Author: EconLearner

Larger scientific groups have become much more common over the past 50 years. And these larger groups outperform smaller ones, producing research that is more cited by other scholars. That was the key finding of a 2007 paper from the Kellogg School’s Brian Uzziprofessor of management and organizations, and Benjamin Jonesstrategy teacher.Now researchers are not only looking at the size of a group but also its composition. In new research, Uzzi and Jones found that the gender mix in teams matters. Mixed-gender teams produce more novel and effective scientific research than all-male or all-female teams, according to the paper, which…

Transparency requirements are often put in place to ensure that decision makers are following the rules. After all, sunlight is the best disinfectant, right? That’s one reason many boards keep a record of meeting minutes, managers exhaustively document hiring processes, and marketers are required to communicate on monitored platforms.But a new study shows that these kinds of measures may not always be very effective. Nemania Anditsassistant professor of managerial economics and decision science at Kellogg, and his colleagues find that it is often possible for people to share enough information during discussions to have the desired outcome while still maintaining…

The end of 2022 has not been kind to the crypto space. The melting of the FTX exchange, along with the high-profile collapses of many currencies, have caused many investors to think twice about their positions in the sphere.FTX, the third largest of the centralized exchanges where people go to trade all kinds of cryptocurrencies, recently filed for bankruptcy. The fall expected to be widespread. Kellogg Insight caught up Sarit Markovicclinical professor of strategy and fintech expert, to discuss what happened, what we can learn from it and where the industry can go next.This conversation has been edited for length…

They used Tu Vi, an ancient belief system in Vietnam with Taoist roots stretching back to at least 16th century China. Tu Vi offers individuals and couples predictions about future events—such as marriages, births, deaths, business prospects, and travels. These are based on a person’s birth time and moon year of birth in the 12-year zodiac.Tu Vi’s popularity in Vietnam has ebbed and flowed throughout the 20th century and regained widespread popularity in the last 30 years. But little is known about whether these kinds of religious belief systems, which are independent of any institution or doctrine, influence people’s behavior.Specifically,…

“It was obvious in March that the war was a colossal mistake—and that there were voices warning of the great dangers and difficulties of the invasion,” says Georgy Egorov, professor of managerial economics and decision sciences at the Kellogg School. “At the end of the day, the decision-making process boiled down to a few people close to Putin who acted like yes.”In the long view of history, this failure to seek wise counsel is more the rule than the exception. From Emperor Nicholas II’s decision to enter World War I to Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, authoritarian leaders have a…

Fortunately for them, market dynamics will soon turn in their favor.Today, Baby Boomers earn far more than their younger counterparts—which is to be expected, since older workers generally earn more on average.What is surprising, however, is that the wage gap between older and younger workers is wider than when Boomers entered the workforce. In fact, the gap between workers over 55 and under 35 grew by 61 percent in the United States between 1979 and 2018.So why didn’t Baby Boomers see their wages stay low throughout their careers? That is, with Boomers being such a large group, why didn’t they…

As has been well documented, because these models are calibrated to generate original content, inaccurate results are inevitable — even expected. So these tools also make it much easier to manufacture and spread disinformation online. The speed of these advances has some very knowledgeable people nervous. In a recent I open a letterTech experts including Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak have called for a six-month pause in AI development, asking:must are we letting the machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth?’ No matter how fast these AI systems progress, we’ll have to get used to a lot of…

One way scientists measure this is by showing that a particular study is repeatable, meaning that if the study is run repeatedly using the same methodologies, it will produce consistent results each time.However, for a variety of complex reasons, when tested, studies often fail to be replicated. Indeed, a 2016 poll of 1,500 scientists showed that the majority believe that science is going through a “reproducibility crisis”, where many published results cannot be reproduced. Replication failure is estimated to be the source of the over $20 billion in losses across science and industry every year.“That which makes science science it’s…

This practice has grown in popularity, with companies such as Bomba’s, Tom’s and Warby Parker making charitable donations, in cash or in kind, on behalf of consumers. Giving by Proxy is even expanding outside of the retail context, with some companies beginning to use the promise of a charitable gift as an incentive for strong employee performance.What is not known, however, is how this practice affects consumer behavior afterwards. Does an experience with proxy giving make people more or less likely to be charitable themselves? Any change could have a big impact on the net social impact of these initiatives.When…

Performance reviews are incredibly important for addressing performance issues, rewarding excellence and encouraging everyone to give their best effort. But leaders face a common conundrum: Should they compare their team members relative to each other or evaluate everyone independently? Each option—relative (or stacked) and absolute performance metrics—has its advantages in measuring results and improving performance. Each also has some significant drawbacks.When considering which option might be the best motivator for your team, you’ll want to distinguish between two levels of motivation, he says George Georgiadis, associate professor of strategy at the Kellogg School. The first is the degree of motivation:…