Organizational Economics Working Group
Organized by Raffaella Sadun and Andrea Prat
November 12-13, 2026
Royal Sonesta Hotel, Grand Ballroom B, 40 Edwin H. Land Blvd., Cambridge, MA
Format: 25 minutes for the paper presenter, 10 minutes for the discussant, 15 minutes for Q&A.
Thursday, November 12
8:30 am
Continental Breakfast
9:00 am

Why Join the Union? Free-riding and Gift-exchange among Health Care Workers

Niharika Singh, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
Suresh Naidu, Columbia University and NBER
Nikita Raheja, Columbia University
Aaron Sojourner, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

Discussant:
Anna M. Stansbury, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
9:50 am

Dual Career Ladders: Individual Contributors in Modern Corporate Hierarchies

Nicola Bianchi, Northwestern University and NBER
Jiarui Cao, Northwestern University
Benjamin Friedrich, Northwestern University
Kieu-Trang Nguyen, University of Melbourne

Discussant:
Kelly Shue, Yale University and NBER
10:40 am
Break
11:10 am

Bureaucratic Deliberation and Performance: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Benin

Shan Aman-Rana, University of Virginia
Leonard Wantchekon, Princeton University and NBER
Lazare Kovo, Emory University

Discussant:
Erika Deserranno, Bocconi University
12:00 pm

AI Enabled Performance Monitoring and Accountability in Public Procurement

Pablo A. Celhay, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
Paul Gertler, University of California, Berkeley and NBER
Marcelo Olivares, Universidad de Chile
Raimundo Undurraga, Universidad de Chile
Piero Zanocco, University of California, Davis

Discussant:
Decio Coviello, HEC Montreal
12:50 pm
Lunch - Grand Ballroom A
1:50 pm

Why Don’t Old Firms Do New Things?

Nicolas Crouzet, Northwestern University
Zhiguo He, Stanford University and NBER
Victor Lyonnet, University of Michigan
Yueran Ma, The University of Chicago and NBER

Discussant:
Alex X. He, University of Maryland, College Park
2:40 pm

Canaries in the Gold Mine: Early Productivity Gains from Artificial Intelligence Creating Organization Capital

Tania Babina, University of Maryland, College Park and NBER
Alex X. He, University of Maryland, College Park
Renhao Jiang, University of Maryland, College Park

Discussant:
Daniel Rock, University of Pennsylvania
3:30 pm
Break
4:00 pm

Simple Contracts for Busy Firms: Evidence from a Supply Chain Experiment

Hao Chen, The University of Hong Kong (HKU)
Guojun He, The University of Hong Kong (HKU)
Qinrui Xiahou, The University of Hong Kong (HKU)

Discussant:
Namrata Kala, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NBER
4:50 pm

Optimal Project Management

Alessandro Bonatti, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Doruk Cetemen, Luiss University
Juuso Toikka, University of Pennsylvania

Discussant:
Erik Madsen, New York University
5:40 pm
A Tribute to John Roberts
6:15 pm
Adjourn
6:30 pm
Group Reception & Dinner - Royal Sonesta Hotel, Parkview Room
Friday, November 13
8:30 am
Continental Breakfast
9:00 am

Communicating about Endogenous Issues

Elliot Lipnowski, Yale University
Doron Ravid, University of Michigan

Discussant:
Ricardo Alonso, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
9:50 am

The Firm as a Cultivator of Internal Relationships: How Rotation Supports Favor Exchanges in Organizations

Nicholas Argyres, Washington University in St. Louis
Giorgio Zanarone, University of Lausanne

Discussant:
Daniel V. Barron, Northwestern University
10:40 am
Break
11:10 am

Hidden Discrimination in Frictional Labor Markets

Elisa Macchi, Brown University
Claude Raisaro, Geneva Graduate Institute

Discussant:
Laura E. Boudreau, Columbia University and NBER
12:00 pm

Managers and the Persistence of Productivity

Aroon Narayanan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Roi Orzach, Boston University

Discussant:
Wouter Dessein, Columbia University
12:50 pm
Working Lunch and Guest Speaker
Justine Hastings, Chief AI Economist at Auger
1:50 pm
Adjourn