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Raffaella Sadun

@raffasadun.bsky.social

6K followers 580 following 740 posts

Professor at Harvard Business School. Director of the NBER Organizational Economics working group. Co-Director of the Digital Reskilling Lab at HBS. https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=541712

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Reposted by Raffaella Sadun

MJ Yang @mjyang.bsky.social · 9d

Very happy to see this paper in (online) print. Together with Michael Christensen, @raffasadun.bsky.social , @nickbloom.bsky.social and Jan Rivkin, we interviewed hundreds of CEOs to measure how they make business strategy.

pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/...

How Do Chief Executive Officers Make Strategy? | Management Science

pubsonline.informs.org

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Reposted by Raffaella Sadun, Simon Wiederhold

Ludger Woessmann @woessmann.bsky.social · Sep 5

📢Our CESifo Conference on Economics of Education is about to start!🤩

This will be so exciting!!!🥳

🔗https://www.ifo.de/en/cesifo/event/2025-09-05/cesifo-area-conference-economics-education-2025

@raffasadun.bsky.social @sandramcnally.bsky.social @christinafelfe.bsky.social @singhabhi.bsky.social …

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Raffaella Sadun @raffasadun.bsky.social · Aug 27

Deadline is approaching!

Send us your best work by September 1st 2025.

Raffaella Sadun @raffasadun.bsky.social · Jul 31

The call for papers for the next @nber.org Organizational Economics Working Group is up!

We will meet in Cambridge, MA on November 13 and 14 2025.

Please submit your paper by September 1st 2025 at:
conference.nber.org/confsubmit/b...

Submission: Organizational Economics Working Group, Page 1 of 2 - MyNBER

conference.nber.org

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Reposted by Scott Gehlbach

Raffaella Sadun @raffasadun.bsky.social · Jul 31

Submission: Organizational Economics Working Group, Page 1 of 2 - MyNBER

conference.nber.org

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Reposted by Raffaella Sadun

Alessandro Tondini @aletondini.bsky.social · Jun 3

📢 Stiamo cercando 1 Research Associate per un'esperienza di lavoro pre-doc all'#EvaluationLab del #FondoRepubblicaDigitale.

👉 www.fondorepubblicadigitale.it/posizioni_ap...

cc: @raffasadun.bsky.social @barbarabiasi.com @francedrago.bsky.social

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Reposted by Avi Goldfarb, Raffaella Sadun, Alex Imas , and 1 more Avi Goldfarb, Raffaella Sadun, Alex Imas, Simon Wiederhold

The Review of Economic Studies (REStud) @reveconstudies.bsky.social · Jun 2

Li, @lindseyraymond.bsky.social & @peterbergman.bsky.social show that incorporating exploration into an interview screening algorithm improves demographic diversity & hiring efficiency, while traditional supervised learning-only tools improve hiring rates at the expense of minority applicants.

👇

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Raffaella Sadun @raffasadun.bsky.social · May 12

In short: good management doesn’t just improve performance—it reshapes organizations.

With Rachel Schuh, John Hartley, @nickbloom.bsky.social and @johnvanreenen.bsky.social .

Full paper 👉 www.nber.org/papers/w33765

#economics #productivity #management #reallocation #research

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Raffaella Sadun @raffasadun.bsky.social · May 12

Key takeaways:
— Well-managed firms buy, sell, open, and close more plants
— They pass on good practices to new and acquired units
— Banning M&A would lower GDP and management quality by ~15%
— About 20% of productivity gaps across countries are management-related

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Reposted by Raffaella Sadun

EEA @eeanews.bsky.social · May 8

📢@cepr.org WE_ARE & EEA #womenineconomics committee announce joint virtual session:
Speaker: @raffasadun.bsky.social
Topic: Navigating Large Teams & Interdisciplinary Boundaries
🗓️Mon, June 9 @ 17:15 CEST
ℹ️https://bit.ly/44YA1RA
@womeninecon.bsky.social @ukwen.bsky.social
@isweconomics.bsky.social

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Raffaella Sadun @raffasadun.bsky.social · Apr 14

📄 Paper w/ Brayan Diaz, Andrea Neyra Nazarrett, Julian Ramirez, Raffaella Sadun, Jorge Tamayo
NBER Working Paper #33670
👉 www.nber.org/papers/w33670

Training within Firms

Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

www.nber.org

Raffaella Sadun @raffasadun.bsky.social · Apr 14

So what’s the takeaway?

If you want training to work, you need more than money or policy.
You need middle managers who believe in people—and are trusted in return.

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Raffaella Sadun @raffasadun.bsky.social · Apr 14

Why? We built a simple model:
Workers only invest in training if they trust that promotions will follow. That trust is manager-specific.
A good manager makes incentives real.

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Raffaella Sadun @raffasadun.bsky.social · Apr 14

nd it went beyond training.

Teams led by HT managers:
✅ Performed better
✅ Were promoted more
✅ Had less absenteeism—even during major organizational changes.

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Raffaella Sadun @raffasadun.bsky.social · Apr 14

These “High-Training” (HT) managers didn’t get paid more for encouraging training. But they nudged, supported, and believed in their team’s growth.

When an HT manager arrived, participation jumped:

📊

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Raffaella Sadun @raffasadun.bsky.social · Apr 14

That variation could be explained by one thing: who the middle manager was.

Managers who were people-focused, proactive, and cared about development boosted training take-up by 45–60% compared to others.

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Raffaella Sadun @raffasadun.bsky.social · Apr 14

We studied 3 large Latin American firms—a car manufacturer, a retailer, and a fast-food chain. All three offered centrally designed, firm-specific training. Same incentives, same structure.
But participation varied dramatically across teams.

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Reposted by Laura Hospido

Raffaella Sadun @raffasadun.bsky.social · Apr 14

📣 New paper drop!
Why do some employees take up training and others don’t, even when the programs are the same?
Surprisingly, the answer isn’t HR policy—it’s middle managers.
🧵

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Reposted by Raffaella Sadun

Daniela Scur @danielascur.bsky.social · Apr 11

Another excellent NBER Org meeting wrapped up, and it's available on YouTube!! www.nber.org/conferences/...

@raffasadun.bsky.social and @andreaprat.bsky.social nailing the program and discussants yet again. Love this group! Thanks to all and looking forward to seeing old friends and new faces soon

Organizational Economics Working Group, Spring 2025

www.nber.org

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Reposted by Raffaella Sadun

Soumitra Shukla @soumitrashukla.bsky.social · Apr 8

Excited for the NBER ORG meeting this week! Thanks Raffaella Sadun & Andrea Prat for leading this forward-thinking group exploring fascinating topics, including AI and labor markets. Enjoyed discussing Anna’s paper on class gaps last fall—delighted to return!

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Reposted by Raffaella Sadun

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · Apr 7

"deep expertise combined with the social skills and self-awareness to know your own weaknesses is a winning combination in the AI-fueled labor market of the future" - cool new results AI's contribution to problem-solving forklightning.substack.com/p/ai-human-t...

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Reposted by Raffaella Sadun, Alex Imas

Ben Golub @bengolub.bsky.social · Apr 7

Look at the structure of modern supply networks.

Most of these sourcing relationships cross borders.

And most of these relationships operate on low margins. That means big tariffs will shut down a considerable number of them.

3/

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Reposted by Raffaella Sadun

Rohan Sandhu @rohansandhu.bsky.social · Mar 25

[email protected], @raffasadun.bsky.social, et al study 776 P&G employees & find large effects of #AI on collaboration & expertise: individuals w/ AI match the performance of teams without AI, produce more balanced solutions, & report positive emotions on the job papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

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Reposted by Raffaella Sadun

Diane Coyle @dianecoyle1859.bsky.social · Mar 21

V nice paper, cited in my new book (along with much more about what economic statistics are missing these) 🙂: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

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Raffaella Sadun @raffasadun.bsky.social · Mar 12

Welcome Marty!

Reposted by Núria Rodríguez‐Planas, Raffaella Sadun, C. Kirabo Jackson , and 4 more Núria Rodríguez‐Planas, Raffaella Sadun, C. Kirabo Jackson, Ingo E. Isphording, Simon Wiederhold, Stefan Bauernschuster, Andreas Haupt

Ludger Woessmann @woessmann.bsky.social · Mar 6

🚨 Thrilled that our 🆕 paper
“Age and Cognitive Skills: Use It or Lose It”
just came out in #ScienceAdvances @science.org

💡 Longitudinal evidence: age pattern of literacy+numeracy not as bleak as cross-section suggests + strongly differs by skill usage

www.science.org/doi/full/10....

🧵A thread
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Reposted by Andreas Peichl, Raffaella Sadun, Lindsey Macmillan , and 4 more Andreas Peichl, Raffaella Sadun, Lindsey Macmillan, Jens Ruhose, Guido Heineck, Simon Wiederhold, Paolo Brunori

Ludger Woessmann @woessmann.bsky.social · Mar 4

📢 Call for papers: 📢

@cesifo.org Area Conference on Economics of Education
(co-organized with Rick Hanushek)

5-6 Sept 2025, Munich

Keynote: @raffasadun.bsky.social

👉 www.cesifo.org/en/event/202...

Submission deadline: 18 May 2025

Past programs: sites.google.com/view/woessma...

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Raffaella Sadun @raffasadun.bsky.social · Feb 13

Deadline for submission for the NBER Organizational Economics Working Group is tomorrow, send us your best work!

Raffaella Sadun @raffasadun.bsky.social · Jan 3

The call for papers for the NBER Organizational Economics Working group (April 10-11 2025) is out!

If you have a paper you would like considered for presentation, please upload it to this link by 11:59 pm ET on February 14, 2025: conference.nber.org/confsubmit/b...

Pls retweet (or reskeet?)

Submission: Organizational Economics Working Group, Page 1 of 2 - MyNBERNBER: National Bureau of Economic Research

conference.nber.org

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Raffaella Sadun @raffasadun.bsky.social · Jan 28

One of the most beautiful strategy/org stories ever, told by the very protagonist. Strongly recommend this episode of acquired with Morris Chang. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

TSMC Founder Morris Chang

Podcast Episode · Acquired · 01/27/2025 · 2h 55m

podcasts.apple.com

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Reposted by Raffaella Sadun

Heidi L. Williams @heidiwilliams.bsky.social · Jan 16

Apply by 6-Feb: NBER Innovation Research Boot Camp, July 11-17

With support from Open Philanthropy:

- classes: Pierre Azoulay, Kevin Bryan, Ina Ganguli, Ben Jones, Chad Jones, Kyle Myers, and me

- panel: Matt Clancy, Dylan Matthews, Caleb Watney

- keynotes: Glenn Hubbard & Ronnie Chatterji

NBER @nber.org · Jan 15

Open call for applications, NBER Innovation Research Boot Camp 2025. Bootcamp to be held in Cambridge, MA on July 11-17, 2025. Submit applications by 11:59pm EDT on February 6, 2025. More information: https://www.nber.org/calls-papers-and-proposals/nber-innovation-research-boot-camp-2025

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Raffaella Sadun @raffasadun.bsky.social · Jan 15

We found this was happening in the early stages of covid, would be interesting to see if trends continued afterwards www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The impact of COVID-19 on digital communication patterns - Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications - The impact of COVID-19 on digital communication patterns

www.nature.com

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