- 02 Feb 2023
- Research & Ideas
Why We Still Need Twitter: How Social Media Holds Companies Accountable
Remember the viral video of the United passenger being removed from a plane? An analysis of Twitter activity and corporate misconduct by Jonas Heese and Joseph Pacelli reveals the power of social media to uncover questionable situations at companies.
- 10 Dec 2021
- Research & Ideas
Truth Be Told: Unpacking the Risks of Whistleblowing
The stakes are high for employees who report potential malfeasance at their companies. Aiyesha Dey and Jonas Heese discuss how companies benefit from whistleblowers and steps regulators could take to empower them. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 08 Oct 2021
- Research & Ideas
How Newspaper Closures Open the Door to Corporate Crime
A study of misbehavior among publicly traded companies illustrates the critical watchdog role that newspapers play, and the problems that arise when publications go out of business. Research by Jonas Heese. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 13 May 2019
- Research & Ideas
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.
- 09 Oct 2017
- Research & Ideas
Fearing Fox News, Democratic-leaning Companies Delayed Negative Announcements
Jonas Heese and Vishal P. Baloria explore strategies used by companies to reduce the risk of potentially negative press, focusing on Fox News and the 2000 presidential election. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 03 Oct 2017
- First Look
First Look at Research and Ideas, October 3, 2017
How management feedback can backfire ... Hospitals that overbill as a financial strategy ... Using artificial intelligence to gauge human intelligence.
- 05 Sep 2017
- First Look
First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 5, 2017
Does air pollution contaminate our morality? ... Hiding bad news from the media ... The best business model for a professional skateboarding league.
- 26 Apr 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Is the SEC Captured? Evidence from Comment-Letter Reviews
Evidence from analysis of comment-letter reviews suggests a nuanced relation between politically connected firms and oversight by the Securities and Exchange Commission. SEC capture, if it exists, may be less blatant or pronounced than previously thought.
- 10 Feb 2015
- Working Paper Summaries
Government Preferences and SEC Enforcement
The US Securities and Exchange Commission failed to detect several accounting fraud scandals in the last decade, raising the question of how the SEC chooses targets for enforcement. This paper looks specifically at whether the SEC, as a consequence of government pressure, reduces its enforcement actions for labor-intensive firms. Results indicate that voters' interests do drive political pressure on the SEC. The SEC incorporates such pressure in its enforcement actions, independent of firms' lobbying for their special interests. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 03 Feb 2015
- Working Paper Summaries
Regulator Leniency and Mispricing in Beneficent Nonprofits
How organizations influence regulation is a complicated and dynamic process. In a study of boundaries regarding appropriate compliance in the context of the health care industry, the authors offer that nonprofits that provide unprofitable services such as the provision of charity care and medical education (beneficent nonprofits) are less likely to face regulatory enforcement for mispricing and exhibit more mispricing. Results indicate that lenient enforcement assists beneficent nonprofits to obtain higher revenues in price-regulated markets. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 12 Jan 2015
- Research & Ideas
Regulators Ease Up on Companies Generating Political Benefits
Generating political influence is not just about making campaign donations. Professor Jonas Heese finds that companies providing politically popular benefits might receive lighter enforcement from regulators. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
Does It Pay to Be a Whistleblower?
In 2013, soon after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had started a massive whistleblowing program with the potential for large monetary rewards, two employees of a US bank’s asset management business debated whether to blow the whistle on their employer after completing an internal review that revealed undisclosed conflicts of interest. The bank’s asset management business disproportionately invested clients’ money in its own mutual funds over funds managed by other banks, letting it collect additional fees—and the bank had not disclosed this conflict of interest to clients. Both employees agreed that failing to disclose the conflict was a problem, but beyond that, they saw the situation very differently. One employee, Neel, perceived the internal review as a good-faith effort by senior management to identify and address the problem. The other, Akash, thought that the entire business model was problematic, even with a disclosure, and believed that the bank may have even broken the law. Should they escalate the issue internally or report their findings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission? Harvard Business School associate professor Jonas Heese discusses the potential risks and rewards of whistleblowing in his case, “Conflicts of Interest at Uptown Bank.”