Insurance;
Price Controls;
Financial Regulation;
Cross-subsidization;
Climate Change;
Household;
Insurance;
Price;
Governance Controls;
Financial Institutions;
United States
Sen, Ishita, Ana-Maria Tenekedjieva, and Sangmin Oh. "Pricing of Climate Risk Insurance: Regulation and Cross-Subsidies." SSRN Working Paper Series, No. 3762235, June 2022. (Revise and Resubmit, Journal of Finance.)
- May 2022
- Article
Can Gambling Increase Savings? Empirical Evidence on Prize-Linked Savings Accounts
By: Shawn A. Cole, Benjamin Iverson and Peter Tufano
This paper studies the adoption and impact of prize-linked savings (PLS) accounts, which offer lottery-like payouts to individual account holders in lieu of interest. Using microlevel data from a bank in South Africa, we show that PLS is attractive to a broad group of...
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Keywords:
Household Finance;
Banking;
Savings;
Prize-linked Savings;
Lottery;
Household;
Personal Finance;
Saving;
Banks and Banking
Cole, Shawn A., Benjamin Iverson, and Peter Tufano. "Can Gambling Increase Savings? Empirical Evidence on Prize-Linked Savings Accounts." Management Science 68, no. 5 (May 2022): 3282–3308.
- Article
Present Bias Causes and Then Dissipates Auto-enrollment Savings Effects
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Peter Maxted
Present bias causes procrastination, which leads households to stick with auto-enrollment defaults. However, present bias also engenders overconsumption. Separation from each employer generates a rollover of 401(k) balances to an individual retirement account (IRA)...
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Keywords:
Present Bias;
Procrastination;
Personal Finance;
Decision Making;
Social Psychology;
Retirement
Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Peter Maxted. "Present Bias Causes and Then Dissipates Auto-enrollment Savings Effects." AEA Papers and Proceedings 112 (May 2022): 136–141.
- April 2022
- Article
Predictable Financial Crises
Using historical data on post-war financial crises around the world, we show that crises are substantially predictable. The combination of rapid credit and asset price growth over the prior three years, whether in the nonfinancial business or the household sector, is...
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Greenwood, Robin, Samuel G. Hanson, Andrei Shleifer, and Jakob Ahm Sørensen. "Predictable Financial Crises." Journal of Finance 77, no. 2 (April 2022): 863–921.
- March 2022 (Revised April 2023)
- Case
Pittsburgh: A Successful City?
Pittsburgh, PA, was once the crown jewel of American heavy industry. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the city was an undisputed leader in steel production, boasting some of the largest companies and wealthiest individuals in the world. Its abundance of...
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Keywords:
Economic And Social Disparities;
Economic Development;
Local Economic Development;
Contextual Intelligence;
Contextual Knowledge;
Context;
City Growth;
City Innovation;
City Leadership;
Pittsburgh;
Local Government;
Local Stakeholders;
Business And Community;
Business And Community Relations;
Community Engagement;
Community Relations;
Cross-sector Collaboration;
Innovation;
Innovation Economy;
Innovation Clusters;
Innovation Ecosystems;
Shared Prosperity;
Equality Of Opportunity;
Equity;
Inclusion;
Business And Government;
Business & Government Relations;
Business And Government Relations;
Business And Society;
Neighborhoods;
Race And Ethnicity;
Innovation & Entrepreneurship;
Diversity;
Ethnicity;
Race;
Household;
Income;
Economic Growth;
Economic Sectors;
Economics;
Local Range;
Urban Development;
Urban Scope;
City;
Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues;
Government and Politics;
Government Administration;
Growth and Development;
History;
Leadership;
Goals and Objectives;
Philanthropy and Charitable Giving;
Society;
Civil Society or Community;
Culture;
Human Needs;
Public Opinion;
Public Sector;
Social Issues;
Poverty;
Equality and Inequality;
Manufacturing Industry;
Steel Industry;
Education Industry;
Medical Devices and Supplies Industry;
Technology Industry;
United States;
Pittsburgh;
Pennsylvania
Mills, Karen, Caroline Elkins, Vikram Gandhi, Gabriella Elanbeck, and Zeke Gillman. "Pittsburgh: A Successful City?" Harvard Business School Case 322-080, March 2022. (Revised April 2023.)
- 2022
- Working Paper
Investing in the Next Generation: The Long-Run Impacts of a Liquidity Shock
By: Patrick Agte, Arielle Bernhardt, Erica M. Field, Rohini Pande and Natalia Rigol
How do poor entrepreneurs trade off investments in business enterprises versus children's human capital, and how do these choices influence intergenerational socio-economic mobility? To examine this, we exploit experimental variation in household income resulting from...
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Keywords:
Socio-economic Mobility;
Household;
Financial Liquidity;
Human Capital;
Investment;
Education
Agte, Patrick, Arielle Bernhardt, Erica M. Field, Rohini Pande, and Natalia Rigol. "Investing in the Next Generation: The Long-Run Impacts of a Liquidity Shock." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 29816, March 2022.
- February 2022 (Revised February 2024)
- Case
Sekisui House and the In-Home Early Detection Platform
By: John D. Macomber and Akiko Kanno
To address an aging population and sales declines, a major Japanese homebuilder considers pivoting to provide and support an in-home health detection platform, in competition with tech companies. This case considers the point of view of major builders regarding how...
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Keywords:
Voice Assistants;
Architecture;
Smart Home;
Aging Society;
Digitalization;
Real Estate;
Home Automation;
Sensors;
Strategy;
Digital Platforms;
Health Care and Treatment;
Housing;
Age;
Real Estate Industry;
Construction Industry;
Health Industry;
Japan
Macomber, John D., and Akiko Kanno. "Sekisui House and the In-Home Early Detection Platform." Harvard Business School Case 222-070, February 2022. (Revised February 2024.)
- 2022
- Working Paper
Measuring Time Use in Rural India: Design and Validation of a Low-Cost Survey Module
By: Erica Field, Rohini Pande, Natalia Rigol, Simone Schaner, Elena Stacy and Charity Troyer Moore
Time use data can help us understand individual labor supply choices, especially
for women who often provide unpaid care and home production. Although
enumerator-assisted diary-based time use data collection is suitable for
low-literacy populations, it is costly and...
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Keywords:
Time Use;
Household;
Rural Scope;
Developing Countries and Economies;
Time Management;
Analytics and Data Science;
Surveys
Field, Erica, Rohini Pande, Natalia Rigol, Simone Schaner, Elena Stacy, and Charity Troyer Moore. "Measuring Time Use in Rural India: Design and Validation of a Low-Cost Survey Module." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 29671, January 2022. (Revised September 2022.)
- January 2022
- Article
Rational Habit Formation: Experimental Evidence from Handwashing in India
By: Reshmaan Hussam, Atonu Rabbani, Giovanni Reggiani and Natalia Rigol
We test the predictions of the rational addiction model, reconceptualized as rational habit formation, in the context of handwashing in rural India. To track handwashing, we design soap dispensers with timed sensors. We test for rational habit formation by informing...
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Hussam, Reshmaan, Atonu Rabbani, Giovanni Reggiani, and Natalia Rigol. "Rational Habit Formation: Experimental Evidence from Handwashing in India." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 14, no. 1 (January 2022): 1–41. (Lead Article.)
- 2022
- Working Paper
ESG: Hyperboles and Reality
By: George Serafeim
ESG has rapidly become a household name leading to both confusion about what it means and creating unrealistic expectations about its effects. In this paper, I draw on more than a decade of research to dispel several myths about ESG and provide answers to important...
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Keywords:
ESG;
ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance;
ESG Disclosure;
ESG Reporting;
ESG Ratings;
Sustainability;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Environmental Sustainability;
Performance;
Corporate Disclosure;
Reports
Serafeim, George. "ESG: Hyperboles and Reality." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 22-031, November 2021.
- 2021
- Chapter
Digital Infrastructure
By: Shane Greenstein
What determines the supply of innovative digital infrastructure and how does variance in supply shape the performance of digital services? The essay reviews research into the economic impact of deployment, innovation, and adoption of digital infrastructure. It...
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Keywords:
Information Technology;
Infrastructure;
Economics;
Policy;
Research;
Analysis;
United States
Greenstein, Shane. "Digital Infrastructure." In Economic Analysis and Infrastructure Investment, edited by Edward L. Glaeser and James Poterba. National Bureau of Economic Research, and University of Chicago Press, 2021.
- September 2021 (Revised December 2021)
- Case
STARZPLAY: Shooting for the Stars
By: Elie Ofek, Marco Bertini and Alpana Thapar
In mid-2021, Maaz Sheikh, cofounder and CEO of STARZPLAY, a Dubai-based subscription video on demand (SVOD) provider that catered to the Middle East and North Africa region, was wrestling with how to find the right balance between continued subscriber growth and...
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Keywords:
Pricing;
Growth;
Profitability;
Subscription Business;
Business Model Innovation;
Fintech;
Subscription;
Performance Measurement;
Promotions;
International Marketing;
Streaming;
Competition;
Marketing;
Price;
Strategy;
Entrepreneurship;
Performance;
Measurement and Metrics;
Business Model;
Media and Broadcasting Industry;
Middle East;
North Africa
Ofek, Elie, Marco Bertini, and Alpana Thapar. "STARZPLAY: Shooting for the Stars." Harvard Business School Case 522-005, September 2021. (Revised December 2021.)
- Article
Targeting Weather Insurance Markets
By: Anita Mukherjee, Shawn Cole and Jeremy Tobacman
The suitability of insurance products often depends greatly on individual circumstances. This paper examines the challenges of heterogeneity in a relatively new product, weather‐indexed insurance. This index insurance product has been launched in over a dozen...
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Keywords:
Index Insurance;
Labor Markets;
Self-insurance;
Self-protection;
Weather;
Insurance;
Markets;
Household;
Risk Management
Mukherjee, Anita, Shawn Cole, and Jeremy Tobacman. "Targeting Weather Insurance Markets." Journal of Risk and Insurance 88, no. 3 (September 2021): 757–784.
- July 2021
- Article
Energy Efficiency and Electricity Reliability
By: Eliana Carranza and Robyn C. Meeks
Overloaded electrical systems are a major source of unreliable power. Using a randomized saturation design, we estimate the impact of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) on electricity reliability and household electricity consumption in the Kyrgyz Republic. Greater...
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Keywords:
Energy;
Technology Adoption;
Green Technology;
Consumer Behavior;
Utilities Industry;
Kyrgyzstan
Carranza, Eliana, and Robyn C. Meeks. "Energy Efficiency and Electricity Reliability." Review of Economics and Statistics 103, no. 3 (July 2021): 461–475.
- April 2021
- Article
A Model of Multi-Pass Search: Price Search Across Stores and Time
By: Navid Mojir and K. Sudhir
In retail settings with price promotions, consumers often search across stores and time. However, the search literature typically only models one pass search across stores, ignoring revisits to stores; the choice literature using scanner data has modeled search across...
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Keywords:
Consumer Search;
Multi-pass Search;
Price Search;
Store Search;
Spatial Search;
Temporal Search;
Spatiotemporal Search;
Dynamic Structural Models;
MPEC;
Price Promotions;
Store Loyalty;
Consumer Behavior;
Price;
Spending;
Marketing;
Mathematical Methods
Mojir, Navid, and K. Sudhir. "A Model of Multi-Pass Search: Price Search Across Stores and Time." Management Science 67, no. 4 (April 2021): 2126–2150.
- Article
A Multicountry Perspective on Gender Differences in Time Use During COVID-19
By: Laura M. Giurge, Ashley V. Whillans and Ayse Yemiscigil (shared authorship)
The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally altered how people spend time, with possible consequences for subjective well-being. Using diverse samples of remote workers from the United States, Canada, Denmark, Brazil, and Spain (n = 31,141), following a preregistered...
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Keywords:
Time;
Subjective Well-being;
COVID-19;
Health Pandemics;
Gender;
Time Management;
Well-being;
Work-Life Balance;
Global Range
Giurge, Laura M., Ashley V. Whillans, and Ayse Yemiscigil (shared authorship). "A Multicountry Perspective on Gender Differences in Time Use During COVID-19." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118, no. 12 (March 23, 2021).
- March 2021 (Revised December 2021)
- Case
Cedar Environmental: Innovation vs. Corruption in Lebanon?
By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Youssef Abdel Aal
The case follows Ziad Abi Chaker, founder and CEO of Cedar Environmental, as he weighs options for how to grow the company in the face of growing economic and political instability in Lebanon in 2019.
Founded after the Lebanese civil war, Cedar... View Details
Founded after the Lebanese civil war, Cedar... View Details
Keywords:
Waste Management;
Recycling;
Corruption;
Leadership & Corporate Accountability;
Business And Government;
Social Entrepreneurship;
Environmental Sustainability;
Green Technology;
Pollution;
Entrepreneurship;
Business and Government Relations;
Crime and Corruption;
Technological Innovation;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Business Strategy;
Expansion;
Corporate Accountability;
Green Technology Industry;
Middle East;
Lebanon
Hsieh, Nien-hê, and Youssef Abdel Aal. "Cedar Environmental: Innovation vs. Corruption in Lebanon?" Harvard Business School Case 321-114, March 2021. (Revised December 2021.)