Publications

The SELCO Foundation, established by Harish Hande in 2010, focuses on providing decentralized renewable energy (DRE) solutions to rural, impoverished communities, emphasizing a user-centered, ecosystem-based approach. The Foundation aims to integrate sustainable energy solutions within the daily lives and activities of users through comprehensive support structures, involving technical, financial, and community partnerships.

SELCO's methodology is characterized by a design-thinking approach that considers the entire ecosystem surrounding the end-user. This involves understanding user needs, developing customized devices, securing appropriate financing, and ensuring maintenance and support through local networks. The Foundation works closely with rural households, small technical enterprises, financial institutions, and community organizations to pilot and scale interventions, creating what Hande terms "Lego Blocks" of innovation that can be adapted by other development organizations globally.

Despite its innovative model, the SELCO Foundation faces several challenges in diffusing its approach to other organizations. One significant challenge is the fragmented and often outdated support ecosystems in under-developed regions, such as India’s Northeast. Often, SELCO must incubate new support organizations rather than merely aligning existing ones, complicating project scopes, especially in regions lacking the necessary ecosystem components entirely.

Cultural and geographical specificity presents another difficulty, requiring tailored interventions unique to each region. What works in one area may not be directly replicable elsewhere, complicating diffusion efforts. Financially, other organizations may find that securing patient, long-term funding to support iterative, ecosystem-building approach is difficult, as traditional funders often prioritize immediate results.

he proliferation of harmful content and misinformation on social networks necessitates content moderation policies to maintain platform health. One such policy is shadow banning, which limits content visibility. The danger of shadow banning is that it can be misused by social media platforms to manipulate opinions. Here we present an optimization based approach to shadow banning that can shape opinions into a desired distribution and scale to large networks. Simulations on real network topologies show that our shadow banning policies can shift opinions and increase or decrease opinion polarization. We find that if one shadow bans with the aim of shifting opinions in a certain direction, the resulting shadow banning policy can appear neutral. This shows the potential for social media platforms to misuse shadow banning without being detected. Our results demonstrate the power and danger of shadow banning for opinion manipulation in social networks.

Even if a model is not globally sparse, it is possible for decisions made from that model to be accurately and faithfully described by a small number of features. For instance, an application for a large loan might be denied to someone because they have no credit history, which overwhelms any evidence towards their creditworthiness. In this work, we introduce the Sparse Explanation Value (SEV), a new way of measuring sparsity in machine learning models. In the loan denial example above, the SEV is 1 because only one factor is needed to explain why the loan was denied. SEV is a measure of decision sparsity rather than overall model sparsity, and we are able to show that many machine learning models -- even if they are not sparse -- actually have low decision sparsity, as measured by SEV. SEV is defined using movements over a hypercube, allowing SEV to be defined consistently over various model classes, with movement restrictions reflecting real-world constraints. We proposed the algorithms that reduce SEV without sacrificing accuracy, providing sparse and completely faithful explanations, even without globally sparse models.

This paper studies access to services across geographical regions, using both theoretical and empirical analyses. We model and examine the effects of economies of density in ridesharing markets. Our model predicts that (i) economies of density skew access to rideshareing service away from less dense regions, (ii) the skew will be more pronounced for smaller platforms (i.e., "thinner markets"), and (iii) rideshare platforms do not find this skew efficient and thus use prices and wages to mitigate (but not eliminate) it. We show that these insights are robust to whether the source of economies of density is the supply-side or the demand-side. We then calibrate our model using ride-level Uber data from New York City. We devise an identification strategy based on relative flows of rides among regions which allows us to infer unobsrevable potential demand in different boroughs. We use the model to simulate counterfactual scenarios providing insights on platform optimal pricing with and without spatial price discrimination, the role of market thickness, the impact of prices/wages on access to rides, and the effects of minimum-wage regulations on access equity across regions.

This paper argues that firms proactively use innovation decisions to influence the mobility and human capital accumulation of their workers. We develop a dynamic model in which workers conduct R&D projects, accumulating both general and firm-specific human capital. Firms choose the scope of innovation, influencing the type of human capital workers accumulate during the process. Pursuing more general innovation leads to increased knowledge redeployability for the firm at the cost of more difficult employee retention. We estimate the model using granular innovation production and mobility data of three million inventors. Our model closely matches the observed mobility and innovation specificity over inventors' life cycles. Empirical estimates of the model parameters imply that 24% of observed innovation specificity among U.S. firms is driven by their labor market considerations, which enhances the firm value but lowers the inventors' surplus.

We use data on stock portfolios of Norwegian households to show that stock market wealth increases entrepreneurship by relaxing financial constraints. Our research design isolates idiosyncratic variation in household-level stock market returns. An increase in stock market wealth increases the propensity to start a firm, with the response concentrated in households with moderate levels of financial wealth, for whom a 20 percent increase in wealth due to a positive stock return increases the likelihood to start a firm by about 20%, and in years when the aggregate stock market return in Norway is high. We develop a method to study the effect of wealth on firm outcomes that corrects for the bias introduced by selection into entrepreneurship. Higher wealth causally increases firm profitability, an indication that it relaxes would-be entrepreneurs’ financial constraints. Consistent with this interpretation, the pass-through from stock wealth into equity in the new firm is one-for-one.

This paper surveys 19 case studies of bank resolutions and restructurings across 15 Key Design Decisions. It focuses on interventions that occurred in Europe both in the years leading up to the adoption of the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) in 2014 (when many jurisdictions were constrained by a lack of legal authority) and in the years after the BRRD was in place. The main themes that emerge are: (a) the need for resolution and restructuring to eliminate uncertainty about an institution’s solvency by closing it, recapitalizing it, or merging it with a healthier institution; (b) the importance of effective valuation in achieving this result; (c) the necessity of clarity in the treatment of creditors; and (d) the value of a credible bail-in tool to incentivize creditors to agree to solutions outside of resolution.

More than forty years later, the five-forces model (Porter, 1980) remains one of the most influential frameworks for formulating strategy. Yet there is a hole in the model, namely, the force of complements. Porter (2008) has advocated against including complements as a force. He argues that the effect of complements fails a test of monotonicity and must be understood via the existing five forces. However, this monotonicity test conflates the positive direct impact of comple- ments with the ambiguous effect complements have on the other forces. Also, the structure of the complements industry can have a direct effect on industry profits, with no impact on the five forces. Because complements have traditionally been neglected, strategy towards them is under-developed relative to strategy built on the other five forces. We provide strategic insights that come from giving equal billing to complements. Starting from Porter's checklist for substitutes and its associated strategies, we create an analogous checklist for complements. Since complements are a symmetric counterpart to substitutes, up to a sign change, the associated strategies are symmetric in the same fashion. Including complements as a sixth force makes the five-forces framework more logically complete and more valuable.

This paper studies the impact of career concerns on technological change by analyzing the adoption of digital cinematography in the US motion picture industry. This setting allows us to collect rich data on the adoption of this new technology at the project-level (i.e., movie) as well as on the career of the main decision maker (i.e., director). We find that early career directors played a leading role in the adoption of digital technology and that this effect appears to be explained by career concerns, rather than alternative motives we consider and analyze. Technological savviness also plays a role.

Evaluations play a critical role in the allocation of resources and opportunities.
Although evaluation systems are a cornerstone of organizational and market
processes, they often reinforce social and economic inequalities. The body of
organizational research on inequality and evaluations is extensive, but it is also
fragmented, siloed within specific contexts and types of evaluations (e.g., hiring,
performance). As a result, we currently lack a systemic understanding of the
conditions under which inequalities emerge. This paper provides a unifying
framework to identify how gender and racial inequality is produced and reproduced in
evaluations across professional contexts (e.g., digital platforms, entrepreneurship,
traditional employment). Our framework categorizes the drivers of inequality into
three main areas: prevailing beliefs in evaluative contexts, the design and structure of
evaluation processes, and the characteristics of evaluators. Our approach not only
sheds light on the common processes that exacerbate inequality but also underscores
why an integrative framework is critical for both theoretical advancement and
enacting effective reforms.

Large Language Models (LLMs) are reshaping consumer decision-making, particularly in communication
with firms, yet our understanding of their impact remains limited. This research explores the effect of
LLMs on consumer complaints submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from 2015
to 2024, documenting the adoption of LLMs for drafting complaints and evaluating the likelihood of
obtaining relief from financial firms. Utilizing a leading AI detection tool, we analyzed over 1 million
complaints and identified a significant increase in LLM usage following the release of ChatGPT. We
establish a causal relationship between LLM usage and an increased likelihood of obtaining relief
by employing instrumental variables to address endogeneity in LLM adoption. Experimental data
further support this link, demonstrating that LLMs enhance the clarity and persuasiveness of consumer
narratives. Our findings suggest that facilitating access to LLMs can help firms better understand
consumer concerns and level the playing field among consumers. This underscores the importance of
policies promoting technological accessibility, enabling all consumers to effectively voice their concerns.

The same belief can be alternatively thought of as rational, careful, unfortunate, or an act of faith. These beliefs about one’s
beliefs are called “metacognitive positions.” I review evidence that people hold at least four different metacognitive positions.
For each position, I discuss what kinds of cognitive processes generated belief and what role people’s values and preferences
played in belief formation. We can learn a lot about someone’s belief based on how they relate to that belief. Learning how
someone relates to their belief is useful for identifying the best ways to try to change their mind.

Business users are needed to help create useful interfaces, while useful interfaces are needed to justify investment and entry by business users.

I evaluate the effect of financial statement audits on the governance practices of nonprofit organizations. Using a regression discontinuity design that exploits revenue-based exemption thresholds, I find that financial audits cause organizations to implement governance mechanisms, such as conflict of interest policies, whistleblower policies, and formal approval of the CEO’s compensation by a committee. Consistent with these governance practices curtailing managers’ private benefits, I document reductions in nepotism and CEO-to-employee pay ratio. The results are more pronounced for organizations (1) whose audit is overseen by an audit committee, (2) that already have an independent board, and (3) that face high charity-level demand for oversight. Collectively, these findings shed light on how financial audits shape the governance practices of small, less sophisticated organizations like nonprofits in ways that go beyond financial statements’ direct use in decision-making and contracting.

How to handle the ethical challenges raised by entrepreneurship education amid its explosive growth in colleges—from the perspective of an educator, administrator, investor, inventor, and former student entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship is now everywhere on college campuses: from classes and contests to accelerators and incubators spread across diverse departments and programs. These activities cultivate tomorrow's Facebooks and Googles but can also put profit in conflict with pedagogy. Should faculty keep information about student start-ups confidential? Should universities, or educators personally, invest in student start-ups? Should educators adjudicate disputes between student founders? In The Ethics of Entrepreneurship Education, Kyle Jensen addresses these questions and many others.

This book fills a significant hole in the literature and helps readers think through the everyday ethical problems that arise in campus entrepreneurship. Jensen draws on economics literature, normative ethics, the wisdom of antiquity, and stories from his own wide-ranging experience to guide the discussion, while mixing in a good deal of wit and levity. It is an invaluable resource for all those involved in campus entrepreneurship, from university educators and administrators to students, mentors, investors, donors, and alumni.

Asset owners will play a foundational role in how the financial system will respond to the immediate and long-term physical, transition, legal, and other risks and opportunities emerging from global climate change. We investigated how asset owners incorporated climate change in their investments using a process framework of organizational change. We conducted more than 50 interviews with asset owners with over $750B assets under management, and their stakeholders, including beneficiaries, lawyers, consultants, and asset managers. These asset owners included retail investors, high-net-worth family offices, pensions, foundations, endowments, trusts, and corporations. Interviewees discussed their investment strategies related to climate change, including mitigation, adaptation, profit, philanthropic finance, risks, and opportunities. We found that legal stakeholders sometimes drove conversations, that trustees gradually matured in their fiduciary identities, and that staff struggled to operationalize investment mandates. We summarize proposed interventions that will help asset owners better serve their commitments.

Researchers and economic research were essential to the success of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. For example, researchers submitted testimony, briefed commissioners, and spoke with our staff in recorded interviews. They also provided access to key data sources and helped us use them. Although we started our investigation barely one year after the height of the crisis, there was already a strong core of early, empirical research grappling with many of our key questions, such as why investors ran certain markets, why incentive problems pervaded securitization markets, and why risk management failed at so many large companies. We also benefited from the wealth of research exploring developments in financial markets leading up to the crisis. The process to build the research staff on a tight deadline was chaotic, and we needed people willing to work long hours, work on a team, and follow the evidence wherever it took us.