Publications

November 2000
Case

WARDA: Leading a Rice Revolution in West Africa

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Cate Reavis

The West Africa Rice Development Association, along with various national and international partners, was developing and transferring new rice technologies to farmers throughout West and Central Africa. While production in West Africa was growing faster than any other... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Government and Politics; Technological Innovation; Leadership; Performance Effectiveness; Problems and Challenges; Research and Development; Nonprofit Organizations; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Africa

Find at Harvard

25 May 2016
Research & Ideas

How Consumers and Businesses are Reshaping Public Health

Editor's note. In the United States, a primary provider of health care is through employers. "Every corporation is a player in public health," writes John A. Quelch in a new book of case studies,... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch; Health

12 Dec 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 12, 2017

estimates suggest that following the release of SASB standards, the treatment group of firms increased SASB-identified sustainability disclosure relative to the control group... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2021
Article

To Thine Own Self Be True? Incentive Problems in Personalized Law

By: Jordan M. Barry, John William Hatfield and Scott Duke Kominers

Recent years have seen an explosion of scholarship on “personalized law.” Commentators foresee a world in which regulators armed with big data and machine learning techniques determine the optimal legal rule for every regulated party, then instantaneously disseminate... View Details

Keywords: Personalized Law; Regulation; Regulatory Avoidance; Regulatory Arbitrage; Law And Economics; Law And Technology; Law And Artificial Intelligence; Futurism; Moral Hazard; Elicitation; Signaling; Privacy; Law; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Information Technology; AI and Machine Learning

SSRN

January 2009
Background Note

Financial Networks and Informal Banking in China: From Pawnshops to Private Equity

By: Elisabeth Koll

Provides an analysis of why informal financial networks and institutions still play an extremely important role in China's economy in the 21st century. Although China has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, it still suffers from a weak... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Private Equity; Banks and Banking; Financing and Loans; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; State Ownership; Business and Government Relations; Networks; China

2011
Working Paper

Fiduciary Duties and Equity-Debtholder Conflicts

By: Bo Becker and Per Stromberg

We use an important legal event as a natural experiment to examine the effect of management fiduciary duties on equity-debt conflicts. A 1991 Delaware bankruptcy ruling changed the nature of corporate directors' fiduciary duties in firms incorporated in that state.... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Capital Structure; Equity; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Laws and Statutes; Conflict and Resolution; Welfare or Wellbeing; Delaware

18 Feb 2015
First Look

First Look: February 18

Freezeout Structure and Outcomes: Evidence on the Unified Approach By: Subramanian, Guhan, and Fernan Restrepo Abstract—Historically, Delaware corporate law provided different standards of judicial review for buyouts by View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2009
Working Paper

Banking Deregulations, Financing Constraints and Firm Entry Size

By: William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda

We examine the effect of US branch banking deregulations on the entry size of new firms using micro-data from the US Census Bureau. We find that the average entry size for startups did not change following the deregulations. However, among firms that survived at least... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Financing and Loans; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Market Entry and Exit; Banking Industry; United States

SSRN

October 2007 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Transforming Korea Inc: Financial Crisis and Institutional Reform

By: Laura Alfaro and Renee Kim

South Korea, as one of the Asian "tiger" economies, transformed itself into the world's 11th largest economy and major exporter by 1996, emerging from being one of the lowest income countries in the region back in the 1960s. Yet one year later in 1997, Korea was swept... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Financial Crisis; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Government Relations; South Korea

May 28, 2019
Other Article

How Russia Found a Disinformation Haven in America

By: Rawi Abdelal and Galit Goldstein

The Mueller Report established that “the Russians” undertook information operations campaigns to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Though this has been clear for a long time, Americans continue to discuss Russian information operations in the wrong way.... View Details

Keywords: Elections; Donald Trump; Political Elections; National Security; Information Technology; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Social Media; Russia; United States

11 Dec 2014
News

Fashion's Retail Revolution

limit. “The growth of interest in fashion and luxury products on campus has been tremendous,” he says. “The vast and rapid changes in retailing and technology are democratizing fashion and luxury,” Alvarez continues. “The age when fashion... View Details

Keywords: April White; fashion; Leather and Allied Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Finance

14 Nov 2019
Book

Lifting the Lid on Turkey's Hidden Business History

Turkey’s economic development story has always been something of a black box for scholars to understand, perhaps in part because many of the most successful business enterprises there have been in family hands and largely closed to public scrutiny. The authors of a new... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

09 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

The Entrepreneurs Who Invented Economic Forecasting

was simply too vast to be controlled in any meaningful way. Others thought differently—including Mitchell and Herbert Hoover. Hoover, who was Secretary of Commerce from 1921 to 1928 (when he began his... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

October 2009 (Revised October 2010)
Case

Cosan: Thinking Outside the Barrel

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Noel Maurer and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

The Cosan case introduces students and executive education participants to political economy and business strategy in the biofuels industry. Cosan, based in Brazil, is the largest grower and processor of sugarcane in the world and the largest sugar and ethanol producer... View Details

Keywords: Renewable Energy; Global Strategy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Industry Structures; Business and Government Relations; Business Strategy; Vertical Integration; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Energy Industry; Brazil

December 1999 (Revised April 2012)
Background Note

Earnings Per Share

By: David F. Hawkins

Discusses accounting rules for earnings per share measurement. The U.S. approach is described in detail and non-U.S. practices are briefly covered. A rewritten version of an earlier note. View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Stock Shares; Profit; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Measurement and Metrics; United States

March 2012
Article

Subprime Foreclosures and the 2005 Bankruptcy Reform

By: Donald Morgan, Benjamin Iverson and Matthew Botsch

This article presents arguments and evidence suggesting that the bankruptcy abuse reform (BAR) of 2005 may have been one contributor to the destabilizing surge in subprime foreclosures. Before BAR took effect, overly indebted borrowers could file bankruptcy to free up... View Details

Keywords: Mortgages; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Borrowing and Debt; United States

2003
Article

Closing the Loop: Product Take-back Requirements and their Strategic Implications

By: Michael W. Toffel

In Asia, Europe, and North America, regulators are seeking to reduce waste disposal and develop recycling markets by requiring manufacturers to manage the end-of-life disposition of products they produce. Such policies attempt to "close the loop" for products ranging... View Details

Keywords: Wastes and Waste Processing; Energy Conservation; Product Development; Strategy; Policy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Manufacturing Industry; Asia; Europe; North and Central America

September 2009 (Revised August 2012)
Case

Novasys Medical

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Lauren Barley

Novasys has developed a new medical device and procedure for the treatment of female stress urinary incontinence that is cheaper and can be performed in doctors' offices. In spite of FDA approval, the American Medical Association has been unwilling to approve the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Product Development; Business and Government Relations; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States