Tech Economics Roundtable
NABE members can access webinar recordings on the Podcasts page. For archived materials from past events, please email us.
Past Events:
Digital Renaissance
Thursday, April 23, 2020
2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
Speaker:
Joel Waldfogel, Frederick R. Kappel Chair in Applied Economics, University of Minnesota and author, most recently, of Digital Renaissance: What Data and Economics Tell Us About the Future of Popular Culture
Moderator:
Michael Luca, Lee J. Styslinger III Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School and author of The Power of Experiments: Decision Making in a Data-Driven World
Join Joel Waldfogel for a discussion of his book, Digital Renaissance: What Data and Economics Tell Us About the Future of Popular Culture. In it, Joel argues that digital technology is enabling a new golden age of popular culture, a veritable digital renaissance.
By reducing the costs of production, distribution, and promotion, digital technology is democratizing access to the cultural marketplace. More books, songs, television shows, and movies are being produced than ever before. Nor does this mean a tidal wave of derivative, poorly produced kitsch; analyzing decades of production and sales data, as well as bestseller and best-of lists, Waldfogel finds that the new digital model is just as successful at producing high-quality, successful work as the old industry model, and in many cases more so. The vaunted gatekeeper role of the creative industries proves to have been largely mythical. The high costs of production have stifled creativity in industries that require ever-bigger blockbusters to cover the losses on ever-more-expensive failures.
Speaker Presentation (PDF):
Waldfogel
Using High-Frequency Data to Measure the Spread and Impact of COVID-19
Monday, April 6, 2020
1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
Speakers:
Taylor Schreiner, Director, Adobe Digital Insights
Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, Op-ed Contributor, New York Times (Google Search)
Moderator: Ida Johnsson, Director of Analytics and Economics, Universal Standard Housing
It will be a few weeks until we get a clearer picture of the economic fallout from the COVID-19 virus from most official Federal government statistical sources. What data resources are available right now to economists and analysts needing to monitor developments and advise business leaders and clients as to the spread and economic impacts of this pandemic? Expert data users will provide the latest insights from Google Search and Adobe Digital Insights and provide tips and tools for using these data sources to continue to monitor developments.
PODCAST AVAILABLE (Members only)
Speaker Presentations (PDF):
Schreiner
Stephens-Davidowitz
Applications of Behavioral Economics: Designing Compensation Plans to Attract Talent
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
2:00pm - 3:00pm ET
Speaker:
Brian Hall, Albert H. GordonProfessor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Moderator: Michael Luca, Lee J Styslinger III Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and co-author of The Power of Experiments: Decision Making in a Data-Driven World
The rise of behavioral economics and people analytics has dramatically transformed our understanding of how to design a compensation system for employees. Well-designed systems can lead to higher productivity and employee satisfaction. At the same time, research has highlighted predictable and avoidable mistakes that companies can make in designing a compensation plan. In this webinar, we will discuss the main components of compensation that managers should be thinking about when designing incentive plans for employees – focusing on both financial and non-financial outcomes. We will then explore common mistakes in the design of incentive plans. We are also living in an era with more data than ever before – we will explore the ways in which new data sources allow for better performance measurement, and limitations of performance metrics. Please join us for a discussion with Harvard Business School Professor Brian Hall, one of the world’s leading authorities on the design of employee compensation and incentive plans.
PODCAST AVAILABLE (Members only)