Publications

26 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 26, 2017

report prepared by ex-U.S. attorney general Eric Holder on Uber's workplace culture, and how those recommendations will, or will not, help the company, and the role that the board has in shepherding in those... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2009 (Revised October 2011)
Case

Barack Obama and the Bush Tax Cuts (A)

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl and Eric D. Werker

As his inauguration approached, President-elect Obama faced a financial sector meltdown, a costly bailout, and massive government deficits. With the economy in recession, interest rates near zero, and joblessness on the rise, Obama needed to decide whether, and how... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Management; Policy; Government Administration; Taxation; United States

Educators

August 2012 (Revised March 2014)
Technical Note

4M: Four-Markets Analysis for Emerging Economies

By: Eric Werker

This technical note describes a methodology for evaluating the political economy of business-government relations in an emerging or frontier economy. The note argues that there are not one but four markets in an emerging economy: the market of "rentiers" such as mining... View Details

Keywords: Frontier Markets; Emerging Markets

Educators

2014
Working Paper

Profits and Economic Development

By: Dan Schwab and Eric Werker

Are rents, or excess profits, good for development? Using industry-level manufacturing data, this paper demonstrates a negative effect of rents, measured by the mark-up ratio, on productivity growth. The negative effect is strongest in poor countries, suggesting that... View Details

Keywords: Firm Performance; Rent; Mark-up; Competition; Manufacturing; Development Economics; Profit; Economic Growth; Renting or Rental

SSRN

25 Mar 2014
First Look

First Look: March 25

and Economic Development By: Schwab, Dan, and Eric Werker Abstract—Using industry-level manufacturing data, this paper demonstrates a negative effect of rents, measured by the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Past Issues - Alumni

ideas and trends that generated buzz in 2021—and could define 2022 New Wave Tapping the power of tides and waves to help power the planet is an attractive concept, but marine-energy companies have long been held back by issues ranging... View Details

07 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 7, 2009

multinational firms requires a similar fortitude. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-107.pdf Corporate Misgovernance at the World Bank Authors:Ashwin Kaja and Eric Werker Abstract We test... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

27 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 27

Structures Authors:Ranjay Gulati and Maxim Sytch Publication:In Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management/em>, edited by D. Teece and M. Augier. Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming Abstract During the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Working Paper

Developing the Guts of a GUT (Grand Unified Theory): Elite Commitment and Inclusive Growth

By: Lant Pritchett and Eric D. Werker

Two key unanswered questions in theories of growth are (a) why some countries successfully initiate episodes of rapid growth while others suffer extended stagnation and (b) why some countries are able to sustain growth episodes over many decades of rapid (or steady)... View Details

Keywords: Elite Commitment; Inclusive Growth; Status and Position; Rank and Position; Economic Growth

Web

Globalization - Faculty & Research

the Global Monetary System?" Chap. 7 in U.S.-China Relations for the 2030s: Toward a Realistic Scenario for Coexistence , edited by Chris Chivvis, C. Fred Bergsten, Edoardo Campanella, John Culver, Rosemary Foot, M. Taylor Fravel, View Details

28 Feb 2012
First Look

First Look: Feb. 28

School Case 712-011 An abstract is unavailable at this time. Purchase this case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/410003-PDF-ENG Liberia Eric Werker and Jasmina BeganovicHarvard Business School Case... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

19 Jan 2016
First Look

January 19, 2016

emphasize users over producers. Large parts of the knowledge economy now routinely rely on users, communities, and open innovation approaches to solve important technological and organizational problems. This view of innovation, pioneered View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Dec 2012
First Look

First Look: Dec. 11

individuals, subgroups, and teams perform. Paper: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/books.htm?issn=1534-0856&volume=15 The Political Economy of Bilateral Foreign Aid Author:Werker, Eric D. Publication:In... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 21

well-established organizations to act in new ways is never easy. This book is designed to support business leaders and organizational scholars who are grappling with this challenge by pulling together leading-edge insights from some of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 22

and overly restricting access to credit and consumer choice. Nicolas Retsinas, Eric Belsky, and their colleagues aim to stimulate debate based on analysis of the opportunities and challenges presented by the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Article

Financial Shame Spirals: How Shame Intensifies Financial Hardship

By: Joe J. Gladstone, Jon M. Jachimowicz, Adam Eric Greenberg and Adam D. Galinsky

Financial hardship is an established source of shame. This research explores whether shame is also a driver and exacerbator of financial hardship. Six experimental, archival, and correlational studies (N = 9,110)—including data from customer bank account histories and... View Details

Keywords: Financial Hardship; Financial Decision-making; Shame; Guilt; Personal Finance; Financial Condition; Decision Making; Emotions

Find at Harvard

July 2009
Article

How Is Foreign Aid Spent? Evidence from a Natural Experiment

By: Eric D. Werker, Faisal Z. Ahmed and Charles Cohen

We use oil price fluctuations to test the impact of transfers from wealthy OPEC nations to their poorer Muslim allies. The instrument identifies plausibly exogenous variation in foreign aid. We investigate how aid is spent by tracking its short-run effect on aggregate... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Aid; Money

Find at Harvard

2012
Working Paper

Unobserved State Fragility and the Political Transfer Problem

By: Faisal Z. Ahmed and Eric Werker

Autocrats experiencing a windfall in unearned income may find it optimal to donate to other countries some of the windfall in order to make the state a less attractive prize to potential insurgents. We put forward a model that makes that prediction, as well as the... View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Non-Renewable Energy; International Relations; Economics