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Yale School of Management

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Yale School of Management 135 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT, 06520-8200
United States
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Demographic Information

Number of full-time MBA students (2011): 

216

Number of part-time MBA students (2011): 

0

Total duration of full-time MBA program: 

21 months

MBA faculty (Fall 2010): 

119

Females as percent of student body: 

34%
Who Are the Students? See what percentage of the 2010-2011 graduating class came to this MBA program from the private sector, the non-profit sector and government jobs
 
Private Sector (76%)
 
Non-profit (16%)
 
Government (8%)


Description of MBA Program: 

The mission of the Yale School of Management is to educate leaders for business and society. Throughout its history, Yale SOM has been known for its social and environmental commitments and its focus on ethical leadership.

 

Social, environmental, and ethical considerations are included in the overwhelming majority of courses in SOM’s innovative integrated MBA curriculum. In core classes, students have created proposals for redeveloping Governors Island near Manhattan, analyzed South Africa’s Black Economic Empowerment program, and studied General Electric’s Ecomagination initiative. Advanced electives, both at SOM and elsewhere at Yale, allow in-depth study of social and environmental topics. A student-managed elective on Global Social Enterprise pairs student consulting teams with nonprofit organizations in the developing world. The Global Social Entrepreneurship elective facilitates education and interaction between social entrepreneurs and SOM students both at Yale and in the entrepreneurs’ home countries.

 

Social and environmental scholarship is a hallmark of Yale SOM. Our faculty includes world-renowned experts in fields such as nonprofit management, development economics and microfinance, and environmental management. The school has also pioneered new multimedia “raw” cases, many of which include social and environmental considerations. SOM has created such cases for use by the Aspen Institute Center for Business Education’s Business Leadership Case Competition in 2008 and 2011. Yale SOM also partnered with the Aspen Institute in developing the “Giving Voice to Values” curriculum. Recent guest speakers at the school include Robin Chase, founder of ZipCar; Ezekiel Emanuel, former special health advisor to the director of the Office and Management and Budget; and Alex Counts, president and CEO of the Grameen Foundation.

 

The school’s Program on Social Enterprise supports scholars, students, alumni, and practitioners interested in exploring the ways in which business skills can be harnessed to achieve social objectives, facilitating work on nonprofit and public sector social entrepreneurship as well as initiatives in private sector social enterprise, including courses, research, publications and working with SOM students to sponsor conferences. The school’s Center for Business and the Environment at Yale, a partnership with the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, provides a focal point for research, education, and outreach to advance business solutions to global environmental problems. The Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance aims to be the leading research, teaching, and policy center for effective corporate governance, focusing on issues of corporate and shareholder accountability.

 

Students also pursue social aims through extracurricular and professional activities. Through SOM Outreach, students consult pro bono for nonprofit, public, and private organizations in the New Haven community. Yale SOM’s NetImpact Chapter is consistently one of the most active in the country. Every year, students plan, organize, and run conferences that promote discussion and action around social, ethical, and environmental themes. Three of the largest annual conferences at the school, each drawing hundreds of participants, are the Healthcare, Philanthropy, and Education conferences.

 

SOM provides unsurpassed resources for students and graduates pursuing careers in socially beneficial fields. The SOM Internship Fund unites the community in financial support for students who take summer internships with nonprofit organizations. In 1986, the school pioneered its Loan Forgiveness Program for graduates pursuing public or nonprofit careers, a model subsequently adopted by many business schools across the country.



How does the MBA program 'walk the talk' of social and environmental impact?: 

In spring 2010, students led the Yale SOM Sustainability Project, an initiative to reduce the consumption of resources and the waste produced at the school. The project, which included sifting through the contents of dumpsters to survey how much waste is thrown out at SOM, was undertaken as a for-credit independent study class with support by a grant from the Rocky Mountain Institute to the Yale Office of Sustainability. The project helped launch a school-wide program to address improved practices in four areas - energy, transportation, procurement, and waste – and, in January 2011, SOM was awarded Yale University’s highest certification level for developing green practices in the workplace.



Since 1986, the school has underscored its mission of educating leaders for business and society by providing support to qualified alumni working in the public or nonprofit sectors through a generous educational loan forgiveness program. The first program of its kind, it has provided a model for similar programs at business schools around the country since its establishment. Beginning with the Class of 2009, the program expanded to include qualified graduates who work in L3C organizations and certified B Corporations.



The Center for Business and the Environment supports student and faculty efforts to start environmentally oriented for-profit businesses with cash prizes totaling $25,000 awarded through the Sabin Environmental Venture Prize. The Sabin prize has been awarded annually since 2009 to the best Yale student and/or faculty ideas for a product, service, project, or program that advances a more environmentally sustainable way of life.



Yale SOM’s new 4.25 acre campus designed by Foster + Partners is currently under construction, slated to open in 2013. The new campus will incorporate the latest in “green construction” materials and practices. The school will pursue LEED certification for the new building.



The school prints all of it publications on at least 30% post-consumer waste recycled paper. The school’s magazine, Qn, is mailed in a corrugated cardboard mailer that is fully recyclable and made with 70% post-consumer waste recycled paper, and the greenhouse gas emission associated with its printing are offset through the purchase of renewable energy certificates.

Academic Department

Course Name: Advanced Financial Statement Analysis
Instructor: Thomas, Jake

This course builds on the concepts and tools developed in MGT 812 and values firms with more complex financial and accounting situations than those discussed in MGT 812. Both lectures and cases will be used to develop this material. One session explicitly relates to environmental and social issues, and involves the valuation of a firm that produces ethanol that can be blended with gasoline to reduce petroleum extraction and refining. The case involves discussion of government policy (specifically, tax benefits to the firm and its investors) and the firm's overall impact on the environment and society.

Course Name: Advanced Industrial Ecology Seminar: Business Strategy and Industrial Ecology
Instructor: Chertow, Marian

Industrial ecology pays resolute attention to flows of materials, water, and energy through systems at different scales: from the product level, to the facility level, to the inter-firm level, to regions and, indeed, globally. Industrial companies are heavy users of material and energy resources such that much of their economic success is tied to efficient and effective resource availability and use. Questions of industrial ecology therefore enter the realm of business strategy that will be explored during the semester. Specific topics of discussion include recycling, biofuel and biodiesel use for transportation, industrial symbiosis, industrial ecology in developing economies, environmental technology innovation, environmental regulation related to industrial ecology, life cycle management, supply stability, and material flows.

Course Name: African Data Analysis Project
Instructor: Levinsohn, James

A course on using data to inform policy making in developing countries. The end-product of the course will be a two week workshop, co-taught by SOM students, for about 90 workshop participants from around southern Africa. The workshop will be held in January at the University of Cape Town. Workshop participants include government officials, NGO staff, and students and faculty from UCT as well as from the traditionally disadvantaged universities around South Africa. The course is structured so that the fall semester is taught by Prof. James Levinsohn, That course will prepare students to then teach a concentrated version of the same material in Cape Town. Admitted students will have expenses for the trip paid by SOM. Professor James Levinsohn is the Charles W. Goodyear Professor in Global Affairs, Professor of Economics and Management, & Director of the Jackson Institute. Established in April 2009, the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs administers Yale's International Relations Master's program and International Studies undergraduate major. The institute aims to inspire students to pursue careers in diplomacy and public service.

Course Name: Basics of Accounting
Instructor: Kolev, Kalin, Garstka, Stan

Accounting systems provide important financial information for all types of organizations across the globe. Despite their many differences, all accounting systems are built on a common foundation. Economic concepts, such as assets, liabilities, and income, are used to organize information into a fairly standard set of financial statements. In addition to the fundamentals of accounting, the course provides discussion of the ethical context of accounting decisions as well as how accounting measures the societal value of an organization. Social, ethical, and environmental management topics include mark-to-market accounting; financial disclosures related to sustainability, using Starbucks as an example; issues and problems measuring performance through accounting and reporting practices. Discussions routinely raised by students include fraud and environmental responsibility sourced from current events.

Course Name: Basics of Economics
Instructor: Oster, Sharon, Chen, Keith

The Economics Course concentrates on the role of market processes in determining the opportunities facing individuals and business firms, the policy issues facing public officials (i.e. sugar taxation), and the patterns of resource allocation in the economic system. Topics include supply and demand, consumers, production, equilibrium, imperfect competition, competitive strategy. Students identify social and environmental management issues woven into this course to include when markets fail, tax policy (tarriffs and excise taxes affecting the public sector), environmental policy, and non-profit management topics. Lectures and readings discuss utility theory, anti-trust, socially responsible pricing, pricing in the nonprofit sector (price discrimination), and market externalities.

Course Name: Behavioral and Institutional Economics
Instructor: Shiller, Robert

Behavioral economics incorporates insights from other social sciences, such as psychology and sociology, into economic models, and attempts to explain anomalies that defy standard economic analysis. Institutional economics is the study of the evolution of economic organizations, laws, contracts, and customs as part of the historical and continuing process of economic development. Behavioral economics and institutional economics are naturally treated together, since so much of the logic and design of economic institutions has to do with complexities of human behavior. Topics include economic fluctuations and speculation, herd behavior, attitudes towards risk, money illusion, involuntary unemployment, saving, investment, poverty, identity, religion, trust, risk management, weather insurance, and social welfare institutions.

Course Name: Behavioral Perspectives on Management
Instructor: Simmons, Joseph

Good managerial decision making requires both (1) the ability to predict how others (consumers, employees, competitors, beneficiaries) will decide and behave, and (2) an appreciation of one’s own biases, shortcomings, and behavioral tendencies. Toward this aim, behavioral researchers in psychology, marketing, economics, finance, organizational behavior, and political science have studied how people actually make decisions and how they actually behave in real-world contexts. This research has revealed how people are surprisingly limited in their rationality, their willpower, and their self-interest. Indeed, people are more prone to bias, myopia, and charity than rational models – and most managers – assume, and this fact has profound implications for managerial and public policy making. In this course, students will gain a realistic understanding of human behavior, and learn to apply this understanding to make better managerial and policy decisions. Readings include "Why Good Accountants Do Bad Audits," "Are Future Lives Valued Less?", and "What the Non-Profits Are Teaching Business." Student papers and discussion often apply the topics of the course to fields including education, healthcare, and environmental conservation (e.g. energy efficiency).

Course Name: Business Ethics Meets Behavioral Economics
Instructor: Cain, Daylian

Formerly known as “Leadership & Values,” this half-semester class peers into the (un)ethical brain, mixing behavioral economics, philosophy, and social psychology to examine our (personal and corporate) obligations to society. This class uses several lenses to looks critically at leaders’ obligations to society, both as wealthy individuals and as managers of publicly traded firms (e.g., should firms value anything other than maximizing profits?). And, in examining how people fail by their own normative standards of responsibility, we discuss the psychological traps that lead good people to do bad things, such as overconfidence, self-deception, motivated reasoning, and conflicts of interest.

Course Name: Business of Not-for-Profit Management
Instructor: Lublin, Nancy

This course is a general introduction to not for profit management, with heavy emphasis on practical application. How do not for profit organizations actually function? How do they attract “customers?” How do these companies grow when there are no owners with financial incentives to grow the business? What are the core elements of a “good” not for profit company? What are the metrics for determining the health of a company without profit? And, why would anybody work for such a crazy place? The assumption of this course is that students are interested in careers, internships, and/or board positions at not for profit companies. Students will be exposed to theory and criticism of the sector as well as real-world application via case studies and occasional guest speakers. In addition to class work, students will have to work in study groups once a week. The course materials will be a combination of HBS case studies, books, actual organizational materials and IRS filings.

Course Name: Capital Markets
Instructor: Gorton, Gary

Capital Markets is a course covering a range of topics, including the design, pricing, and trading of corporate bonds, structured notes, hybrid securities, credit derivatives, and structured products, such as asset-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations. This course aims to provide a set of tools, concepts, and ideas that will serve students over the course of a career. Basic tools such as fixed income mathematics, swaps and options are studied and used to address security design, trading, and pricing questions. Topics are approached from different angles: conceptual and technical theory, cases, documents (e.g., bond prospectuses, consent solicitations), and current events. Students should have taken introductory finance and have some knowledge of basic statistics (e.g., regression analysis, conditional probability), basic mathematics (e.g., algebra, matrix algebra); working knowledge of a spreadsheet package is helpful. The teaching of the financial crisis is socially important, and ethical implications of bankers' actions in light of the recent financial crisis is mentioned. Students are to make their own moral judgments.

Pages

Type of Offering

Global Social Venture Competition
Type: Case Competition
Date: April, 2011

The Global Social Venture Competition is the largest and oldest student-led business plan competition providing mentoring, exposure, and prizes for social ventures from around the world. The mission of the GSVC is to catalyze the creation of social ventures, educate future leaders and build awareness of social enterprises. The competition supports the creation of real businesses that bring about positive social change in a sustainable manner. Yale SOM joined the GSVC partnership in 2007, and is sponsored by the Program on Social Enterprise, which supports scholars, students, and alumni interested in the connections between society and business, and Net Impact. Activities surrounding the competition offer an excellent opportunity to engage the Yale SOM community in educational outreach and to promote social entrepreneurship. Each year, entrant teams from around the world compete for over $45,000 while gaining valuable professional feedback on their ventures. Since its inception in 1999, the GSVC has awarded more than a quarter of a million dollars to emerging social ventures and has introduced early-stage social venture entrepreneurs to the investment community. Nearly 25% of past GSVC entrants are now operating companies.

The Long Death of Environmentalism
Date: January, 2011

A conversation with Michael Shellenberger & Ted Nordhaus, authors of "Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility," reflecting on where the environmental movement stands today. Ted Nordhaus & Michael Shellenberger are cofounders of the Breakthrough Institute, a political think tank based in Oakland, California that works at the nexus of climate, energy, and economic policy. This event is hosted by the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and the Energy Student Interest Group.

WIM First Monday
Date: September, 2010

Women in Management Club (WIM) works to support the development of female leaders, cultivate a diverse community of women, and advance the dialogue about women in business and society. First Mondays is WIM’s monthly speaker series. WIM invites guests from a variety of backgrounds to discuss their professional path and experiences with SOM students in an open, relaxed environment. Though they feature women who hold leadership roles within their industries, First Mondays are relevant and open to the entire SOM community. Select speakers include:

Gina McCarthy, Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. Gina McCarthy has been a leading advocate for win-win strategies to confront climate change and strengthen our green economy. During her tenure, OAR has taken important steps to limiting greenhouse gas emissions, including the Endangerment Finding, the Mandatory Reporting Rule, the first tailpipe greenhouse gas emission standard for passenger vehicles, and the Prevention of Significant Deterioration Tailoring Rule. These rules are common sense ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect public health and the environment.

Nancy Pfund, '82, Managing Partner of DBL Investors – A Double-Bottom Line Venture Capital Firm

Nancy Pfund, SOM ’82 is Managing Partner of the double-bottom line venture capital firm, DBL Investors based in San Francisco. Nancy has extensive experience investing in a variety of industries especially clean technology, some of DBL Investors’ portfolio companies are SolarCity, Brightsource Energy, Tesla Motors and Pandora.

Robin Chase is the founder and former CEO of Zipcar, the largest car-sharing company in the world. Zipcar’s use of the Internet and wireless technology gave its members on-demand access to cars by-the-hour, revolutionizing people’s relationship with their cars and improving the quality of urban life for all. Ms. Chase is also the founder and CEO of GoLoco, an online ridesharing community. GoLoco helps people quickly arrange to share car trips and handles online payments for passengers and drivers to share trip costs. Ms. Chase also currently leads Meadow Networks, a consulting firm that advises government agencies and NGOs on transportation and planning and its impacts on innovation and economic development. This event co-sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Club.

Marjorie Margolies: Leadership Across Sectors

Marjorie is currently the President of Women’s Campaign International, an NGO dedicated to increasing the participation of women in decision-making processes throughout the world, and a professor at the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania. Early in her career, she was a journalist with NBC in New York and Washington, DC, as well as a Correspondent to the Today Show, Sunday Today, A Closer Look, CNBC, and Real Life with Jane Pauley. She won five Emmy Awards for her reporting. In 1992, Marjorie was elected to the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania’s 13th district and during her term she served on the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Committee on Small Business, and the Committee on Government Operations. She was the Director of the United States delegation to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China and the author of A Woman’s Place…The Freshmen Women Who Changed the Face of Congress and They Came to Stay, chronicling her experiences adopting foreign children.

Muna Sulayaman, Executive Director, HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Kingdom Foundation

Muna AbuSulayman is a well-known television personality, having co-hosted for seven years the popular MBC show Kalam Nawaem. The show, number one among social programs on all Arab channels, focuses on cultural, social, and gender issues and has a worldwide viewing audience. Since 2006, AbuSulayman has directed the Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation, in which she focuses on women’s empowerment, East-West cross-civilization programs, and strengthening educational institutions in the Middle East. She is also a lecturer in American Literature at King Saud University and a Yale World Fellow.

Dr. Allison Kingsley, “Getting Your Dream Job: An Iterated Game”

Allison Kingsley, Ph.D. is Director of Underwriting and Head of Research at Reformation Group Holdings, an asset management and financial insurance firm that specializes in infrastructure and energy transactions in emerging markets. She also teaches in Yale’s Department of Political Science and International Affairs Council. Previously, Dr. Kingsley worked at Ambac in both the Emerging Markets and Public & Project Finance groups and started her career as an Associate at Lehman Brothers in the Global Mergers & Acquisitions group.

Yale Governance Forum
Date: June, 2011

The Yale Governance Forum theme for 2011 is "Governance Fit for the Long Term." We are planning speakers and panels who can contribute to the growing international debate over whether boards, investors and executives can move corporations to succeed over time, not just quarter to quarter. That question is expected to help shape how law, regulation and practice evolve worldwide in the wake of the financial crisis. The theme of the 2010 Yale Governance Forum was all about how public and private sector players are having to reset their thinking and learn to live with a new era in corporate governance.

The Yale Governance Forum is one of a handful of events considered a 'must attend.' The event is attended by approximately 200 leading institutional investors, corporate directors and executives, regulators, academics, corporate governance advisors, rating agencies, executive search firms and other experts around the world comprising the governance community. As always, the goal is to stimulate in-depth discussion and explore key issues in order to understand and influence policy and action. The Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance at the Yale School of Management sponsors research and discussions to explore how corporate governance can better enable the corporation to be competitive in its markets and to enhance society.

Environmental Economics Seminar
Date: September, 2009

The Center for Business & Environment organizes the Environmental Economics Seminar bringing academics together to discuss their current research projects. Professors, PhD and graduate students, and others from around the world meet weekly to present and debate leading research in the field of environmental economics, events include:

• Instrument Choice is Instrumental Design, David Weisbach, University of Chicago

• Firms' Costs (and Benefits) of Environmental Regulation: An Event Study of the EU Emission Trading Scheme, Erin Mansur, Yale University

• Does Competition Reduce Costs? Evidence from the Restructuring of the Chinese Power Sector, Juliana Wang, Yale University

• Do National Borders Matter? Intranational Trade, International Trade, and the Environment, Carol MacAusland, University of British Columbia

• Environmental Conditions and the Productivity of Agricultural Workers, Matt Neidell, Columbia University

• The Ancillary Benefits from Climate Policy in the United States, Nicholas Muller, Middlebury College

• Evidence from Two Large Field Experiments that Peer Comparison Feedback Can Reduce Residential Energy Usage, Ian Ayres, Yale University

• Emissions Control and the Regulation of Product Markets, Kathleen Segerson, University of Connecticut

• Recidivism, Enforcement, and Environmental Compliance, Jay Shimshack, Tulane University

• The Value of Secure Property Rights: Global Evidence from Fisheries, Christopher Costello, U.C. Santa Barbara

• Agriculture, Roads, and Economic Development in Uganda, Doug Gollin, Williams College

• Does Daylight Saving Time Save Energy? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Indiana, Matthew Kotchen, Yale University

• Climate Treaties, Scott Barrett, Columbia University

• Integrated Modeling and Optimization of Ecosystem Services, Seth Binder, Yale University

• Intergenerational and Intragenerational Equity in the Presence of Climate Change, John Roemer, Yale University

• The Value of Luminosity Data as a Proxy for Economic Statistics, William Nordhaus, Yale University

• The Economics of Climate Change: A Post-Stern Perspective, Geoff Heal, Columbia University

• GHG Targets as Insurance Against Catastrophic Climate Damages, Martin Weitzman, Harvard University

• The Economics of Green Buildings, Nils Kok, Maastricht University

• The Informational Benefits of Voluntary Emissions Regulation: Evidence from the Mexican Clean Industry Program, Andrew Foster, Brown University

• The Extreme Uncertainty of Extreme Climate Change: An Overview and Some Implications, Martin Weitzman, Harvard University

• Car Notches, James Sallee, University of Chicago

• Measuring the Impact of Climate Change on Damages from Extreme Events, Rob Mendelsohn, Yale University

• The Social Cost of Trading: Measuring the Increased Damages from Sulfur Dioxide Trading in the United States, David Henry, Yale University

• Development and the Impact of Climate Change on Energy Demand: Evidence from Brazil, Gil Depaula, Yale University

• Does Green Management Really Matter?, Andrew King, Dartmouth University

• Weather and Death in India: Mechanisms and Implications of Climate Change, Michael Greenstone, MIT

• A Global Economy: Climate Model with High Regional Resolution, Tony Smith, Yale University

Net Impact North America Conference
Date: October, 2010

2010 Net Impact North America Conference was hosted by the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan (October 2010) and the 2009 Net Impact North America Conference was hosted by the Johnson School at Cornell University (November 2009). Net Impact is a global organization that creates a network of leaders who use business to make positive changes in social, environmental, and economic arenas. Organizers estimated that more than 2,500 attended the conference both years. In both 2009 and 2010, Yale School of Management had the single largest contingent of any graduate school, particularly notable given SOM’s smaller class size compared to other schools.

Sabin Environmental Venture Prize Speaker Series
Date: October, 2009

The Center for Business & Environment organizes the Sabin Environmental Venture Prize Speaker Series, events include:

• Entrepreneurship at Yale: Alumni Leading the Way. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur at Yale, come and listen to your fellow alumni on the challenges of being an innovator and learn more about resources available for you at Yale University. Seth Goldman, Co-Founder and President of Honest Tea, and Tom Scaramellino, founder and CEO of Efficiency 2.0 present.

• Entrepreneurship in Sustainability - People Safe and Planet Safe with QCollection. Q Collection provides furnishings that are better for you, your home and our planet. Their products combine comfort, design and top quality construction with materials that reduce or eliminate risks to human health and the environment. The company was created in late 2002 by Anthony Cochran and Jesse Johnson. The concept grew out of a conversation on combining high-end, stylish design with the purest and most environmentally-friendly materials available.

• Entrepreneurship in Investments: Angel Investing with the Clean Energy Venture Group, Ralph Earle, Clean Energy Venture Group. Clean Energy Venture Group is an angel investment group that provides seed capital and management expertise to early stage clean energy companies. The group is comprised of seasoned operating executives with strong capabilities in the energy and environmental sectors. With each investment, they not only bring capital, but also the value of their experience and network to help companies achieve their goals. While their focus is in the Northeast United States, they have worked with companies throughout the country.

• Entrepreneurship in Agriculture: Nurturing and Investing in Companies that Make Agriculture More Sustainable. Janine Yorio, Managing Director of NewSeed Advisors, and Jessica Bloomgarden, Chief Marketing Officer of AeroFarms, present on advising and investing in companies that make agriculture more sustainable.

• Entrepreneurship in Energy: Save Money and Save the Planet One Community at a Time with Earth Markets. Kerry O'Neill (President and CEO) and Bryan Garcia (Chief Community Officer) of Earth Markets discuss the challenges of starting up a business focused on making it affordable to bring clean energy and energy efficiency technologies into the homes of a community.

• Professional Development Workshops: Maureen Burke, Professor of the Entrepreneurial Business Planning course, presents special professional development workshops to assist students and faculty with their applications for the Sabin Environmental Venture Prize. Session topics include:

• Completing a Market Assessment: assessing the market for products, services, projects or programs for the Sabin Environmental Venture Prize.

• Understanding Basic Accounting and Financial Modeling: understanding the basics in accounting and financial modeling to assist with applications for the Sabin Environmental Venture Prize.

• Developing Skills for Business Writing and Presentations: communicating ideas for the Sabin Environmental Venture Prize.

• Green Bride Guide. Kate Harrison, founder and CEO of The Green Bride Guide, presents on starting and running a web-based green business and how she has acquired the resources to grow her company.

• Sabin Prize Finalist Presentations and Award Ceremony 2010, Andy Sabin, Andy Sabin Family Foundation. The winner of the prize receives a $25,000 check from Mr. Sabin and Dean Sharon Oster.

• Cleantech Investing Principles: The Twelve P's to Investing in Good Energy. Howard Berke, Chairman and Co-founder of Konarka Technologies discusses clean tech investing principles and his 30 years of experience in the clean tech investing arena.

• The Race for .ECO: Implications for the Environmental Community. Anastasia O'Rourke (Ph.D, F&ES '09) discusses the race for the .ECO internet domain; and the opportunity and risks it poses to the global environmental community.

• Building an Environmentally-Focused Tech Venture: Silvia Terra's Winning Bid for the 2010 Sabin Prize. Zack Parisa (Yale Forestry '09) and Max Uhlenhuth (Yale College '12) discuss their winning bid for the 2010 Sabin Prize and recent developments in their new business, SilviaTerra, a provider of accurate forest inventory solutions.

Healthcare Management Conference
Date: April, 2010

"Re-Forming Healthcare: Excelling in a Transforming System," the sixth annual healthcare conference was presented by the Yale School of Management and the health professions schools at Yale University. As Congress debates comprehensive healthcare legislation, the focus of the 2010 conference was on how restructuring the U.S. healthcare system will have significant implications for how healthcare is delivered, financed, and regulated. The conference aimed to illuminate changes key stakeholders will face and expand on how excellence can be fostered in a system in transition.

Dr. Gail Wilensky, Economist and Senior Fellow at Project HOPE, presented the morning keynote; Dr. Robert Galvin, Director of Health Services and Chief Medical Officer for General Electric, presented the afternoon keynote. An executive panel of industry and academic leaders discussed "Bending the Cost Curve the Right Way." The panelists included: Sam Ho, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, UnitedHealthcare; Michael E. Chernew, Professor of Health Care Policy in the Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School; Harlan Krumholz, MD, Harold H. Hines, Jr. Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology & Public Health, Yale School of Medicine and Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program; Wendy Warring, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Connecticut Children's Medical Center; with moderator Dr. Robert Galvin of General Electric.

Throughout the day, industry practitioners lead a series of 16 breakout sessions on topics within the conference theme including: pay for performance; the future of long-term care as baby boomers age; care for uninsured and underserved populations; increasing patient involvement through personal health records and social media; employer programs that ensure healthy workers and reduce the cost of care; and how community hospitals will fit into the new healthcare system.

Leaders Forum
Date: September, 2010

The Yale School of Management Leaders Forum brings together current leaders in the private, public, and nonprofit world and Yale SOM students in discussions on the challenges and opportunities facing business and society today. Speakers included:

Alex Counts, President and CEO, Grameen Foundation

Indra Nooyi ’80, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo

Robert A. McDonald, President and CEO, The Procter & Gamble Company

Jeffrey L. Bewkes YC '74, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Time Warner

Robert B. Haas YC ’69, Chairman, Haas Wheat & Partners

Mary Houghton, Co-Founder and President, ShoreBank Corporation, (company defunct)

Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, Department of Bioethics, Clinical Center, NIH, Office of Management of Budget, Executive Office of the President

Michael E. Porter, PhD, MBA, Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, Harvard University

Net Impact Community Dinners
Date: November, 2010

To build a stronger sense of community among SOM Net Impact’s large membership, the club hosts community dinners where students can meet to discuss topics of interests. Dinners are held at students’ homes, and discussion topics are selected by students. Recent community dinners have addressed lessons learned from volunteer management and SOM’s social sector courses.

Diversity in Practice: Insights from the Front Lines
Date: February, 2011

SOMunity is an event series that celebrates the diverse ideas, perspectives and identities that we all bring to the SOM community. The theme is "Live Diversity" which celebrates how we can support diversity in all aspects of our personal and professional lives. SOMunity is a student-led initiative, launched in 2009 through the Dean’s Diversity Task Force. The keynote event for SOMunity this year is a panel discussion with the chief diversity leaders from Goldman Sachs, Aetna, Teach for America and Major League Baseball. Professor Tori Brescoll will be moderating a discussion about how each of these organizations, leaders in their field, are approaching diversity and inclusiveness in their enterprises. Sponsored by Women In Management, the Business of Sports Group and SOMunity.

Yale Education Leadership Conference
Date: March, 2011

This annual conference brings together leaders in the field of education reform with students and alumni from across Yale University. The day-long event connects different voices from across the education reform landscape in action-oriented discourse. Through panel discussions and workshops, attendees explore the theories and challenges at the forefront of the reform movement. The Conference attracts a wide range of attendees, from graduate students to district leaders to teachers to education entrepreneurs.

The theme of the 2011 conference is “From Policy to Practice.” The theme of the 2010 conference was "Racing to the Top." Taking place against the backdrop of the Obama administration’s Race to the Top Fund competition to advance school reform, this full-day event explored the ideas and challenges at the forefront of the education reform movement. A keynote lunch panel titled "Racing to the Top: Successes and Challenges Facing Reformers Today" was moderated by Ellen Winn, Director of the Education Equality Project. The panel featured Wendy Kopp, Founder and CEO of Teach for America, and Roberto Rodriquez, Special Assistant to President Obama for Education on the White House Domestic Policy Council. Twelve additional panel sessions throughout the day addressed topics such as the benefits and challenges of the Race to the Top initiative; methods for improving failing schools; maximizing the use of state-level longitudinal data systems to raise student achievement; constructing an effective teacher evaluation system; teacher retention; funding options for education entrepreneurs; and replicating high-performing school models within districts across the country. The panelists of the Education Leadership Conference include entrepreneurs, investors, policy makers, and the leaders of foundations, universities, for-profit and nonprofit education organizations, state government, and charter schools. Among this year’s participants are representatives from the U.S. Department of Education; American Federation of Teachers; Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; The New Teacher Project; Achievement First; KIPP Foundation; NewSchools Venture Fund; the Departments of Education of New York, Rhode Island, and Louisiana; and the public school systems of Hartford, New Haven, and Washington, DC.

In 2010, the inaugural Yale-Lynn Hall Teacher Action Research Prize was awarded for the best original research documenting the implementation of a classroom or school intervention conducted by a teacher or team of teachers in pre-kindergarten to 12th grade. The goal of the prize is to disseminate research on promising classroom methods, to promote action research as a best practice in teacher professional development and school reform, and to promote the professionalism of teacher-researchers as education policy decision-makers.

The annual student-run conference is organized by the Yale School of Management Education Club, a branch of Yale SOM Net Impact.

Sustainability Leaders Speaker Series
Date: October, 2009

The Center for Business & Environment organizes the Sustainability Leaders Speaker Series, events include:

• Going Green in a Down Economy: A View from Corporate America, Kristin Morico, GE. Designed as a collaboration with Alumni Affairs, the Career Development Office and the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale, "Going Green in a Down Economy: The View from Corporate America" features Yale alumni who will focus on economic trends at the intersection of business and the environment in corporate America.

• An Early Champion of Corporate Social Responsibility: The Ben & Jerry's Story, Jerry Greenfield, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. Jerry discusses building a successful business while remaining committed to a social mission. He provides insights on Ben & Jerry’s journey from its first scoop shop in Burlington, Vermont through to the company’s acquisition by Unilever in 2000. He will highlight lessons learned, missteps and general observations on doing business in a sustainable fashion.

• Corporate Partnerships at EDF. Gwen Ruta, Vice President of Corporate Partnerships and Audrey Davenport, Program Manager and Geballe Fellow, of EDF discuss their strategy to work closely with for-profit corporations.

• Sustainability Careers - How to Get a Good Green Job, Katie Kross, Duke University. Katie Kross, author of Profession and Purpose: A Resource Guide for MBA Careers in Sustainability, leads a series of sessions to help students better understand the career opportunities, paths, and tactical strategies for pursuing sustainability career opportunities that align with their values.

• Leveraging Innovation to Drive Sustainability. Larry Keeley, Doblin Co-founder and President Partner of the Monitor Group, discuss how organizations are developing innovative sustainability strategies to achieve business and environmental goals.

• Pursuing Corporate Energy Efficiency through the EDF Climate Corps Program. Rachel Hinchliffe, Program Manager in EDF’s Corporate Partnership program, and John Queenan, Head of Environment and Sustainability at RBS Citizens, as well as a few Yale SOM students share their experiences through Environmental Defense Fund’s (EDF) Climate Corps fellowship program.

• Public and Private Partnerships at The Nature Conservancy. Glenn Prickett, Chief External Affairs Officer of The Nature Conservancy, discusses his leadership experiences in engaging both the public and private sectors in environmental stewardship.

• Resource Efficiency at Nestlé Waters. Kim Jeffery, President and CEO of Nestlé Waters North America Inc, discusses his challenges and accomplishments in achieving corporate efficiency in waste, water, and energy at the largest bottled water company in North America, as well as the larger issue of container recycling in the United States.

• Sustainability and “Saving People Money” at Walmart. Leslie Dach, Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Walmart, discusses the opportunities to align sustainability with a low-cost business strategy, as well as the efforts of the world’s largest corporation to make a difference on key societal issues in the countries in which it operates.

• GOING GREEN with the Philadelphia Eagles. Christina Weiss Lurie, Owner of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, discusses the accomplishments of the Eagles' GO GREEN program to date, as well as its ambitious new goal of making the stadium self-sufficient for its energy needs.

• Changing the World with Ice Cream: The Ben & Jerry's Story. Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream company discusses the company’s pioneering actions in corporate sustainability and his thoughts on the future of sustainability.

Clean Energy Innovation Conference: Overcoming Barriers to a New Energy System
Date: April, 2010

The first annual conference of the Yale Climate and Energy Institute will convene leaders in science, policy, business, and international affairs to discuss the barriers that prevent clean energy from achieving full-scale deployment as well as solutions for overcoming those barriers.

Carbon Finance Webinar Series
Date: December, 2009

The Center for Business & Environment organizes the Carbon Finance Webinar Series, events include:

-Energy Efficiency: Key Concepts and Opportunities, Jonathan Koomey, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. This talk explores key issues in catalyzing energy efficiency investments. In the three decades since the energy crises of the 1970s we’ve learned a great deal about the potential for energy efficiency and the means to deliver it cost effectively and reliably. Back then, many analysts still held to the now discredited “ironclad link” between energy use and economic activity, which implied that any reduction in energy use would make our society less wealthy.

-Climate Change and Energy Savings Attitudes, Behavior and Barriers in the U.S., Anthony Leiserowitz, Yale University. As behavior-based strategies to climate protection have increasingly become more mainstream in America, this talk explores key issues around the challenges of changing consumer attitudes and behaviors when it comes to taking personal actions to address climate change and energy.

-Measuring Performance in State Energy Efficiency: Energy Consumption Intensity in the Residential Sector, Yurina Mugica, NRDC. NRDC, in cooperation with Humboldt State University, is exploring how to measure energy consumption trends as a means for understanding energy efficiency results and creating greater transparency and accountability needed to ensure that energy efficiency funding and programs achieve their full potential. As part of the ACEEE 2009 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard, the team has developed a methodology for developing state-level metrics of energy consumption intensity in the residential sector. This talk focuses on how this metric is calculated and what it says about the state of public policy on energy efficiency at the state level.

-Lessons Learned from New England: A National Priority to Invest in Energy Efficiency to Increase Economic Output and Job Creation, Jamie Howland, Environment Northeast. As the congress debates a national energy and climate policy, New England’s increasing focus on energy efficiency provides a prime case-study for evaluating efficiency’s impact on economic output and job growth. Presenting is Jamie Howland of Environment Northeast, whose groundbreaking work brings useful lessons and insights to the national debate on the future of energy and climate policy.

-Expanding Renewable Energy Markets in the U.S.: Current Drivers and Examination of Potential Policy Scenarios. Lori Bird, a member of the Market and Policy impact Analysis Group at NREL, discusses policies and markets for renewable energy in the U.S. She provides an overview of current policies driving renewable energy development in the U.S. as well as the costs and impacts of proposed federal policies. She will also discuss the interplay of efficiency and renewable energy in a combined renewable energy portfolio standard.

-Advancing Energy Efficiency in the U.S.: A Look at State and Federal Policies and Best Practices. Steve Nadel, Executive Director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) talks about leading examples of state level energy efficiency policies and the current discussions on energy efficiency resource standards at the federal level.

-People Centered Initiatives: Estimating the Potential for Behavior-Related Energy Savings and why they are Necessary. Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez, founder of Human Dimensions Research Associates, talks about the scale of potental behavior-related energy savings and the critical contributions of applied social science research for achieving successful energy initiatives.

-Peer Comparison Feedback Can Reduce Residential Energy Usage: A Study from Two Large Field Experiments. Ian Ayres, the William K. Townsend Professor of Law and Anne Urowsky Professorial Fellow in Law at Yale University, talks about a recent study that uses large scale data analysis to assess how peer feedback can reduce residential energy usage.

-Implementing the Behavior Wedge. Michael Vandenbergh, Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University Law School, talks about overcoming barriers to implementing the behavioral wedge to be achieved in 10 years.

-Marketing Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency Across the U.S. - Let's Get Energy Smart. Brian Keane, President of SmartPower, talks about the challenges and opportunities of marketing clean energy and energy efficiency to the nation’s households and communities.

-Increasing Consumer Energy Engagement: Comparing Behavior to Traditional Efficiency Resources. Zeke Hausfather, Executive Vice President of Energy, and Andy Frank, Executive Vice President of Business Development of Efficiency 2.0, talk about the strategies to radically increase consumer energy engagement in order to place behavior as a preferred efficiency resource and demonstrate one approach to breaking down household savings opportunities.

-Green Jobs/Green NY: Helping the Economy and the Enviro

Dean’s Conversation with…
Date: September, 2010

In this lecture series, executives, innovators, policy makers, and experts from many fields of endeavor - many of whom are Yale alumni - are brought to SOM to address the management challenges presented in organizations and activities where business and society intersect. The series is designed to provide a forum for discussion and dialogue on important contemporary management issues, and a point of connection for thought leaders and Yale SOM students. Speakers included:

Martha N. Johnson '79, Administrator, U.S. General Services Administration

Mary C. Gentile, Director, Giving Voice to Values, Senior Research Scholar, Babson College

Peter M. Lehrer and Gene McGovern, Co-founders, Lehrer-McGovern (construction management firm)

Net Impact Business and Society Speakers
Date: September, 2010

Yale SOM Net Impact coordinates discussions with leaders from various non-profit, social enterprise, and for-profit organizations. During the 2009-2010 school year, the panels focused on topics such as “Innovative Models for Mission-Driven Organizations” and a “crash course” in topics in environmental corporate social responsibility. Topics for the 2010-2011 year include corporate social responsibility and using marketing to promote social causes. Events are often co-sponsored by multiple clubs in order to increase student participation.

Net Impact Speed Networking Night
Date: October, 2010

Net Impact’s Speed Networking Night provides an opportunity for first year students to learn about a variety of 2nd years’ summer internship experiences in the social sector. First year students have the opportunity to rotate through different tables of second years to learn about as many experiences as possible in one evening.

Dean’s Teas
Date: October, 2010

Yale SOM’s mission is to educate leaders for business and society. The Leadership Development Program (LDP) is an important component of that education, designed to help students actively reflect on leadership as it pertains to their own personal and career aspirations, attitudes, and plans. A new series of occasional Dean’s Teas, loosely connected to LDP but open to the whole SOM community, will provide another venue to help such reflection. To take advantage of being at Yale, we have asked eminent Yale scholars in the humanities to share with us their visions, ideas, and perspectives. Attending these events offers an opportunity to develop a deeper sense of culture, values, and that special brand of education Yale offers to the world.

John Hare, Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology, “Morality and Religion.”

Jon Butler, Howard R. Lamar Professor of American Studies, History, and Religious Studies at Yale University, “Religion in Modern American Life,”

Norma Thompson, Professor Norma Thompson, Director of Undergraduate Studies in Humanities at Yale College, “Evidence in Humanistic Inquiry: Freud and the Business of Dreaming”, a course she co-taught last year.

Making REDD Work: A Discussion on Key Challenges and Appropriate Actions for Implementing a Viable REDD Strategy
Date: April, 2010

A global group of leaders, who have been working to shape tomorrow’s Forests and Climate Change policies, will share their challenges in developing a globally viable REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in developing countries) framework and propose actions we can all take to “get REDD right”!

Pages

"I won't let you down or will I? Core self-evaluations, other-orientation, anticipated guilt and gratitude, and job performance. 
Author(s): Wrzesniewski, Amy

Although core self-evaluations have been linked to higher job performance, research has shown variability in the strength of this relationship. We propose that high core self-evaluations are more likely to increase job performance for other-oriented employees, who tend to anticipate feelings of guilt and gratitude. We tested these hypotheses across 3 field studies using different operationalizations of both performance and other-orientation (prosocial motivation, agreeableness, and duty). In Study 1, prosocial motivation strengthened the association between core self-evaluations and the performance of professional university fundraisers. In Study 2, agreeableness strengthened the association between core self-evaluations and supervisor ratings of initiative among public service employees. In Study 3, duty strengthened the association between core self-evaluations and the objective productivity of call center employees, and this moderating relationship was mediated by feelings of anticipated guilt and gratitude. We discuss implications for theory and research on personality and job performance. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Journal Title: Journal of Applied Psychology Volume: 95 Edition: 1 Page Numbers: 108-121
"Modeling Technology Adoption for Sustainable Development Under Increasing Returns, Uncertainty, and Heterogeneous Agents"
Author(s): Grubler, Arnulf

This paper presents a stylized model of technology adoptions for sustainable development under the three potentially most important “stylized facts”: increasing returns to adoption, uncertainty, and heterogeneous agents following diverse technology development and adoption strategies. The stylized model deals with three technologies and two heterogeneous agents: a risk-taking one and a risk-averse one. Interactions between the two agents include trade in resources and goods, and technological spillover (free riding and technology trade). With the two heterogeneous agents, we run optimizations to minimize their aggregated costs in order to find out what rational behaviors are under different assumptions if the two agents are somehow cooperative. By considering uncertain carbon taxes, the model also addresses environmental issues as potential driving forces for technology adoptions.

Journal Title: Europearn Journal of Operational Research Volume: 95 Edition: 1 Page Numbers: 296-306
A Framework for Financial Reporting Standards: Issues and a Suggested Model.
Author(s): Sunder, Shyam

This paper addresses the issues that confront the FASB and IASB in developing a new conceptual framework document. First, we suggest characteristics that a conceptual framework ought to exhibit. Most of these suggestions are based on our critique of the existing framework and the FASB-IASB work in progress. Second, we present a model framework that exhibits these characteristics. We emphasize up front that this framework is quite explicit. It goes to the heart of what a framework document should do: it places specific restrictions on what constitutes admissible accounting standards. The purpose of our effort is to stimulate broad discussion of alternative approaches to foundational documents and to offer a specific example of such an alternative approach. [PUBLICAT

Journal Title: Accounting Horizons Volume: 24 Edition: 3 Page Numbers: 471-485
A Perspective on the Canadian Accounting Standards Board Exposure Draft on Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for Private Enterprises
Author(s): Sunder, Shyam

The Canadian Accounting Standards Board (hereafter, AcSB) recently issued an exposure draft to adopt separate GAAP for private enterprises. This new GAAP is justified as being consistent with the current FASB/IASB conceptual framework, but is sensitive to the different cost-benefit considerations facing private entities. We view this proposal as being innovative and responsive to the differential reporting needs of private entities. In this article we explain our reasoning and conclusions on several issues raised by the exposure draft starting with a discussion about the need for a separate conceptual framework for private enterprises. We sketch a preliminary conceptual framework that could be used to develop and justify the type of changes proposed in this exposure draft. We then discuss key issues raised in the exposure draft such as reliance on historical cost as the key basis of measurement, the significant reduction in disclosure requirements for private enterprises, and stopping the emerging issues committee from providing implementation guidance (no EICs). We also comment on the mechanism for financing the standard-setting board, the need to ensure compatibility between accounting and auditing standards, and a process for adjusting the education system to support this new private enterprise GAAP. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Journal Title: Accounting Horizons Volume: 24 Edition: 1 Page Numbers: 129-137
A Ricardian Analysis of the Distribution of Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture across Agro-Ecological Zones in Africa. 
Author(s): Mendelsohn, Robert

This paper examines the distribution of climate change impacts across the sixteen Agro-Ecological Zones (AEZs) of Africa. We combine net revenue from livestock and crops and regress total net revenue on a set of climate, soil, and socio-economic variables with and without country fixed effects. Although African crop net revenue is very sensitive to climate change, combined livestock and crop net revenue is more climate resilient. With the hot and dry CCC climate scenario, average damage estimates reach 27% by 2100, but with the mild and wet PCM scenario, African farmers will benefit. The analysis of AEZs implies that the effects of climate change will be quite different across Africa. For example, currently productive areas such as dry/moist savannah are more vulnerable to climate change while currently less productive agricultural zones such as humid forest or sub-humid AEZs become more productive in the future. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Journal Title: Environmental and Resource Economics Volume: 43 Edition: 3 Page Numbers: 313
Adapting to Climate Change Mosaically: An Analysis of African Livestock Management by Agro-Ecological Zones
Author(s): Mendelsohn, Robert

This paper examines African livestock management across Agro-Ecological Zones (AEZs) to learn how they would adapt to climate change in the coming century. We analyze farm level decisions to own livestock and to choose a primary livestock species using logit models with and without country fixed effects or AEZ fixed effects. With a hot dry scenario, the results indicate that livestock ownership will increase slightly across all of Africa, but especially in West Africa and high elevation AEZs. Dairy cattle will decrease in semi-arid regions, sheep will increase in lowlands, and rearing chickens will increase at high elevations. On the other hand, if climate becomes wetter, livestock ownership will fall dramatically in lowlands and high elevation moist AEZs. Beef cattle will increase and sheep will fall in dry AEZs, dairy cattle will fall precipitously and goats will rise in moist AEZs, and chickens will increase at high elevations but fall at mid elevations. Therefore, adaptation measures should be tailored to a specific AEZ. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Journal Title: The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy Volume: 9 Edition: 2 Page Numbers: .1-35
Adverse effects of uniform written reporting standards on accounting practice, education, and research
Author(s): Sunder, Shyam

When transactions have multiple attributes, achieving uniformity in their classification depends on whether similarities or dissimilarities are of interest; uniformity with respect to both is not possible. The pursuit of uniform written standards at the expense of social norms diminishes the effectiveness of financial reporting in stewardship and governance, and in keeping the security markets informed. A shift to written standards discourages thoughtful classroom discourse on alternatives which develop professional judgment. It also engenders "by the book" attitudes and drives talent away from accounting programs and, ultimately, from the accounting profession. Judgment and personal responsibility being the hallmarks of a learned profession, the dominance of uniform written standards weakens the claim that accounting programs belong in universities alongside architecture, dentistry, engineering, law, and medicine. Uniformity discourages research and debate in academic and practice forums and promotes increasingly detailed rule-making. It shuts the door on learning through experimentation, making it difficult to discover better ways of financial reporting through practice and comparison of alternatives. Improved financial reporting calls for a careful balance between written standards and unwritten social n

Journal Title: Journal of Accounting and Public Policy Volume: 29 Edition: 2 Page Numbers: 99-114
Anticipating Adaptation to Products
Author(s): Novemsky, Nathan; Dhar, Ravi

Study Design. We conducted a qualitative study using in-depth interviews with clinical and administrative staff (N=99) at hospitals reporting strong influence (n=6) as well as hospitals reporting limited influence (n=6) of the Door-to-Balloon (D2B) Alliance, a national quality campaign to improve heart attack care. We analyzed these qualitative data as well as changes in hospital use of recommended strategies reported through a hospital survey and changes in treatment times using Health Quality Alliance data.

Journal Title: Journal of Consumer Research Volume: 36 Edition: 2 Page Numbers: 149-59
Crisis and Innovation
Author(s): Shiller, Robert

In this article, the author articulates the need for innovation-enhancing regulation, not regulation that arbitrarily ties markets down. In the several years since the crisis began in 2007, only the first couple of stages of crisis response have been experienced. Other stages are expected. The next stage will be one in which the markets are made fundamentally more resilient and less prone to crisis. The final stage of response will be one in which the scope and depth of financial markets are expanded in order to move closer to completing the fundamental task of risk management, broadly construed. Together, all of these stages of response might take 10 years or longer.

Journal Title: Journal of Portfolio Management Volume: 36 Edition: 3 Page Numbers: 14-19
Developing country experience with eco-industrial parks: a case study of the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area in China
Author(s): Chertow, Marian

Abstract: To address the pollution that accompanies rapid industrial growth in China, a National Eco-industrial Park Demonstration Program was launched in 2000. This article provides a case study of the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA). The emergence of an environmental institution in TEDA is used as a backdrop to assess how TEDA has transformed itself into one of the top three national eco-industrial parks in China. Following two years of field research, a network of 81 inter-firm symbiotic relationships formed in TEDA during the past 16 years were identified involving the utility, automobile, electronics, biotechnology, food and beverage, and resource recovery clusters. The article assesses the environmental benefits of the key symbiotic exchanges in TEDA and summarizes some unique characteristics of EIP progress in a developing country. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Journal Title: Journal of Cleaner Production Volume: 18 Edition: 3 Page Numbers: 191-199
E-Coli, Repo Madness and the Financial Crisis
Author(s): Gorton, Gary

All bond prices plummeted (spreads rose) during the financial crisis, not just the prices of subprime-related bonds. These price declines were because of a banking panic in which institutional investors and firms refused to renew sale and repurchase agreements (repos)--short-term, collateralized, agreements that the U.S. Federal Reserve rightly used to count as money. Collateral for repos was, to a large extent, securitized bonds. Firms were forced to sell assets as a result of the banking panic, reducing all bond prices and creating losses. There is nothing mysterious or irrational about the panic. There were genuine fears about the locations of subprime risk concentrations among counterparties. This banking system (the "shadow" or "parallel" banking system)--repos based on securitization--is a genuine banking system, as large as the traditional, regulated banking system. It is of critical importance to the economy because it is the funding basis for the traditional banking system. Without it, traditional banks will not lend and credit will not be created.

Journal Title: Business Economics Volume: 45 Edition: 3 Page Numbers: 164-173
From beef cattle to sheep under global warming? An analysis of adaptation by livestock species choice in South America.
Author(s): Mendelsohn, Robert

This paper examines how South American farmers'' choices of livestock species vary across the range of climate and in turn infer from them as to what would happen under climate changes. We examine the choice of five primary species using a multinomial logit model with and without climate variability measures based on 1300 livestock farm surveys in seven countries. The results indicate that climate variables are highly significant determinants of primary species choice after controlling for soils, geography, household characteristics, and country fixed effects. We find the probability of adopting any livestock increases with warming, but decreases when it becomes too wet. The impacts of climate change would vary by species and climate scenarios. For example, under a hot and dry CCC scenario by 2060, beef cattle decrease by 3.2%, dairy cattle by 2.3%, pigs by 0.5%, and chickens by 0.9%, which is offset by a large increase in sheep by 7%. These adaptive changes vary again by country. Large changes are observed in the Andean countries. Under the hot dry scenario, dairy cattle increase in Uruguay and Argentina, but decrease elsewhere. The increase in sheep occurs mostly in the Andes mountain countries such as Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. Under a milder and wetter scenario, beef cattle choice declines in Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela, but increases in Argentina and Chile. Sheep increase in Colombia and Venezuela, but decrease in the high mountains of Chile where chickens are chosen more frequently. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Journal Title: Ecological Economics Volume: 69 Edition: 12 Page Numbers: 2486-2494
Giving Consumers License to Enjoy Luxury
Author(s): Dhar, Ravi

Stimulating consumption has become a key ingredient in the global effort to revive economic growth. However, even many well-off consumers have been suffering from a shoppers block since the financial crisis and economic downturn transformed consumers mind-sets - and in the process turned luxuries into socially discouraged opulence. As they try to maneuver through times of guilt and austerity, marketers seek tactics that they hope will overcome consumers guilt and negative self-regard and will as a result revive consumption. New research on consumer behavior suggests that an effective tactic can be to acknowledge consumers unconscious attempts to balance their self-image.

Journal Title: MIT Sloan Management Review Volume: 51 Edition: 3 Page Numbers: 12
How do people value extended warranties? Evidence from two field surveys.
Author(s): Read, Daniel

Extended warranties are popular but expensive. This paper examines how consumers value these warranties, and asks whether economic considerations alone can account for their popularity. Results from two field surveys show that consumers greatly overestimate both the likelihood and the cost of product breakdown. However, these biases alone do not explain their willingness to buy warranties. In fact, we find evidence of probability neglect, in which warranty purchase decision depends on the magnitude of the possible consequences of not having insurance and not on the probability of having to suffer these consequences. The expected emotional benefits from having a warranty was the best predictor of purchase decision and willingness to pay. We also found that people with higher cognitive skills are less likely to overestimate the economic determinants of warranty value, yet are still highly influenced by emotional considerations when deciding whether to purchase a warranty. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Journal Title: Journal of Risk & Uncertainty Volume: 40 Edition: 3 Page Numbers: 197-218
Information, Liquidity, and the (Ongoing) Panic of 2007
Author(s): Gorton, Gary

The article discusses the role in the financial crisis of 2007 of the relationship between two markets: the market in securities repurchase agreements (the "repo" market) and the synthetic market in subprime residential mortgage securities traded through the asset-backed securities index ABX.HE. The ABX index is explained, and described as important for having been one of the only transparent sources of information about the value of underlying subprime securities. The arbitrage relationship between the ABX indices and the repo market is described mathematically, as is the collapse of that relationship in 2007 when ABX prices dropped, the repo market for subprime securities disappeared, and a system-wide liquidity crisis ensued.

Journal Title: American Economic Review Volume: 99 Edition: 2 Page Numbers: 567-572
Now What Do People Know About Global Climate Change? Survey Studies of Educated Laypeople
Author(s): Read, Daniel

In 1992, a mental-models-based survey in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, revealed that educated laypeople often conflated global climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion, and appeared relatively unaware of the role of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions in global warming. This study compares those survey results with 2009 data from a sample of similarly well-educated laypeople responding to the same survey instrument. Not surprisingly, following a decade of explosive attention to climate change in politics and in the mainstream media, survey respondents in 2009 showed higher awareness and comprehension of some climate change causes. Most notably, unlike those in 1992, 2009 respondents rarely mentioned ozone depletion as a cause of global warming. They were also far more likely to correctly volunteer energy use as a major cause of climate change; many in 2009 also cited natural processes and historical climatic cycles as key causes. When asked how to address the problem of climate change, while respondents in 1992 were unable to differentiate between general "good environmental practices" and actions specific to addressing climate change, respondents in 2009 have begun to appreciate the differences. Despite this, many individuals in 2009 still had incorrect beliefs about climate change, and still did not appear to fully appreciate key facts such as that global warming is primarily due to increased concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and the single most important source of this carbon dioxide is the combustion of fossil fuels. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Journal Title: Risk Analysis. Oxford Volume: 30 Edition: 10 Page Numbers: 1520-1538
Optimal Defaults and Active Decisions
Author(s): Choi, James; Metrick, Andrew

Defaults often have a large influence on consumer decisions. We identify an overlooked but practical alternative to defaults: requiring individuals to make explicit choices for themselves. We study such "active decisions" in the context of 401(k) saving. We find that compelling new hires to make active decisions about 401(k) enrollment raises the initial fraction that enroll by 28 percentage points relative to a standard opt-in enrollment procedure, producing a savings distribution three months after hire that would take thirty months to achieve under standard enrollment. We also present a model of 401(k) enrollment and derive conditions under which the optimal enrollment regime is automatic enrollment (i.e., default enrollment), standard enrollment (i.e., default nonenrollment), or active decisions (i.e., no default and compulsory choice). Active decisions are optimal when consumers have a strong propensity to procrastinate and savings preferences are highly heterogeneous. Financial illiteracy, however, favors default enrollment over active decision enrollment. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Journal Title: Quarterly Journal of Economics Volume: 124 Edition: 4 Page Numbers: 1639-74
Optimal Defaults and Active Decisions. 
Author(s): Metrick, Andrew

Defaults often have a large influence on consumer decisions. We identify an overlooked but practical alternative to defaults: requiring individuals to make explicit choices for themselves. We study such "active decisions" in the context of 401(k) saving. We find that compelling new hires to make active decisions about 401(k) enrollment raises the initial fraction that enroll by 28 percentage points relative to a standard opt-in enrollment procedure, producing a savings distribution three months after hire that would take thirty months to achieve under standard enrollment. We also present a model of 401(k) enrollment and derive conditions under which the optimal enrollment regime is automatic enrollment (i.e., default enrollment), standard enrollment (i.e., default nonenrollment), or active decisions (i.e., no default and compulsory choice). Active decisions are optimal when consumers have a strong propensity to procrastinate and savings preferences are highly heterogeneous. Financial illiteracy, however, favors default enrollment over active decision enrollment. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Journal Title: Quarterly Journal of Economics Volume: 124 Edition: 4 Page Numbers: 1
Social Identity and Preferences
Author(s): Choi, James

Social identities prescribe behaviors for people. We identify the marginal behavioral effect of these norms on discount rates and risk aversion by measuring how laboratory subjects' choices change when an aspect of social identity is made salient. When we make ethnic identity salient to Asian-American subjects, they make more patient choices. When we make racial identity salient to black subjects, non-immigrant blacks (but not immigrant blacks) make more patient choices. Making gender identity salient has no effect on intertemporal or risk choices. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Journal Title: The American Economic Review Volume: 100 Edition: 4 Page Numbers: 1913
The impact of climate change on China's agriculture
Author(s): Mendelsohn, Robert

This article examines how expected changes in climate are likely to affect agriculture in China. The effects of temperature and precipitation on net crop revenues are analyzed using cross-sectional data consisting of both rainfed and irrigated farms. Based on survey data from 8,405 households across 28 provinces, the results suggest that global warming is likely to be harmful to rainfed farms but beneficial to irrigated farms. The net impacts will be only mildly harmful at first, but the damages will grow over time. The impacts also vary by region. Farms in the Southeast will only be mildly affected but farms in the Northeast and Northwest will bear the largest damages. However, the study does not capture the indirect effects on farms of possible changes in water flow, which may be important in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Journal Title: Agricultural Economics Volume: 40 Edition: 3 Page Numbers: 323-337

Pages