Publications

BACKGROUND:

Fecal microbiota transplantation is an effective treatment for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection and is being investigated as a treatment for other microbiota-associated diseases. To facilitate these activities, an…

We explore the factors that determine whether individuals are likely to experience intrinsic motivation in end-user programming (EUP). We report two experiments: one that tests whether there are reliable psychometric constructs that describe…

In this paper, we develop new methods for estimating average treatment effects in observational studies, focusing on settings with more than two treatment levels under unconfoundedness given pre-treatment variables. We emphasize subclassification…

How do people adapt to organizational culture and what are the consequences for their outcomes in the organization? These fundamental questions about culture have previously been examined using self-report measures, which are subject to reporting…

Much of contemporary American political rhetoric is characterized by liberals and conservatives advancing arguments for the morality of their respective political positions. However, research suggests such moral rhetoric is largely ineffective…

We estimate and test a model of voluntary disclosure in which a manager’s information set is uncertain (Dye 1985; Jung and Kwon 1988). In this model, a manager makes his disclosure decision to maximize the market price, but sometimes, for…

We document that contractual disclosures by intermediaries during the sale of mortgages contained false information about the borrower’s housing equity in 7–14% of loans. The rate of misrepresented loan default was 70% higher than for similar…

This paper studies the role of demand uncertainty in temporal discrimination when the retailer applies markdown pricing facing strategic customers. We consider a model in which a retail firm announces a pair of declining prices for two selling…

Financial accounting is essential to financial accountability, which is essential to a prosperous society. There are many examples of how improvements to financial accounting, supported by research, have enhanced financial accountability. Such…

Like the navigation tools that freed ancient sailors from the need to stay close to the shoreline—eventually affording the discovery of new worlds—Big Data might open us up to new sociological possibilities by freeing us from the shackles…

Intergroup conflict encompasses a broad range of situations with moral relevance. Researchers at the intersection of social and moral psychology employ diverse methodologies, including surveys, moral dilemmas, economic games, and neuroimaging, to…

We present a theory in which the key driver of short-term debt issued by the financial sector is the portfolio demand for safe and liquid assets by the nonfinancial sector. This demand drives a premium on safe and liquid assets that the…

Capital regulation is critical to address distortions and externalities from intense conflicts of interest in banking and from the failure of markets to counter incentives for recklessness. The approaches to capital regulation in Basel III and…

In a reflective moment during his brief but crisis-prone presidency, the late President John F. Kennedy once observed:

The essence of ultimate decision remains impenetrable to the observer—often, indeed, to the decider himself… . There…

Two frameworks — cultural attraction theory and epistemic vigilance — predict a cultural disadvantage for counter-intuitive beliefs. We review several cognitive mechanisms that conspire to render pro-vaccination beliefs counter-intuitive. Trust…

The prevalence and widespread usage of email has given businesses a direct and cost effective way of providing consumers with targeted discount offers. While these discounts are expected to increase the demand for the promoted products, are they…

For the past 40 years, the conventional univariate model of self-monitoring has reigned as the dominant interpretative paradigm in the literature. However, recent findings associated with an alternative bivariate model challenge the conventional…

Using ethnographic, experimental and survey data from an Indian handicraft cluster, this paper studies the conditions under which individuals who identify with their work prioritize financial rewards in their economic decisions. I argue that the…

In rural areas of resource-poor countries, basic access to health workers, medicines, and supplies is often stalled by the poor condition of health transportation. Social enterprise Riders for Health strengthens African health supply chains by…

The U.S. is one of the few countries in the world that delivers its food assistance mainly via transoceanic shipments of commodity-based in-kind food. This approach is more costly and less timely than cash-based assistance, which…