Skip to main content

All Insights Articles

  • How to Lay People Off with Humanity

    Layoffs may sometimes be necessary, writes Yale SOM’s Emma Seppälä, but they are painful, both for departing employees and those remaining in what can be a demoralized and overworked organization. She offers research-based guidance for making the process more compassionate and less disruptive.

    An illustration of scissors cutting strings holding up office workers with computers
  • Celebrating a Milestone in the Campaign to Eliminate a Major Cause of Blindness

    More than two million people have lost their vision, in whole or in part, to trachoma—a preventable infection that is widespread in areas with poor sanitation. Dr. Howard Forman writes that the campaign to eradicate trachoma by 2030 has achieved an important victory: eliminating the disease as a public health problem in India.

    Howard Forman
  • Who Makes the Rules for the New Space Economy?

    The international legal framework to oversee the growing commercial activity in space doesn’t yet exist. Gershon Hasin, a graduate of Yale Law School and an expert in international law, explains how the rules for new contexts are established, and the pitfalls with space law that we can already foresee.

    A rocket takes off from a launch pad at night
  • Finding the Blueprint for Thriving Organizations

    Professor James Baron’s research helped establish the now-commonplace understanding that the way a company organizes itself—what we now call its human-capital strategy—is key to creating a happy, equitable culture and ultimately to survival and success.

    James Baron
  • Big Companies Are Not the Inflation Villain

    Blaming corporate greed for rising prices is not a winning argument, write Yale SOM’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, economist and former presidential advisor Laura Tyson, and co-author Stephen Henriques.

    A shopper in a supermarket
  • Recovering from Regime Change after the Monsoon Revolution

    Student protestors ousted Bangladesh’s authoritarian prime minister earlier this summer. At a Yale SOM conference, academics, policy experts, and businesspeople discussed how the country can build a more just and equitable economy.

    Anti-government protesters in Dhaka on August 5, after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned from office.  
  • Why Polio Is Making a Comeback

    In the last two years, vaccine-derived polio has been spotted in the United States and Gaza. Now the original wild-type polio is spreading in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Dr. Howard Forman explains that politics are hampering efforts to control the outbreak.

    Howard Forman
  • CEOs Are More Optimistic about the Economy Than the Rest of Us, and They’re Probably Right

    At Prof. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld’s Yale CEO Caucus last week, the vast majority of the business leaders in attendance said they expect a soft landing. Sonnenfeld and co-author Steven Tian write that the economic indicators back up the CEOs.

    A "Now Hiring" sign in the window of a mall clothing store
  • Do Nudges Help Americans Save for Retirement? Not as Much as We Thought.

    Two decades ago, Prof. James Choi’s research suggested that automatic enrollment and escalation and could have a sizeable impact on savings. Now he and his co-authors have looked at these programs again and found that under real-world conditions, the effect on savings is much smaller than expected.

    An illustration of a piggy bank-shaped hot air balloon that can't get off the ground
  • The Avian Flu Outbreak Remains a Concern—And We Still Aren’t Ready to Respond

    Thus far, the outbreak is growing slowly, says Yale SOM’s Dr. Howard Forman. But a lack of coordination and testing continues to hobble the U.S. response.

    Howard Forman