Research
Our Most-Read Stories of 2025
This year, our faculty and alumni provided expertise on pressing issues including political polarization, sports gambling, tariffs, public education, the business of the arts, and the seismic impact of AI.
When AI Learns the Why, It Becomes Smarter—and More Responsible
A new Yale SOM study finds that training generative AI to understand why headlines resonate—not just which perform best—reduces clickbait and produces more engaging, trustworthy content, pointing to a more responsible approach for AI design.
A Different Kind of Wedge Issue: What Golf Reveals About Working Across Ideological Lines
How do political differences affect workplace performance? A study of professional golfers, co-authored by Yale SOM’s Balázs Kovács, suggests that working alongside someone of the opposite political orientation may dampen the ability to execute tasks successfully.
An Interactive Tool Helps School Districts Redesign Their Bus Schedules—and Get Kids a Little More Sleep
Yale SOM operations scholar Zhen Lian and her co-authors created an interactive tool that helped San Francisco reach consensus on school schedules, move start times later, and save millions of dollars in transportation costs.
The Price of Trust: How Conflicts of Interest Threaten the Marketplace of Ideas
A new study co-authored by Yale SOM’s John Barrios investigates how conflicts of interest erode trust in the very institutions meant to produce independent knowledge.
Do the New Obesity Drugs Pay for Themselves?
Could expensive drugs like Ozempic save healthcare systems money by reducing the risk of obesity-associated diseases? A new study co-authored by Yale SOM’s Jason Abaluck suggests that other health expenses may actually increase over the first couple years of treatment.
When Private Practices Merge with Hospital Systems, Costs Go Up
Private practices are vanishing as more doctors join large hospital systems. This increasing consolidation is reducing competition and raising prices, according to a study co-authored by Yale SOM’s Fiona Scott Morton.
The Corporation Is Centuries Older than We Thought
The genesis of the joint-stock company is usually traced to the founding of the English East India Company and the Dutch East India Company around 1600. New research co-authored by Prof. William Goetzmann says this origin story may be off by centuries.
Economic Data Helps Explain a Pattern of Violence Against Myanmar’s Rohingya Minority
New research from Yale SOM’s Mushfiq Mobarak shows that the violence and looting in rice-growing areas is tied to rice prices, suggesting an economic motivation for the attacks, and finds that the government response to conflicts involving the Rohingya is far harsher than in conflicts with other ethnic groups.
Would Stricter Antitrust Rules Have Stopped the Rise of Amazon?
In a new study, Prof. Edward A. Snyder and his co-authors consider whether current antitrust guidelines would have checked Amazon’s voracious appetite for acquisitions if they had been in place earlier.
