Tom Nicholas
William J. Abernathy Professor of Business Administration
William J. Abernathy Professor of Business Administration
Entrepreneurial Management
Tom Nicholas is William J. Abernathy Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He is British and holds a doctorate from Oxford University. His research focuses on the history of entrepreneurship, innovation and finance. His book (VC: An American History), examines the historical roots of the development of the venture capital industry in the United States. He currently teaches a second year elective course: The Coming of Managerial Capitalism, which examines entrepreneurship, innovation, finance and business development in the United States over the past 240 years. He serves on the the Faculty Advisory Council to the Harvard University Library.
- Working Papers
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- Nicholas, Tom, and Hiroshi Shimizu. "Health, Human Capital Development and the Longevity of Japanese Elites Since 710." Working Paper, June 2024. View Details
- Akcigit, Ufuk, John Grigsby, and Tom Nicholas. "The Rise of American Ingenuity: Innovation and Inventors of the Golden Age." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 17-063, January 2017. (Revised June 2017.) View Details
- Books
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- Nicholas, Tom. VC: An American History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2019. (Chinese Edition: 风投 看懂巨头的投资倾向 汤姆·尼古拉斯 著 中信出版社, Beijing: CITIC Press, 2020; Japanese Edition: ベンチャーキャピタル全史 トム・ニコラス, Shinchosha Publishing, 2022.) View Details
- Journal Articles and Edited Volumes
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- Nicholas, Tom. "Human Capital and the Managerial Revolution in the United States: Evidence from General Electric." Review of Economics and Statistics (forthcoming). (Pre-published online November 29, 2023.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Status and Mortality: Is There a Whitehall Effect in the United States?" Economic History Review 76, no. 3 (August 2023): 1191–1230. View Details
- Akcigit, Ufuk, John Grigsby, Tom Nicholas, and Stefanie Stantcheva. "Taxation and Innovation in the 20th Century." Quarterly Journal of Economics 137, no. 1 (February 2022): 329–385. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "How History Shaped the Innovator's Dilemma." Business History Review 95, no. 1 (Spring 2021): 121–148. View Details
- Akcigit, Ufuk, and Tom Nicholas. "History, Micro Data, and Endogenous Growth." Annual Review of Economics 11 (2019): 615–633. View Details
- Akcigit, Ufuk, John Grigsby, and Tom Nicholas. "Immigration and the Rise of American Ingenuity." American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings 107, no. 5 (May 2017): 327–331. View Details
- Burton, M. Diane, and Tom Nicholas. "Prizes, Patents and the Search for Longitude." Explorations in Economic History 64 (April 2017): 21–36. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "The Origins of High-Tech Venture Investing in America." In Financial Market History: Reflections on the Past for Investors Today, edited by David Chambers and Elroy Dimson, 227–241. CFA Institute Research Foundation, 2016. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "The Organization of Enterprise in Japan." Journal of Economic History 75, no. 2 (June 2015): 333–363. View Details
- Nanda, Ramana, and Tom Nicholas. "Did Bank Distress Stifle Innovation During the Great Depression?" Journal of Financial Economics 114, no. 2 (November 2014): 273–292. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Are Patents Creative or Destructive?" Antitrust Law Journal 79, no. 2 (2014): 405–421. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Technology, Innovation and Economic Growth in Britain Since 1870." Chap. 7, Vol. 2 of The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain. New ed. Edited by Roderick Floud, Jane Humphries, and Paul Johnson, 181–204. Cambridge University Press, 2014. View Details
- Moser, Petra, and Tom Nicholas. "Prizes, Publicity, and Patents: Non-Monetary Awards as a Mechanism to Encourage Innovation." Journal of Industrial Economics 61, no. 3 (September 2013): 763–788. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and Anna Scherbina. "Real Estate Prices During the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression." Real Estate Economics 41, no. 2 (Summer 2013): 278–309. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and Hiroshi Shimizu. "Intermediary Functions and the Market for Innovation in Meiji and Taisho Japan." Business History Review 87, no. 1 (Spring 2013): 121–150. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Hybrid Innovation in Meiji Japan." International Economic Review 54, no. 2 (May 2013): 575–600. View Details
- Brunt, Liam, Josh Lerner, and Tom Nicholas. "Inducement Prizes and Innovation." Journal of Industrial Economics 60, no. 4 (December 2012): 657–696. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Did R&D Firms Used to Patent? Evidence from the First Innovation Surveys." Journal of Economic History 71, no. 4 (December 2011): 1032–1059. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "What Drives Innovation?" Antitrust Law Journal 77, no. 3 (September 2011). View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Independent Invention During the Rise of the Corporate Economy in Britain and Japan." Economic History Review 64, no. 2 (August 2011). View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "The Origins of Japanese Technological Modernization." Explorations in Economic History 48, no. 2 (April 2011): 272–291. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Cheaper Patents." Research Policy 40, no. 2 (March 2011). View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "The Role of Independent Invention in U.S. Technological Development, 1880-1930." Journal of Economic History 70, no. 1 (March 2010). View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Spatial Diversity in Invention: Evidence from the Early R&D Labs." Journal of Economic Geography 9, no. 1 (January 2009). View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Innovation Lessons from the 1930s." McKinsey Quarterly (January 2009). View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Does Innovation Cause Stock Market Runups? Evidence from the Great Crash." American Economic Review 98, no. 4 (September 2008): 1370–1396. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Enterprise and Management." In The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain, edited by Paul Johnson and Roderick Floud. Cambridge University Press, 2004. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and Petra Moser. "Was Electricity a General Purpose Technology: Evidence from Historical Patent Citations." American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings 94, no. 2 (May 2004). View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Stock Market Swings and the Value of Innovation, 1908–1929." In Financing Innovation in the United States, 1870 to Present, edited by Naomi R. Lamoreaux and Kenneth L. Sokoloff. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Why Schumpeter Was Right: Innovation, Market Power and Creative Destruction in 1920s America." Journal of Economic History 63, no. 4 (December 2003). View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Businessmen and Land Ownership in the Late Nineteenth Century Revisited." Economic History Review 53, no. 4 (November 2000). View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Wealth Making in the Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century: The Rubinstein Hypothesis Revisited." Business History 42, no. 2 (April 2000). View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Clogs to Clogs in Three Generations? Explaining Entrepreneurial Performance in Britain Since 1850." Journal of Economic History 59, no. 3 (September 1999). View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Businessmen and Land Ownership in the Late Nineteenth Century." Economic History Review 52, no. 1 (February 1999): 27–44. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Wealth-Making in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Britain: Industry v. Commerce and Finance." Business History 41, no. 1 (January 1999). View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, Elisa Boccaletti, and James Foreman-Peck. "Entrepreneurs and Business Performance in Nineteenth Century France." European Review of Economic History (December 1998). View Details
- Cases and Teaching Materials
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- Nicholas, Tom, and James Weber. "Air Wars: Deregulating the U.S. Airline Industry." Harvard Business School Case 823-033, August 2022. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and John Masko. "A Soul and a Service: North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance." Harvard Business School Case 823-032, July 2022. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, Boyang Han, and Tomas Rosales. "Chinese Restriction, Violence, and Exclusion in the United States." Harvard Business School Case 822-091, January 2022. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and John Masko. "Barbarians at the Gate or Turnaround Gurus? Private Equity and the Rise of the LBO." Harvard Business School Case 821-016, February 2021. (Revised June 2021.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and Christian Godwin. "When Institutions Fail: HIV/AIDS in the 1980s." Harvard Business School Case 821-002, October 2020. (Revised April 2022.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and John Masko. "The Origins of Bell Labs." Harvard Business School Case 820-081, January 2020. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, John Masko, and Matthew G. Preble. "Reaganomics: Impact and Legacy." Harvard Business School Case 819-007, April 2019. (Revised April 2020.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, John Masko, and Matthew G. Preble. "Jay Gould, 'The Most Hated Man in America'." Harvard Business School Case 819-006, January 2019. (Revised February 2020.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, Ramana Nanda, and Benjamin N. Roth. "Masayoshi Son and the Vision Fund." Harvard Business School Case 819-041, October 2018. (Revised February 2018.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and Sophie Kainen. "The Gender Gap In U.S. History." Harvard Business School Background Note 819-051, September 2018. (Revised March 2019.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and Ross Bloom. "Revitalizing the Cherokee Nation Health System." Harvard Business School Case 818-123, April 2018. View Details
- Krieger, Joshua Lev, Tom Nicholas, and Matthew Preble. "The 'Wonder Drug' That Killed Babies." Harvard Business School Case 818-044, November 2017. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, Christopher Stanton, and Matthew Preble. "Edwin Land: The Art and Science of Innovation." Harvard Business School Case 817-107, March 2017. (Revised May 2018.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, Christopher T. Stanton, and Matthew Preble. "The Flint, Michigan Sit-Down Strike." Harvard Business School Case 817-005, February 2017. (Revised May 2018.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and Jonas Peter Akins. "Whaling Ventures." Harvard Business School Case 813-086, October 2012. (Revised February 2019.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and Matthew G. Preble. "Michael Milken: The Junk Bond King." Harvard Business School Case 816-050, March 2016. (Revised May 2021.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and Matthew G. Preble. "George Washington and the Foundations of American Democracy." Harvard Business School Case 816-019, August 2015. (Revised January 2022.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, David Chambers, and Matthew G. Preble. "Silicon Fen." Harvard Business School Case 815-082, June 2015. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and Casey Verkamp. "Samuel Colt: An American Gun Maker." Harvard Business School Case 815-061, September 2014. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and Jonas Peter Akins. "Napalm: From Soldiers Field to Trang Bang." Harvard Business School Case 815-060, November 2014. View Details
- Hardymon, G. Felda, Tom Nicholas, Toby Stuart, and Noah Fisher. "OvaScience." Harvard Business School Case 815-058, September 2014. View Details
- Hardymon, Felda, Tom Nicholas, and Vasiliki Fouka. "Venture Capital at the Harvard Management Company in Historical Perspective." Harvard Business School Case 815-047, July 2014. View Details
- Hardymon, Felda, Tom Nicholas, and Liz Kind. "Don Valentine and Sequoia Capital." Harvard Business School Case 814-096, April 2014. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and Vasiliki Fouka. "John D. Rockefeller: The Richest Man in the World." Harvard Business School Case 815-088, December 2014. (Revised March 2018.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and Matthew Guilford. "Samuel Slater & Francis Cabot Lowell: The Factory System in U.S. Cotton Manufacturing." Harvard Business School Case 814-065, January 2014. (Revised July 2016.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "18 Months in a Startup: Zaggora.com." Harvard Business School Case 813-140, February 2013. View Details
- Hardymon, Felda, and Tom Nicholas. "New Enterprise Associates." Harvard Business School Case 813-097, February 2013. View Details
- Hardymon, Felda, Tom Nicholas, and David Lane. "Greylock Partners." Harvard Business School Case 813-002, January 2013. (Revised April 2013.) View Details
- Hardymon, Felda, Tom Nicholas, and Liz Kind. "Arthur Rock." Harvard Business School Case 813-138, January 2013. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and James Lee. "The Origins and Development of Silicon Valley." Harvard Business School Case 813-098, January 2013. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
- Hardymon, Felda, and Tom Nicholas. "Kleiner-Perkins and Genentech: When Venture Capital Met Science." Harvard Business School Case 813-102, October 2012. (Revised March 2022.) View Details
- Lerner, Josh, and Tom Nicholas. "The Role of the Government in the Early Development of American Venture Capital." Harvard Business School Background Note 813-096, October 2012. (Revised July 2014.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and David Chen. "Al Capone." Harvard Business School Case 809-144, April 2009. (Revised June 2020.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and David Chen. "Bessemer Trust: Guardians of Capital." Harvard Business School Case 811-031, October 2010. (Revised June 2021.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and David Chen. "Georges Doriot and American Venture Capital." Harvard Business School Case 812-110, January 2012. (Revised August 2015.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and Felipe Tamega Fernandes. "Neoprene." Harvard Business School Case 810-084, December 2009. (Revised April 2012.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Neoprene (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 811-058, January 2011. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "The Coming of Managerial Capitalism: Overview." Harvard Business School Course Overview Note 811-033, January 2011. (Revised April 2023.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and David Chen. "The Whiz Kids." Harvard Business School Case 811-042, March 2011. (Revised April 2021.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and Laura Gaie Singleton. "Control Data Corporation and the Urban Crisis." Harvard Business School Case 808-096, November 2007. (Revised April 2022.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and David Chen. "Lehman Brothers." Harvard Business School Case 810-106, February 2010. (Revised September 2011.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Maidenform Bras." Harvard Business School Case 808-095, November 2007. (Revised March 2018.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Maiden in America (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 810-056, September 2009. (Revised January 2011.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and David Chen. "Dot.com: Online Pet Retailing." Harvard Business School Case 809-117, April 2009. (Revised December 2015.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Online Pet Supply Retailing (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 811-066, January 2011. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and David Chen. "The American Dream in History." Harvard Business School Background Note 808-134, April 2008. (Revised April 2022.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and Sandra Nicholas. "The Ice King." Harvard Business School Case 808-094, November 2007. (Revised February 2011.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "The Ice King (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 811-067, January 2011. (Revised February 2011.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, Ari Medoff, Raven Smith, and Sam Subramanian. "The Indian Removal Act and the 'Trail of Tears'." Harvard Business School Case 812-079, December 2011. (Revised February 2019.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and Andrew Ferguson. "The Travails of Rubber: Goodyear or Badyear?" Harvard Business School Case 808-118, February 2008. (Revised May 2011.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "The Travails of Rubber: Goodyear or Badyear? (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 811-057, January 2011. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and David Chen. "The Wright Brothers and Their Flying Machines." Harvard Business School Case 811-034, December 2010. (Revised March 2015.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "The Wright Brothers and their Flying Machines (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 811-063, January 2011. (Revised March 2011.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Trouble with a Bubble." Harvard Business School Case 808-067, August 2007. (Revised June 2020.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom. "Trouble with a Bubble (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 810-063, September 2009. (Revised January 2011.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, Lindsey Marshall, and Charles Anthony Miller. "Narragansett Brewing Company." Harvard Business School Case 811-028, October 2010. View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and David Chen. "Crosley." Harvard Business School Case 809-160, June 2009. (Revised April 2019.) View Details
- Nicholas, Tom, and David Chen. "Cincom Systems, Inc." Harvard Business School Case 808-084, February 2008. View Details
- Areas of Interest
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- entrepreneurship
- innovation
- intellectual property
- patents
- technological change
- business history
- family business
- financial services
- high technology
- Japan
- United Kingdom
- United States
Additional TopicsIndustriesGeographies