For HBS Professor, Babies and Business Intersect

This week's "Spiritual Life" column in the Boston Globe features the work of Debora L. Spar, the Spangler family professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, and president-designate of Barnard College...

This week's "Spiritual Life" column in the Boston Globe features the work of Debora L. Spar, the Spangler family professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, and president-designate of Barnard College.

In her research, Spar, whose books include The Baby Business, explores the assisted-reproduction industry in the United States, considering both the numbers—$3 billion a year—and the ethical implications. She examines the attitudes of various religious traditions and the wider society toward treatments such as in-vitro fertilization and prenatal genetic testing, how these attitudes have developed over time, and what texts and historical customs have affected them.

Read more about Spar and her work in the Globe story—In Baby Business, What are the Rules?—or in a Harvard Magazine story from 2006.

Most popular

The Trouble with Sidechat

No one feels responsible for what happens on Harvard’s anonymous social media app.

A Cap on A’s at Harvard? Students and Faculty Raise Concerns at Town Hall

Dozens debate the grade inflation proposal that faculty will discuss next week.

Harvard’s Productivity Trap

What happened to doing things for the sake of enjoyment?

Explore More From Current Issue

Modern building surrounded by greenery and a walking path under a blue sky.

A New Landscape Emerges in Allston

The innovative greenery at Harvard’s Science and Engineering Complex

Graduates celebrate joyfully, wearing caps and gowns, with some waving and smiling.

Inside Harvard’s Most Egalitarian School

The Extension School is open to everyone. Expect to work—hard.

A person climbs a curved ladder against a colorful background and four vertical ladders.

Harvard’s Productivity Trap

What happened to doing things for the sake of enjoyment?