Christopher Stanton

Christopher Stanton is Marvin Bower Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit. He is responsible for the MBA elective course Managing the Future of Work and he also teaches in a variety of Executive Education programs. In addition to his position at HBS, Professor Stanton is a Faculty Research Fellow with The National Bureau of Economic Research, a Research Fellow with CESifo in Germany, and is affiliated with the Center for Economic Policy Research in the UK.

Professor Stanton's research provides insights into management practices that generate positive spillovers inside firms, while seeking to understand how technology is changing the ability to fragment work beyond traditional organizational boundaries. The same technological trends that enable the growth of remote work and the rise of the gig economy also improve the measurement of internal work outcomes, giving executives rich data to target incentives or productivity improvement programs. Professor Stanton seeks to understand the resulting managerial, organizational, and policy implications of these trends. Recent work also focuses on the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. Professor Stanton's research has been published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Review of Economic Studies, Management Science, the Journal of Labor Economics, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, among other outlets and it has been covered by major media outlets including The Economist, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Bloomberg.

Before joining HBS, Professor Stanton was an Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of Utah and an Assistant Professor of Managerial Economics and Strategy at the London School of Economics. He earned a Ph.D. in business administration from Stanford University and B.A. and M.A. degrees from Emory University.

AREAS OF INTEREST

• compensation
• digital economy
• distributed innovation
• entrepreneurship
• small company management

Education

• PhD Stanford University Graduate School of Business (2006 — 2011)
• MA Emory University (2004 — 2005)
• BA Emory University (2001 — 2005)

JOURNAL ARTICLES

• Stanton, Christopher, and Catherine Thomas. "The Gig Economy Beyond Local Services and Transportation." (pdf) CESifo Forum 21, no. 3 (September 2020): 21–26.
• Sandvik, Jason, Richard Saouma, Nathan Seegert, and Christopher Stanton. "Employee Responses to Compensation Changes: Evidence from a Sales Firm." (pdf) Management Science 67, no. 12 (December 2021).
• Dafny, Leemore S., Yin Wei Soon, Zoë Cullen, and Christopher T. Stanton. "How Has COVID-19 Affected Health Insurance Offered by Small Businesses in the U.S.? Early Evidence from a Survey." NEJM Catalyst (August 14, 2020). (Commentary.)
• Bartik, Alexander, Marianne Bertrand, Zoë B. Cullen, Edward L. Glaeser, Michael Luca, and Christopher Stanton. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Small Business Outcomes and Expectations." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117, no. 30 (July 28, 2020).
• Sandvik, Jason, Richard Saouma, Nathan Seegert, and Christopher Stanton. "Workplace Knowledge Flows." (pdf) Quarterly Journal of Economics 135, no. 3 (August 2020): 1635–1680.
• Lazear, Edward P., Kathryn L. Shaw, and Christopher Stanton. "Who Gets Hired? The Importance of Competition Among Applicants." (pdf) Journal of Labor Economics 36, no. S1 (January 2018): S133–S181.
• Chaudoin, Stephen, Zachary Peskowitz, and Christopher Stanton. "Beyond Zeroes and Ones: The Intensity and Dynamics of Civil Conflict." Journal of Conflict Resolution 61, no. 1 (January 2017): 56–83.
• Lazear, Edward P., Kathryn L. Shaw, and Christopher Stanton. "The Value of Bosses." (pdf) Journal of Labor Economics 33, no. 4 (October 2015): 823–861.
• Lazear, Edward P., Kathryn L. Shaw, and Christopher Stanton. "Making Do with Less: Working Harder During Recessions." (pdf) Journal of Labor Economics 34, no. S1 (January 2016): S333–S360.
• Stanton, Christopher, and Catherine Thomas. "Landing the First Job: The Value of Intermediaries in Online Hiring." (pdf) Review of Economic Studies 83, no. 2 (April 2016): 810–854.
• Ghani, Ejaz, William R. Kerr, and Christopher Stanton. "Diasporas and Outsourcing: Evidence from oDesk and India." (pdf) Management Science 60, no. 7 (July 2014): 1677–1697.

BOOK CHAPTERS

• Horton, John, William R. Kerr, and Christopher Stanton. "Digital Labor Markets and Global Talent Flows." (pdf) Chap. 3 in High-Skilled Migration to the United States and Its Economic Consequences, edited by Gordon H. Hanson, William R. Kerr, and Sarah Turner, 71–108. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2018.

WORKING PAPERS

• Stanton, Christopher, and Catherine Thomas. "Who Benefits from Online Gig Economy Platforms?" NBER Working Paper Series, No. 29477, November 2021.
• Sandvik, Jason, Richard Saouma, Nathan Seegert, and Christopher Stanton. "Treatment and Selection Effects of Formal Workplace Mentorship Programs." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 29148, August 2021.
• Chen, Zhuoqiong Charlie, Christopher Stanton, and Catherine Thomas. "Information Spillovers in Experience Goods Competition." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 28584, March 2021. (Minor Revise and Resubmit at Management Science.)
• Stanton, Christopher, and Pratyush Tiwari. "Housing Consumption and the Cost of Remote Work." (pdf) NBER Working Paper Series, No. 28483, February 2021.
• Bartik, Alexander, Zoë B. Cullen, Edward L. Glaeser, Michael Luca, Christopher Stanton, and Adi Sunderam. "The Targeting and Impact of Paycheck Protection Program Loans to Small Businesses." (pdf) Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-021, August 2020.
• Bartik, Alexander, Zoë Cullen, Edward L. Glaeser, Michael Luca, and Christopher Stanton. "What Jobs Are Being Done at Home During the COVID-19 Crisis? Evidence from Firm-Level Surveys." (pdf) Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-138, June 2020.
• Balla-Elliott, Dylan, Zoë B. Cullen, Edward L. Glaeser, Michael Luca, and Christopher Stanton. "Determinants of Small Business Reopening Decisions After COVID Restrictions Were Lifted." (pdf) NBER Working Paper Series, No. 27362, June 2020. (Revised August 2021. Forthcoming in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-132, June 2020)
• Ewens, Michael, Ramana Nanda, and Christopher Stanton. "The Evolution of CEO Compensation in Venture Capital Backed Startups." (pdf) Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-119, May 2020. (Revise and Resubmit at Journal of Finance .)
• Horton, John, William R. Kerr, and Christopher Stanton. "Digital Labor Markets and Global Talent Flows." (pdf) Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 17-096, May 2017.
• Dillon, Eleanor W., and Christopher T. Stanton. "Self-Employment Dynamics and the Returns to Entrepreneurship." (pdf) Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 17-022, September 2016. (Revised March 2018.)