Publications

Project Sammaan aimed to address the critical issue of open defecation in urban slums. The project leadership decided to pilot community toilets in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, India to gain information about further diffusing interesting approaches to the problem. Launched in April 2012, the project brought together a diverse team of designers, architects, and social researchers to create innovative, scalable solutions for sanitation issues. Despite these collaborative efforts, the project encountered numerous setbacks, including delays in approval and misunderstandings among partners. These issues raised several critical questions for Project Sammaan's future. Leadership had to contemplate whether additional funding was necessary and how it should be allocated. Additionally, there was a need to reassess the management structure and redefine research objectives to ensure alignment with achievable goals.

We test the hypothesis that, when thinking about allocating money to a stock, investors mentally represent the stock by the distribution of its past returns and then evaluate this distribution in the way described by prospect theory. In a simple model of asset prices where some investors think in this way, a stock whose past return distribution has a high (low) prospect theory value earns a low (high) subsequent return, on average. We find empirical support for this prediction in the cross-section of U.S. stock returns, particularly among small-capitalization stocks where less sophisticated investors are likely to have a bigger impact on prices. We repeat our tests in 46 international stock markets and find a similar pattern in a majority of these markets.

Team Detroit emerged in 2006 as a novel collaborative entity formed by WPP to serve Ford, addressing the need for cohesive marketing amid the challenging automotive landscape. This integration of personnel from five agencies posed significant hurdles, as each agency brought distinct cultures and practices that had to be reconciled. The success of Team Detroit was immensely influenced by Ford's pressing need to rejuvenate its brand image and streamline operations under new leadership.

Ford, struggling with its reputation, enlisted Team Detroit to engage a younger demographic through innovative marketing strategies, particularly via digital platforms and social media. This adaptive approach fostered a collaborative spirit, enabling nimble resource allocation for maximum impact. However, as Team Detroit expanded its mandate to oversee global marketing, it faced the complexity of creating a unified brand identity across diverse markets while leveraging efficiency and creativity.

In The Collapse, prize-winning historian Mary Elise Sarotte reveals how a perfect storm of decisions made by daring underground revolutionaries, disgruntled Stasi officers, and dictatorial party bosses sparked an unexpected series of events culminating in the chaotic fall of the Wall. With a novelist's eye for character and detail, she brings to vivid life a story that sweeps across Budapest, Prague, Dresden, and Leipzig and up to the armed checkpoints in Berlin.

We meet the revolutionaries Roland Jahn, Aram Radomski, and Siggi Schefke, risking it all to smuggle the truth across the Iron Curtain; the hapless Politburo member Günter Schabowski, mistakenly suggesting that the Wall is open to a press conference full of foreign journalists, including NBC's Tom Brokaw; and Stasi officer Harald Jäger, holding the fort at the crucial border crossing that night. Soon, Brokaw starts broadcasting live from Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, where the crowds are exulting in the euphoria of newfound freedom—and the dictators are plotting to restore control.

Drawing on new archival sources and dozens of interviews, The Collapse offers the definitive account of the night that brought down the Berlin Wall.