Research

The choices we make—the cars we drive, the neighborhoods we live in, the gyms we join—are influenced by our social networks, the people we surround ourselves with. Our financial choices are no exception. While thousands of studies have examined peer effects, a new study co-authored by Florian Ederer, assistant professor of economics, is the first to clearly identify the two channels of social influence—social learning and social utility—that explain why our peers’ financial decisions affect our own.

Retailers are increasingly offering products at rental rates that are comparable to traditional purchase prices. The question is whether consumers make decisions differently when they’re looking to rent rather than buy.

Large, investment-grade companies such as Walmart and Home Depot that can easily borrow money in the capital markets often receive financing from their much smaller, credit-constrained suppliers. A new study examines the effects of this pattern of financing and finds that it squeezes small suppliers, creating a cash shortfall and causing them to cut back on capital investments.

Children are 30% more likely to take a stimulant medication during the school year than they are to take one during the summer, according to a new study published in the American Sociological Review. The authors found that school-year increases in stimulant use are largest for children from socioeconomically advantaged families. Because many children use stimulants only during the school year and take a “drug holiday” in the summer, the authors conclude that these children are using stimulants to manage their schools’ academic demands.

The initial public offering (IPO) market recently saw its busiest week since 2001. A new study by Yale School of Management professors Matthew Spiegel and Heather Tookes reveals how these and other IPOs affect rival firms over time.

Laboratory experiments have suggested that, counterintuitively, having both an internal motivation for completing a task and an external reward makes performance weaker. A study by Yale SOM’s Amy Wrzesniewski tested this idea in the real world, by examining how the motivations of West Point cadets affected their performance. The results have strong implications for how leaders can get the best performance from their organizations.

Merger performance varies greatly depending on the number of pre-merger third-party ties connecting the acquiring firm to its partner, according to a new study by researchers at the Yale School of Management and INSEAD.

Are Godiva chocolates made in Brussels, Belgium, where the company has operated since 1926, more authentic than the same chocolates made in the company’s Reading, Pennsylvania, facility? According to new research from the Yale School of Management, consumers view products manufactured at a company’s original factory to be more authentic and valuable than identical products made elsewhere.

Organizations that don’t conform to the norms of their market category are penalized with higher prices, according to new research co-authored by Professor Amandine Ody-Brasier.

Research by Professor Nathan Novemsky and Yale SOM doctoral student Ernest Baskin helps to explain why we give bad gifts.