The three most recent downturns, in contrast with other post-war recessions, are characterized by slow recoveries in employment despite positive economic growth. I find that recent recoveries coincide with high uncertainty about economy-wide corporate profits at a time when output begins to...

We conduct an experimental test of the long-standing conjecture that autonomy increases motivation and task performance. Subjects face a menu consisting of two projects: risky and safe. The probability that the risky project succeeds depends on the subject's effort. In one treatment, subjects...

Leaders are often thought to meaningfully influence the performance of the organizations they lead. However, considerable research suggests that their impact on organizational performance might actually be minimal. These claims of leader irrelevance pose a puzzle: If leaders are relatively...