Category: Technology

Researchers use phone records to measure “hedonic behavior” in earthquake victims. It’s challenging to recover from a significant earthquake, even if you aren’t seriously hurt. In the wake of an earthquake, people can feel better by honoring the dead, rebuilding, and reconnecting with loved ones. There’s a tactic that’s not been given much attention, though: […]

According to researchers, well-connected bankers have benefitted from trading their shares before receiving government money. When you dig into Wall Street data during the worst months of the global financial crisis, a strange pattern emerges: several hundred bankers with political connections were bullish about their prospects while it seemed everyone else wasn’t. The group purchased […]

According to a study of your “digital fingerprints,” you are likely drawn to people with similar personalities. Science and intuition suggest that we choose friends and romantic partners based on things we have in common. These include age, education level, race and religion, attitudes, and general intelligence. What role does personality have in attraction? Are […]

Patents dating back 85 years show that technological innovation significantly contributes to total wealth. Since the economist Joseph Schumpeter immortalized “creative destruction,” many economists argue that technological innovation produces both winners and losers but that the entire economy benefits. It’s difficult to prove that tech innovation increases wealth or disrupts the market, moving money from […]

Susan Athey is interested in helping machine-learning applications look beyond correlations and root causes. Machine learning based on data has made its way into many fields of Science, industry, and public policy. Today, it’s easy to classify complex things, like text, speech, and photos, or predict the website traffic for tomorrow. Asking a computer to […]

According to a new study, successful tech companies are often “discovered” and unplanned. Tech is awash with entrepreneurs who have achieved success only after modifying or abandoning their original vision. Facebook has evolved from the Harvard-specific site for social connections created by Mark Zuckerberg. Airbnb? Airbnb began as a platform for finding roommates. The ride-sharing […]

A new study examines the impact of referrals on promotions for minorities and women. It’s like putting your resume into a bottle and then dropping it in the nearest body of water. You will unlikely be even considered due to the overwhelming number of applicants. This helps explain why social contacts can lead to up […]

Computer networks are a new business model as technology speeds up data flow. In the late 1990s, I developed the concept of Organizational IQ with my Stanford Research Team. We also devised a method to measure and improve it. Managers were experiencing an accelerated development cycle, intensifying global competition, and increased demands from investors, consumers, and […]

It is good that economic crashes are rare. This makes them harder to study. The severity of the events makes it essential for us to understand them fully, says Matteo Magiori, associate professor of finance at Stanford Graduate School of Business. My colleagues and I have been laying the foundations for a crash to be […]

Public DNA databases have become powerful tools for solving genetic mysteries in a few years. These databases have been used to find long-lost relatives and help adoptees locate their biological parents. The best-known use of these tools is to help police solve cold cases. They can do everything from identifying anonymous bodies to detecting criminal […]