Hiram Samel

Hiram Samel is a PhD candidate in the Institute for Work and Employment Research at MIT's Sloan School of Management. His research focuses on the relationships between consumption markets, production paradigms and work organization and how these relationships affects the development of capabilities and related growth at the individual, firm and state level. He is presently examining how consumption markets shape production in the electronics industry leading to persistent labor standards issues. As part of this project, he is also investigating whether a government's purposeful tightening of labor supply leads to upskilling and upgrading.

In addition to work in newly industrializing countries, Hiram is also looking at the organizational challenges young firms face in scaling novel technology in the renewable energy sector. Given the commodity nature of energy, these firms face a tremendous tension between the need for innovation and cost-reduction. 

Hiram has an A.B. from Brown and a S.M. from MIT. He was an entrepreneur for twenty years before embarking on a PhD. He is a director and advisor to many local profit and non-profit organizations in the Boston area.