History - Publications - Faculty & Research

19 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

Political Turmoil and Mexico’s Economy

What happens to a country's economy when its government is politically unstable, such as has been the case historically in Mexico? Can business get done under a strong-arm dictatorship, or when a government is too weak to protect the rights of its citizens? In research... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

1997
Book

Creating Modern Capitalism: How Entrepreneurs, Companies, and Countries Triumphed in Three Industrial Revolutions

Keywords: Economic Systems; History

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June 1, 2025
Article

How Universities Die: It Has Happened Before in Centers of Learning Such as Berlin and Beijing. Is Boston Next?

By: William C. Kirby

Keywords: Business Admnistration; University; University Administration; Harvard University; Higher Education; History; Boston

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June 2008 (Revised October 2008)
Background Note

Primer on the U.S. Television Industry

This case provides background on the U.S. TV industry at the end of the 20th century. View Details

Keywords: History; Television Entertainment; Telecommunications Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

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23 Feb 2016
News

We Asked Rosabeth Moss Kanter

1994
Article

Big Business, Management and Competitiveness in Twentieth Century Britain

By: G. Jones

Keywords: Management; Business Ventures; Competition; Business History; Great Britain

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September 2002
Case

World Trade Organization, The

By: David A. Moss and Nick Bartlett

Explores the origins and workings of the World Trade Organization (WTO), focusing particular attention on the special challenges of trade liberalization at the dawn of the 21st century. View Details

Keywords: Trade; Business History; Problems and Challenges

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June 2008 (Revised September 2019)
Case

Yataro Iwasaki: Founding Mitsubishi (A)

By: Geoffrey Jones, Masako Egawa and Mayuka Yamazaki

Considers the entrepreneurial career of the founder of Mitsubishi, Yataro Iwasaki, who built a large shipping company against the opposition of powerful Western incumbents. Although sometimes supported by the Japanese government, and often times opposed, the case... View Details

Keywords: History; Leadership; Business History; Organizational Structure; Entrepreneurship; Business and Government Relations; Japan

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spring 1990
Article

Contrived Competition: Airline Regulation and Deregulation, 1925-88

By: R. H.K. Vietor

Keywords: Competition; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business History; Air Transportation Industry

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economies, including issues of corporate reputation and responsibility in business. Right now I’m working on business involvement in education CSR initiatives, using the unique dataset from the Business History Initiative’s Creating... View Details

22 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Not Your Father’s State-Run Capitalism

Once upon a time, there were two kinds of businesses. On the one hand, there were public and privately owned companies such as those that existed in Western-style democracies, which had boards of directors and accountability to shareholders, and competed openly in the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

28 Feb 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Colonial Land Tenure, Electoral Competition and Public Goods in India

Keywords: by Abhijit Banerjee & Lakshmi Iyer

19 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

Alfred Chandler on the Electronic Century

Consider the title. "The Electronic Century" is the twenty-first century. The "inventing" refers to the creation of the technological and institutional foundations—the "infrastructure"—during the latter decades of the twentieth century,... View Details

Keywords: by Alfred D. Chandler, Takashi Hikino & Andrew Von Nordenflycht; Computer; Consumer Products; Electronics; Manufacturing; Technology

1984
Chapter

The Theory of Corporate Finance: A Historical Overview

By: Michael Jensen and Clifford W. Smith Jr.

Keywords: History; Theory; Corporate Finance

Citation

SSRN

June 2015
Article

Looking Beyond Mau Mau: Archiving Violence in the Era of Decolonization

By: Caroline M. Elkins

Keywords: History; Information; Knowledge Sharing; United Kingdom

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2019
Chapter

The Great Divergence and the Great Convergence

By: Geoffrey Jones

This chapter provides a new lens to the extensive debate among economists and economic historians concerning why the West grew rich and the rest of the world lagged behind as modern industrialization took hold in the 19th century. The literature has focused heavily on... View Details