First Look

Abstract—I use data on oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico to measure how a corporate alliance-a group of firms that jointly develops an offshore tract-performs relative to a solo firm. I employ a regression discontinuity strategy based on bids in first-price sealed-bid auctions for the rights to develop leases. By focusing on leases where one organizational form narrowly outbids the other, I measure drilling outcomes while controlling for the endogenous matching of projects and organizational forms. Solo firm leases are less profitable than alliance leases because alliance members combine their information and expertise.

Publisher's link: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=45341

Abstract—The daunting complexity of important financial decisions can lead to procrastination. We evaluate a low-cost intervention that substantially simplifies the retirement savings plan participation decision. Individuals received an opportunity to enroll in a retirement savings plan at a pre-selected contribution rate and asset allocation, allowing them to collapse a multidimensional problem into a binary choice between the status quo and the pre-selected alternative. The intervention increases plan enrollment rates by 10 to 20 percentage points. We find that a similar intervention can be used to increase contribution rates among employees who are already participating in a savings plan.

Publisher's link: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=45344

Abstract—Using administrative data from 12 companies that added a Roth 401(k) option between 2006 and 2010, we describe the characteristics of Roth contributions. Approximately one year after the Roth is introduced, 9% of 401(k) participants have positive Roth balances. Roth participation is more than twice as high among 401(k) participants who were hired after the Roth introduction than among 401(k) participants who were hired before the Roth introduction. In essence, once an employee joins a 401(k) she becomes passive/inattentive, thereby reducing the likelihood of reacting to the introduction of a new Roth option. Conditional on contributing to the Roth, 66% of employee contributions go to the Roth, and half of employees contribute to both the Roth and another 401(k) account, consistent with a tax diversification motive. Roth usage is decreasing in age, less likely among women, and only weakly correlated with salary and tenure once we control for other employee characteristics.

Abstract—We conduct and analyze two large surveys of hypothetical annuitization choices. We find that allowing individuals to annuitize a fraction of their wealth increases annuitization relative to a situation where annuitization is an "all or nothing" decision. Very few respondents choose declining real payout streams over flat or increasing real payout streams of equivalent expected present value. Highlighting the effects of inflation increases demand for cost of living adjustments. Frames that highlight flexibility, control, and investment significantly reduce annuitization. A majority of respondents prefer to receive an extra "bonus" payment during one month of the year that is funded by slightly lower payments in the remaining months. Concerns about later-life income, spending flexibility, and counterparty risk are the most important self-reported motives that influence the annuitization decision.

Publisher's link: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=45343

Abstract—This paper investigates the determinants of expert reviews in the book industry. Reviews are determined not only by the quality of the product, but also by the incentives of the media outlet providing the review. For example, a media outlet may have the incentive to provide favorable coverage to certain authors or to slant reviews toward the horizontal preferences of certain readers. Empirically, we find that an author's connection to the media outlet is related to the outcome of the review decision. When a book's author also writes for a media outlet, that outlet is 25% more likely to review the book relative to other media outlets, and the resulting ratings are roughly 5% higher. Prima facie, it is unclear whether media outlets are favoring their own authors because these are the authors that their readers prefer or simply because they are trying to collude. We provide a test to distinguish between these two potential mechanisms and present evidence that this is because of tastes rather than collusion-the effect of connections is present both for authors who began writing for a media outlet before and after the book release. We then investigate other determinants of expert reviews. Relative to consumer reviews, we find that professional critics are less favorable to first time authors and more favorable to authors who have garnered other attention in the press (as measured by number of media mentions outside of the review) and who have won book prizes.

Publisher's link: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=45339

Abstract—In many organizations, the R&D, strategy, and legal functions are poorly integrated. As a consequence, firms miss opportunities to create and exploit the value of intellectual property. Functional silos are one reason for the lack of integration. More important, however, is the lack of a common framework and even language that would allow engineers, lawyers, and business executives to manage IP assets better. This article provides such a framework. There is no one best way to manage IP, and many managers overestimate the attractiveness of using IP to exert market power. Rather, the value of the various means to protect and benefit from IP depends on firm strategy, the competitive landscape, and the rapidly changing contours of intellectual property law.

Publisher's link: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=45271

Abstract—We report results from two surveys of representative samples of Americans with private health insurance. The first examines how well Americans understand, and believe they understand, traditional health insurance coverage. The second examines whether those insured under a simplified all-copay insurance plan will be more likely to engage in cost reducing behaviors relative to those insured under a traditional plan with deductibles and coinsurance and measures consumer preferences between the two plans. The surveys provide strong evidence that consumers do not understand traditional plans and would better understand a simplified plan, but weaker evidence that a simplified plan would have strong appeal to consumers or change their healthcare choices.

Publisher's link: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=45349

Abstract—We examine how the organizational adoption of new practices is influenced by relational pluralism, i.e., an organization's multiple ties to actors inside and outside its industry. We theorize that institutional mechanisms of practice diffusion underlying relational networks, and filtered by organizational characteristics, influence the adoption of practices that are more customized (tailored) or less customized (turnkey). We hypothesize first, that organizations participating in extra-industry professional networks will, through normative conformity, be more likely to adopt turnkey practices; second, that the normative pressure of professional networks will interact with the mimeticism of industry peers such that organizations will be more likely to adopt tailored practices; and third, organizational filters will affect adoption of all practices. Using unique survey data from 161 F500 organizations, supplemented by archival and qualitative data, we focus on two Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practice variants. We find significant support for our first two hypotheses and mixed support for our third: organizational infrastructure and identity significantly affect practice adoption, albeit in different ways, but only marginal support for leadership and elite organizational status. Our results point to how a complex web of relational ties affects the organizational adoption of practice variants that differ in their degree of customization.