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Felix Oberholzer-Gee

Professor of Business Administration

Contact (617) 495-6770
Overview Biography Publications & Course Materials Current Research Areas of Interest

Published Papers

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, Joel Waldfogel, and Matthew White. "Friend or Foe? Cooperation and Learning in High-Stakes Games." The Review of Economics and Statistics (forthcoming).

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Joel Waldfogel. "Media Markets and Localism: Does Local News en Espaņol Boost Hispanic Voter Turnout?" American Economic Review 99, no. 5 (December 2009).

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Reiner Eichenberger. "Fairness in Extended Dictator-Game Experiments." Art. 16. B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy 8, no. 1 (July 2008).

Fan, Joseph P.H., Jun Huang, Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Troy D. Smith, and Mengxin Zhao. "Diversification of Chinese Companies: An International Comparison." Chinese Management Studies 2, no. 1 (2008): 3-13. Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic comparison of the level of business diversification in China and eight other large economies for the 2001-2005 period. The reasons why publicly listed Chinese firms are more diversified than companies elsewhere are investigated.
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Oberholzer-Gee, Felix. "Nonemployment Stigma as Rational Herding: A Field Experiment." Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 65, no. 1 (January 2008): 30-40. Abstract

Long spells of unemployment are known to reduce the likelihood of re-employment, but it is difficult to discern the reasons for this observation. Using an experimental method that controls for search intensity and possible discouragement of job applicants, I document that job market opportunities for the nonemployed diminish rapidly over time. In this experiment, duration dependence is solely due to firm perceptions. Why do firms view long spells of nonemployment as negative signals? Rational herding is one important factor. Managers believe that unemployed applicants were previously interviewed, and if the applicants were productive, they would have been hired.
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Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Koleman Strumpf. "The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales: An Empirical Analysis." Journal of Political Economy 115, no. 1 (February 2007): 1-42.

Leuz, Christian, and Felix Oberholzer-Gee. "Political Relationships, Global Financing and Corporate Transparency: Evidence from Indonesia." Journal of Financial Economics 81, no. 3 (September 2006): 411-439.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Dennis Yao. "Strategy Frameworks and Teaching Antitrust to Business Students." Antitrust 21, no. 1 (fall 2006): 13-15.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix. "A Market for Time: Fairness and Efficiency in Waiting Lines." Kyklos 59, no. 3 (August 2006): 427-440.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Miki Mitsunari. "Information Regulation: Do the Victims of Externalities Pay Attention?" Journal of Regulatory Economics 30, no. 2 (August 2006): 141-158.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Joel Waldfogel. "Strength in Numbers: Group Size and Political Mobilization." Journal of Law and Economics 48, no. 1 (April 2005): 73-91.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Noorein Inamdar. "Merck's Recall of Rofecoxib: A Strategic Perspective." New England Journal of Medicine 351, no. 21 (November 18 2004): 2147-2149.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Hannelore Weck-Hannemann. "Pricing Road Use: Politico-economic and Fairness Considerations." Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 7, no. 5 (September 2002): 357-371.

Strumpf, Koleman, and Felix Oberholzer-Gee. "Endogenous Policy Decentralization: Testing the Central Tenet of Economic Federalism." Journal of Political Economy 110, no. 1 (February 2002): 1-36.

Frey, Bruno S., and Felix Oberholzer-Gee. "The Cost of Price Incentives: An Empirical Analysis of Motivation Crowding-Out." American Economic Review 87, no. 4 (September 1997): 746-755.

Frey, Bruno S., Felix Oberholzer-Gee, and Reiner Eichenberger. "The Old Lady Visits Your Backyard: A Tale of Morals and Markets." Journal of Political Economy 104, no. 6 (December 1996).

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Bruno S. Frey. "Fair Siting Procedures - An Empirical Analysis of Their Importance and Characteristics." Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 15, no. 3 (summer 1996). (Winner of the 1997 Raymond Vernon Prize for outstanding article.)

Book Chapters

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix and Howard Kunreuther. "Social Pressures in Siting Conflicts: A Case Study of Siting a Radioactive Waste Repository in Pennsylvania." In Managing Conflict in Facility Siting, edited by S. Hayden Lesbirel and Daigee Shaw. Northampton, Mass.: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2005.

Other Papers

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Koleman Strumpf. "File-Sharing and Copyright." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 09-132, May 2009.

Fong, Christina, and Felix Oberholzer-Gee. "Truth in Giving: Experimental Evidence on the Welfare Effects of Informed Giving to the Poor." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 09-133, May 2009. Abstract

It is often difficult for donors to predict the value of charitable giving because they know little about the persons who receive their help.  This concern is particularly acute when making contributions to organizations that serve heterogeneous populations.  While we have considerable evidence that donors are more generous if they know their assistance benefits a preferred group, we know little about the demand for such information.  To start closing this gap, we study transfers of income to real-world poor people in the context of dictator games.  Our dictators can purchase signals about why the recipients are poor.  We find that a third of the dictators are willing to pay a dollar to learn more about their recipient.  Dictators who devote resources to acquiring information are individuals whose giving is particularly responsive to recipient type.  They use the information mainly to withhold resources from "undeserving" types, leading to a drastic decline in aggregate transfers.  With endogenous information about recipients, we find that all types of poor subjects are worse off.  Our results suggest that the effects of truth-in-giving policies are highly responsive to recipient heterogeneity and biased against more generous giving.


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Wulf, Julie, and Felix Oberholzer-Gee. "Earnings Management from the Bottom Up: An Analysis of Division Manager Incentives." Working Paper. Abstract

Performance-based pay is an important instrument to align the interests of managers with the interests of shareholders. However, recent evidence suggests that high-powered incentives also provide managers with incentives to manipulate the firm's reported earnings. The previous literature has focused on CEOs, but managers further down in the firm hierarchy are likely to have similar incentives – and perhaps even greater opportunity – to influence reported earnings in a manner that maximizes these managers’ personal income. Using various measures of earnings manipulation, including discretionary accounting accruals, end-of-year excess sales and class action litigation, we show that higher-powered incentives for division managers lead to greater accounting manipulation than similar changes for CEOs. One reason for the difference between CEOs and division managers is that divisions exhibit a marked tendency to increase accruals and end-of-year sales when the division's performance is far below target.
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Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Victor Calanog. "The Speed of New Ideas: Trust, Institutions and the Diffusion of New Products." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 07-063, 2007.

Elberse, Anita, and Felix Oberholzer-Gee. "Superstars and Underdogs: An Examination of the Long Tail Phenomenon in Video Sales." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 07-015, 2006. (Featured in HBS Working Knowledge.)

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Koleman Strumpf. "Brief Amici Curiae: Supreme Court of the United States, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc., et al., v. Grokster, Ltd., et al." No. 04-480, Counsel Press, 2005.

HBS Course Materials

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Julie M. Wulf. "Alibaba's Taobao (A)." Harvard Business School Case 709-456.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Julie M. Wulf. "Alibaba's Taobao (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 709-457.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Dennis A. Yao. "Amgen Inc.'s Epogen--Commercializing the First Biotech Blockbuster Drug." Harvard Business School Case 706-454.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix. "Amgen Inc.'s Epogen-Commercializing the First Biotech Blockbuster Drug (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 707-542.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, Tarun Khanna, and Carin-Isabel Knoop. "Apollo Hospitals--First-World Health Care at Emerging-Market Prices." Harvard Business School Case 706-440.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, Vincent Marie Dessain, Daniela Beyersdorfer, and Anders Sjoman. "Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer." Harvard Business School Case 706-441.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix. "Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 707-544.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, Dennis A. Yao, and Filipa Jorge. "Brighter Smiles for the Masses--Colgate vs. P&G." Harvard Business School Case 706-435.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix. "Brighter Smiles for the Masses--Colgate vs. P&G (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 707-545.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Alexa Arena. "Canyon Johnson Urban Fund." Harvard Business School Case 706-442.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix. "Canyon Johnson Urban Fund (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 707-546.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Carole Winkler. "Clear Channel Communications, Inc." Harvard Business School Case 707-523.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix. "Clear Channel Communications, Inc. (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 707-535.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix. "Dataset for "Clear Channel Communications, Inc." (CW)." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 707-811.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix. "Dataset for "Wal-Mart's Business Environment"." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 707-810.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix. "eDonkey--Deciding the Future of File Sharing." Harvard Business School Case 707-482.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix. "eDonkey--Deciding the Future of File Sharing (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 707-538.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, Dennis A. Yao, Patricia Wu, and Libby Cantrill. "Free the Grapes--Direct-to-Consumer Shipping in the Wine Industry." Harvard Business School Case 707-472.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Dennis A. Yao. "Game Theory and Business Strategy." Harvard Business School Note 705-471.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, Dennis A. Yao, and Elizabeth Raabe. "Goodyear and the Threat of Government Tire Grading." Harvard Business School Case 707-494.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Dennis A. Yao. "Goodyear and the Threat of Government Tire Grading (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 707-537.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, Tarun Khanna, and Elizabeth Raabe. "Lifan Group - Automobile Production in China." Harvard Business School Case 707-443.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix. "Lifan Group: Automobile Production in China (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 707-539.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, Dennis A. Yao, Libby Cantrill, and Patricia Wu. "Lobbying for Love? Southwest Airlines and the Wright Amendment." Harvard Business School Case 707-470.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix. "Lobbying for Love? Southwest Airlines and the Wright Amendment (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 707-536.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix. "Lobbying for Love? Southwest Airlines and the Wright Amendments (CW)." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 707-809.

Khanna, Tarun, Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Vincent Marie Dessain, Ane Damgaard Jensen, and Anders Sjoman. "Metro International S.A." Harvard Business School Case 708-429.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, Libby Cantrill, and Patricia Wu. "Note on Lobbying." Harvard Business School Note 707-471.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, Pai-Ling Yin, and Elizabeth Raabe. "Principles of Microeconomics for Strategists." Harvard Business School HBSP Online Case Products 705-801.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Pai-Ling Yin. "Principles of Microeconomics for Strategists - An Online Tutorial (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 706-494.

Hagiu, Andrei, Tarun Khanna, Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Masako Egawa, and Chisato Toyama. "Production I.G: Challenging the Status Quo." Harvard Business School Case 707-454.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, Tarun Khanna, David Lane, and Elizabeth Raabe. "Red Flag Software Co." Harvard Business School Case 706-428.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix. "Red Flag Software Co. (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 707-547.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Dennis A. Yao. "Strategies Beyond the Market." Harvard Business School Note 707-469.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Dennis A. Yao. "Strategies Beyond the Market--Course Note for Instructors." Harvard Business School Course Overview, Instructor Only 707-508.

Khanna, Tarun, Felix Oberholzer-Gee, and David Lane. "TCL Multimedia." Harvard Business School Case 705-502.

Khanna, Tarun, and Felix Oberholzer-Gee. "TCL Multimedia (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 707-440.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix. "UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action?" Harvard Business School Teaching Note 707-533.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, Forest L. Reinhardt, and Elizabeth Raabe. "UBS and Climate Change--Warming Up to Global Action?" Harvard Business School Case 707-511.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix. "Wal-Mart's Business Environment." Harvard Business School Case 706-453.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix. "Wal-Mart's Business Environment (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 707-541.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, Tarun Khanna, and Masako Egawa. "Yamato Transport: Valuing and Pricing Network Services (A)." Harvard Business School Case 704-475.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, Tarun Khanna, and Masako Egawa. "Yamato Transport: Valuing and Pricing Network Services (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 704-477.

Oberholzer-Gee, Felix. "Yamato Transport: Valuing and Pricing Network Services (TN) (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 706-445.