Governance Controls →
- 08 May 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
Bank Boards: What Has Changed Since the Financial Crisis?
Since the 2008 financial crisis, bank boards have not improved their cultural or gender diversity compared to other companies, nor are they better qualified than before the crisis. Outside directorships of bank directors and the extent of CEOs also being Chairman also remains the same. However, there is some evidence of better risk oversight both from managers and the board.
- 24 Apr 2019
- Research & Ideas
The 'Amazon Effect' Is Changing Online Price Competition—and the Fed Needs to Pay Attention
Amazon's power in the retail sector puts price pressure on what competitors charge, with implications for how federal regulators govern inflation, says Alberto F. Cavallo. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 04 Apr 2019
- Cold Call Podcast
Can Mark Zuckerberg Rebuild Trust in Facebook?
Bill George discusses his case study, "Facebook Confronts a Crisis of Trust," including why Zuckerberg handled the crisis as he did, the role of companies in protecting privacy, and the pros and cons of regulation. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 03 Apr 2019
- Book
Fintech's Game-Changing Opportunities for Small Business
In the new book Fintech, Small Business, & the American Dream, Karen Mills describes how technology is opening up new capital for entrepreneurs. Around the corner: The transformative benefits of AI and big data. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 31 Jan 2019
- Cold Call Podcast
How Wegmans Became a Leader in Improving Food Safety
Ray Goldberg discusses how the CEO of the Wegmans grocery chain faced a food safety issue and then helped the industry become more proactive. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Jan 2019
- What Do You Think?
SUMMING UP: Do We Need an Artificial Intelligence Czar?
Having government oversee artificial intelligence development is either a sure way to kill a promising technology or the only way to keep our robot overlords at bay. James Heskett's readers debate. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 09 May 2018
- Research & Ideas
A Simple Way for Restaurant Inspectors to Improve Food Safety
Basic tweaks to the schedules of food safety inspectors could prevent millions of foodborne illnesses, according to new behavioral science research by Maria Ibáñez and Michael Toffel. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 19 Sep 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
An Invitation to Market Design
Effective market design can improve liquidity, efficiency, and equity in markets. This paper illustrates best practices in market design through three examples: the design of medical residency matching programs, a scrip system to allocate food donations to food banks, and the recent “Incentive Auction” that reallocated wireless spectrum from television broadcasters to telecoms.
- 19 Jul 2017
- Research & Ideas
Why Government 'Nudges' Motivate Good Citizen Behavior
Research by John Beshears and colleagues finds that psychological nudges can be a cost-effective way for governments to get citizens to do the right thing. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 14 Dec 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
The State of Small Business Lending: Innovation and Technology and the Implications for Regulation
New online fintech competitors have entered the small business lending space, filling a gap in small-dollar loans. More than 70 percent of small businesses seek loans in amounts under $250,000 and more than 60 percent want loans under $100,000. Gaps in regulation of the alternative small business lending market create issues of oversight and concerns about predatory lending. The paper first describes the current market for small business lending, including the new disruptors, and presents strategic alternatives for existing banks to partner with fintech entrants and compete in the new environment. The authors then describe the current regulatory environment with its large number of agencies, each with overlapping authority and mandates, and provide a set of recommendations for regulatory activity that will protect borrowers and investors in this space. These recommendations address concerns about systemic risk while trying to avoid dampening innovation that is filling the gap in small business access to credit.
- 30 Nov 2016
- Op-Ed
Where Could More Regulation Help Small Businesses? Online Lending.
The regulatory system overseeing the financial technology industry is a tangle of multiple agencies and inconsistent rules. Karen Mills and Brayden McCarthy propose a six-point plan to regulate online lending. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 24 Aug 2016
- Research & Ideas
Can Obamacare Be Saved?
Is Obamacare in trouble? With premiums rising and some health providers pulling back, The Affordable Care Act might seem wobbly. John A. Quelch and Emily Boudreau argue for remedies that include more education for consumers, innovation from insurers, and flexibility on behalf of regulators. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 08 Aug 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
The Unintended Consequences of the Zero Lower Bound Policy
In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007-2008, the United States Federal Reserve took an unprecedented decision to lower short-term nominal interest rates to zero, a policy commonly known as zero lower bound policy. This study shows that the policy adversely affected an important part of the shadow banking system, money market funds, whose returns are linked to the Fed funds rate. During times of unusually low interest rates, fund managers tended to increase their portfolios’ risk. The policy also triggered a reduction in capital supply to financial firms and large corporations and increased the financial markets’ exposure to costly runs and defaults.
- 26 Jul 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
The Impact of the Entry of Biosimilars: Evidence from Europe
Biosimilars are large-molecule drugs that, while not an exact copy of already-approved large-molecule drugs, have been shown to be therapeutically equivalent. Much like generic drugs, which become available when a small-molecule drug goes off patent, biosimilars are lower in cost than their reference products and present an opportunity for savings when large-molecule drugs’ patents expire. Biosimilars have been available in the United States only since 2015 but have been regulated, approved, and sold in Europe for over a decade. This paper examines the European experience to help inform policy design and institutional choices for the United States. Topics covered include the entry of distributors and unique products; predictors of average product prices following biosimilar competition; and penetration of biosimilars as a share of total sales.
- 18 May 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
The Impact of Mass Shootings on Gun Policy
The authors constructed and analyzed a dataset of all United States gun legislation and mass shootings between 1989 and 2014, finding that mass shootings do lead to significant policy responses: Lawmakers introduce 15 percent more bills the year after a shooting, an effect that is 66 times larger than the impact of non-mass shooting gun homicides. When it comes to enacting laws, Republican-controlled legislatures loosen restrictions on guns. Overall, the results suggest that random and infrequent events can be crucial levers for policy consideration. In the context of gun policy, the results highlight the need for a broader approach to solve gun violence.
- 07 Mar 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
Net Neutrality: A Fast Lane to Understanding the Trade-offs
Shane Greenstein and colleagues identify the economic dimensions involved with net neutrality and show that many questions can be informed by simple economic models of the market for internet services.
- 13 Jan 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
Forward Guidance in the Yield Curve: Short Rates versus Bond Supply
Since late 2008, central banks have been conducting monetary policy through two primary instruments: quantitative easing (QE), in which they buy long-term government bonds and other long-term securities, and “forward guidance,” in which they guide market expectations about the path of future short rates. This paper analyzes the effects of forward guidance on both short rates and QE. Results show that forward guidance on QE tends to impact longer maturities than forward guidance on short rates, even when expectations about bond purchases by the central bank concern a shorter horizon than expectations about future short rates.
- 06 Jan 2016
- Book
Accounting for Legitimacy
With little scrutiny from the public, industry experts are quietly rewriting accounting rules to benefit their businesses, says Karthik Ramanna in a new book, Political Standards: Corporate Interest, Ideology, and Leadership in the Shaping of Accounting Rules for the Market Economy. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 05 Jan 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
The Integrity of Private Third-party Compliance Monitoring
Michael Toffel and Jodi Short examine how conflict of interest and other risks lead to inaccurate monitoring of health, labor, and environmental standards.
The Unexpected Way Whistleblowers Reduce Government Fraud
Even unfounded allegations by whistleblowers can force government contractors to renegotiate their terms, say Jonas Heese and Gerardo Perez Cavazos. Open for comment; 0 Comments.