Research

Protecting customer data is more than a legal or IT obligation. It can be a meaningful driver of business growth. Researchers analyzed 360 real-world company announcements about new or improved privacy practices over 14 years. They found that markets consistently rewarded firms that took privacy seriously, especially companies that had previously experienced data breaches. For leaders, the message is clear: Make privacy visible, proactive and central to the customer experience, not just a back-office requirement.

Many executives view privacy regulation as a costly constraint, yet research across 24 countries shows it often delivers short‑term financial strain followed by long‑term performance gains. Companies face early compliance costs and operational friction, but over time these regulations can strengthen customer trust and improve outcomes—especially where institutions are strong and enforcement is credible. Privacy isn’t just a burden; it’s a strategic investment for leaders who think beyond the near term.

We study how policymakers should design subsidies that will or may eventually end. These considerations change what types of subsidy programs are most effective and how large the subsidies should be. We apply these insights to renewable energy subsidies for wind turbines.

Özgür M. Araz

Home health services have become a critical component of health care delivery, helping reduce pressure on hospitals. Effective delivery relies on generating optimal schedules and routes for daily patient visits and making the best use of providers’ time. This is a complex, computationally challenging problem that must be solved quickly to be practical.

We developed a dynamic home healthcare routing model that incorporates cooperating service providers, urgent requests and time-dependent travel times. We also designed new algorithms to handle multiple prioritized objectives. Our case study and experiments show that provider cooperation reduces postponed visits and travel time, while our algorithms deliver high-quality solutions within reasonable run times.

We use an advanced model of the global economy to consider a set of scenarios consistent with the proposal to impose a minimum 60% tariff against Chinese imports and blanket minimum 10% tariff against all other US imports. The basis for the tariff rates is a proposal from former President Elect Donald Trump. Our central finding is that a global trade war between the United States and the rest of the world at these tariff rates would cost the US economy over $910 billion.

This research introduces a methodological framework for analyzing strategic interactions in oligopoly settings where firms have private information on costs, further enhancing our understanding of competition and market behavior. The developed framework was applied to the crude-oil market, demonstrating its practical relevance.