WBUR reporter Asma Khalid reports on how The Engine could help the Boston-area innovation ecosystem. Katie Rae, president and CEO of The Engine, explains that The Engine will support startups focused on tough technologies, which “take longer than most venture capital firms want to take bets on."
In an article for The Washington Post, Prof. David Singer examines how an overhaul of the H-1B visa program could impact the American job market. Singer writes that “restricting visas for highly skilled foreign workers could prompt high-tech firms in the United States to shift operations overseas in search of skilled labor.”
John Authers of the Financial Times writes about Prof. Stephen Ross, best known for the arbitrage pricing model, who died at age 73. Ross was "one of the world’s most respected financial economists,” writes Authers. “Exceptionally versatile, he had at least three insights each deserving of a Nobel citation.”
In an article for The Wall Street Journal about creating complementary work teams, Stu Woo highlights how Prof. Alex “Sandy” Pentland’s research group is trying to improve workplace relations by gathering data on how people interact. “Simply seeing the data encourages employees to adapt their behavior, such as trying to boost engagement among the more silent members,” Woo explains.
Prof. Stephen Ross, whose work helped reshape the field of financial economics, died at 73, reports Jessica Silver-Greenberg for The New York Times. Prof. Antoinette Schoar said that all of Ross’ “intellectually intricate finance theories were aimed at solving real-world problems,” adding this the models he developed were “both extremely elegant and extremely practical.”
Prof. Stephen Ross, a prize-winning professor known for his work developing the arbitrage pricing theory, died on March 3, reports Stephen Miller for Bloomberg News. Miller writes that Ross’ “work in the field of financial economics provided powerful contributions to both investment management and academic research.”
Senior Lecturer Hal Gregersen speaks with Atlantic reporter Bourree Lam about why CEOs need to listen to the people around them in order to be successful. Gregersen explains that if leaders don't “get out of their office and into the world with people they're not normally with, these forces of isolation tighten their grip often without them even knowing it.”
Katie Rae, president and CEO of The Engine, speaks with Meghna Chakrabarti of Radio Boston about her new role and why The Engine is aimed at addressing the gap between science and commercialization. Rae explains that The Engine will be focused on “investing very early into the translational stage for science-oriented startups.”
Writing for Fortune, Sloan Senior Lecturer Neal Hartman, explains that Uber must follow up their initial statements with actions to regain the trust of consumers and employees after recent sexual harassment allegations. High-trust companies create an atmosphere where “employees tend to be engaged with the company and where it is ok to voice a dissenting view.”
Katie Rae, CEO and president of The Engine, speaks with Boston Globe reporter Scott Kirsner about the new venture, which is aimed at supporting startups focused on “tough tech.” Rae says The Engine is “a very hopeful project in my mind — investing in important ideas over the long-term.”
An MIT study finds that online and in-store goods are sold at the same price 70 percent of the time, reports Meghan Woolhouse of The Boston Globe. Prof. Alberto Cavallo believes online and in store prices are typically the same because shoppers would likely react badly “to price differences for the same goods from the same retailer.”
Melvin Konner writes for The Wall Street Journal about new MIT research that shows mobile-money services helped lift at least 194,000 Kenyan households out of extreme poverty. The researchers found that the services significantly helped women, and estimated that mobile banking “induced 185,000 women to switch into business or retail” from farming, and increased saving.
Robert Gebelhoff writes for The Washington Post about a study by Prof. Tavneet Suri that shows mobile-money services helped reduce poverty in Kenya. The study “offers good evidence that having a place to put money that’s safe and easily accessible can make the lives of poor people considerably more efficient than cash-reliant economies,” Gebelhoff explains.
Nurith Aizenman reports for NPR on a new study that shows mobile banking can help lift people out of poverty. Prof. Tavneet Suri says she was “blown away” by the study’s results, which showed that women-led families with access to mobile-money services, “set aside 22 percent more in savings between 2008 and 2014.”
Boston Globe reporter Adam Vaccaro writes about MIT’s selection of Apple CEO Tim Cook to deliver the 2017 Commencement address. Vaccaro notes that, “Past MIT commencement speakers have included big names from the worlds of business, politics, and entertainment.”