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- HBS Book
The Ritual Effect: From Habit to Ritual, Harness the Surprising Power of Everyday Actions
By: Michael NortonOur lives are filled with repetitive tasks meant to keep us on track—what we come to know as habits. Over time, these routines (for example, brushing your teeth or putting on your right sock first) tend to be performed automatically. But when we’re more mindful about these actions—when we focus on the precise way they are performed—they can instead become rituals. Shifting from a “habitual” mindset to a “ritual” mindset can convert ordinary acts from black and white to technicolor.
- HBS Book
The Ritual Effect: From Habit to Ritual, Harness the Surprising Power of Everyday Actions
By: Michael NortonOur lives are filled with repetitive tasks meant to keep us on track—what we come to know as habits. Over time, these routines (for example, brushing your teeth or putting on your right sock first) tend to be performed automatically. But when we’re more mindful about these actions—when we focus on the precise way they are performed—they can...
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- Journal of Development Economics 167 (March 2024)
Human Capital Affects Religious Identity: Causal Evidence from Kenya
By: Livia Alfonsi, Michal Bauer, Julie Chytilová and Edward MiguelWe study how human capital and economic conditions causally affect the choice of religious denomination. We utilize a longitudinal dataset monitoring the religious history of more than 5,000 Kenyans over 20 years, in tandem with a randomized experiment (deworming) that has exogenously boosted education and living standards. The main finding is that the program reduces the likelihood of membership in a Pentecostal denomination up to 20 years later, when respondents are in their mid-thirties, while there is a comparable increase in membership in traditional Christian denominations. The effect is concentrated and statistically significant among a sub-group of participants who benefited most from the program in terms of increased education and income.
- Journal of Development Economics 167 (March 2024)
Human Capital Affects Religious Identity: Causal Evidence from Kenya
By: Livia Alfonsi, Michal Bauer, Julie Chytilová and Edward MiguelWe study how human capital and economic conditions causally affect the choice of religious denomination. We utilize a longitudinal dataset monitoring the religious history of more than 5,000 Kenyans over 20 years, in tandem with a randomized experiment (deworming) that has exogenously boosted education and living standards. The main finding is...
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- Health Care Initiative
Differences in Care Team Response to Patient Portal Messages by Patient Race and Ethnicity
By: Mitchell Tang, Rebecca Mishuris, Lily Payvandi and Ariel Dora SternThe COVID-19 pandemic was associated with substantial growth in patient portal messaging. Higher message volumes have largely persisted, reflecting a new normal. Prior work has documented lower message use by patients who belong to minoritized racial and ethnic groups, but research has not examined differences in care team response to messages. Both have substantial ramifications on resource allocation and care access under a new care paradigm with portal messaging as a central channel for patient–care team communication.
- Health Care Initiative
Differences in Care Team Response to Patient Portal Messages by Patient Race and Ethnicity
By: Mitchell Tang, Rebecca Mishuris, Lily Payvandi and Ariel Dora SternThe COVID-19 pandemic was associated with substantial growth in patient portal messaging. Higher message volumes have largely persisted, reflecting a new normal. Prior work has documented lower message use by patients who belong to minoritized racial and ethnic groups, but research has not examined differences in care team response to messages....
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- Featured Case
Financing Matillion’s Scaleup (A)
By: Raymond Kluender, Emanuele Colonnelli and Ramana NandaIn 2019, Matthew Scullion, founder and CEO of U.K. startup Matillion, faced a decision about which term sheet to accept for the lead investor in his company’s $35 million Series C financing round. Would the connections and opportunities offered by Silicon Valley-based VC Battery Ventures make up for its lower valuation offer, or would Scullion be better off choosing a European investment firm to lead the round?
- Featured Case
Financing Matillion’s Scaleup (A)
By: Raymond Kluender, Emanuele Colonnelli and Ramana NandaIn 2019, Matthew Scullion, founder and CEO of U.K. startup Matillion, faced a decision about which term sheet to accept for the lead investor in his company’s $35 million Series C financing round. Would the connections and opportunities offered by Silicon Valley-based VC Battery Ventures make up for its lower valuation offer, or would Scullion be...
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- Featured Case
Doing Business in Buenos Aires, Argentina
By: Alan D. MacCormack, Nori Gerardo Lietz, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Karina Souza and Zeke GillmanThis case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Argentina. It highlights Argentina's economic and political transformation in the decades leading up to 2024. The case gives an overview of some of the main obstacles faced by businesses operating in the country, contrasting these with the efforts undertaken by the government to improve the country's business climate. This is illustrated through the discussion of a business dilemma in which Latam Airlines considers re-entering the Argentinian market.
- Featured Case
Doing Business in Buenos Aires, Argentina
By: Alan D. MacCormack, Nori Gerardo Lietz, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Karina Souza and Zeke GillmanThis case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Argentina. It highlights Argentina's economic and political transformation in the decades leading up to 2024. The case gives an overview of some of the main obstacles faced by businesses operating in the country, contrasting these with the efforts undertaken by the government...
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- HBS Working Paper
Private Regulation, Institutional Entrepreneurship and Climate Change: A Business History Perspective
By: Ann-Kristin Bergquist and Geoffrey JonesPrivate regulatory systems, including voluntary efforts by firms to restrain their own behavior are the primary form of global climate change governance. However, when environmental challenges first rose up on the scientific and political agendas during the 1970s, the initial emphasis was on states and government regulation coordinated by the United Nations. This working paper provides a business history perspective on how the privatization of global environmental governance happened and shows how the system of private regulation was put in place before climate change became a priority issue.
- HBS Working Paper
Private Regulation, Institutional Entrepreneurship and Climate Change: A Business History Perspective
By: Ann-Kristin Bergquist and Geoffrey JonesPrivate regulatory systems, including voluntary efforts by firms to restrain their own behavior are the primary form of global climate change governance. However, when environmental challenges first rose up on the scientific and political agendas during the 1970s, the initial emphasis was on states and government regulation coordinated by the...
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- NBER Working Paper
Non-Binary Gender Economics
By: Katherine B. Coffman, Lucas C. Coffman and Keith Marzilli EricsonEconomics research has largely overlooked non-binary individuals. We aim to jump-start the literature by providing data on several economically-important beliefs and preferences. Among many results, non-binary individuals report more gender-based discrimination and express different career and life aspirations, including less desire for children. Anti-non-binary sentiment is stronger than anti-LGBT sentiment, and strongest among men. Non-binary respondents report lower assertiveness than men and women, and their social preferences are similar to men’s and less prosocial than women’s, with age an important moderator. Elicited beliefs reveal inaccurate stereotypes as people often mistake the direction of group differences or exaggerate their size.
- NBER Working Paper
Non-Binary Gender Economics
By: Katherine B. Coffman, Lucas C. Coffman and Keith Marzilli EricsonEconomics research has largely overlooked non-binary individuals. We aim to jump-start the literature by providing data on several economically-important beliefs and preferences. Among many results, non-binary individuals report more gender-based discrimination and express different career and life aspirations, including less desire for children....
Initiatives & Projects
Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard
Seminars & Conferences
- 23 Apr 2024
Rebecca Hamilton, Georgetown University
- 24 Apr 2024
Kelly Shue (Joint MIT), Yale University
Recent Publications
Enhancing Value and Well-Being: The Basket of Motivators Framework for Aligning Neurology Clinical Practices with Performance Outcomes
- June 2024 |
- Article |
- Neurology: Clinical Practice
Real Growth in Space Manufacturing Output Substantially Exceeds Growth in the Overall Space Economy
- June 2024 |
- Article |
- Acta Astronautica
What Makes a Successful Celebrity Brand?
- May–June 2024 |
- Article |
- Harvard Business Review
Should Your Brand Hire a Virtual Influencer?
- May–June 2024 |
- Article |
- Harvard Business Review
Moral Thin-Slicing: Forming Moral Impressions from a Brief Glance
- May 2024 |
- Article |
- Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Harvard University and Urban Mining Industries: Decarbonizing the Supply Chain
- April 2024 |
- Teaching Note |
- Faculty Research
Driving Decarbonization at BMW
- April 2024 |
- Supplement |
- Faculty Research
How to Build a Life: How to Be Less Busy and More Happy
- April 18, 2024 |
- Article |
- The Atlantic