Publications

December 2017
Case

Piracy in Somalia (A)

By: Sophus A. Reinert and Alissa Davies

A Somali fisherman stands on a beach in early 2011, considering his options: should he embark in his tiny fishing vessel or join a nearby pirate crew? His war-ravaged country, entering its 20th year of civil war, was in the midst of a famine that had claimed hundreds... View Details

Keywords: Pirates; Foreign Aid; Civil War; Private Property; Human Rights; Economic Development; Globalization; War; Property; Crime and Corruption; Rights; Development Economics; Moral Sensibility; Shipping Industry; Somalia

Educators

24 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Why the Internet Doesn’t Change Everything

before. And anarchy has always yielded back to law and order. In this excerpt from her new book, Ruling the Waves: Cycles of Discovery, Chaos, View Details

Keywords: by Debora L. Spar

December 2019
Article

Patent Trolls: Evidence from Targeted Firms

By: Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun and Scott Duke Kominers

We provide the first large-sample evidence on the behavior and impact of nonpracticing entities (NPEs) in the intellectual-property space. We find that, on average, NPEs appear to behave as opportunistic “patent trolls.” NPEs sue cash-rich firms and target cash in... View Details

Keywords: Patent Trolls; Innovation; Patents; Lawsuits and Litigation; Ethics; Innovation and Invention

SSRN

02 Oct 2000
What Do You Think?

What Lies Beyond NAFTA?

and a regulation of the whole process, in the main by the market." He later added a fifth essential, that the society not "breed (producing population growth) up to the limits of its... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

06 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Consumers Blame Business for Global Health Problems. Can Business Become the Solution?

Every public health crisis—whether it’s the availability of highly addictive opioids or junk food marketing to children—prompts consumers to question how far companies will go for profit. It’s not an unwarranted concern. After all, cigarette makers once used... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Health

17 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 17, 2006

find support for these hypotheses. Download working paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/07-022.pdf Resolving Information Asymmetries in Markets: The Role of Certified Management Programs Author: Michael W. Toffel Abstract Firms and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2008 (Revised August 2008)
Background Note

Note on Compulsory Licensing

By: Robert C. Pozen

This note discusses the topic of compulsory licensing of patents from the perspective of U.S. and international law. View Details

Keywords: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Patents; Law; Rights; Business and Government Relations

01 Aug 2007
Op-Ed

Company Town: Fixing Corrupt Governments

kickbacks. A corruption scandal in Lagos could harm KPMG's reputation in New York or Shanghai. Moreover, foreign firms are bound by many laws of their home country and by international laws, notably the... View Details

Keywords: by Eric Werker

Article

Attracting Early Stage Investors: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment

By: S. Bernstein, A. Korteweg and K. Laws

18 Jul 2006
First Look

First Look: July 18, 2006

excessively beholden to chief executive officers. Regulation and the use of the legal system have been the predominant means of disciplining directors, but each has its drawbacks, particularly in terms of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Feb 2019
News

Protecting the Power Grid

feared—but Japanese emergency crews were able to replenish the spent-fuel pool water in the nick of time, preventing massive evacuation of Tokyo. US regulators took notice. In 2012, Popik and Mott cofounded... View Details

Keywords: Ralph Ranalli; terrorism; Electric Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution; Utilities

November 2008 (Revised March 2014)
Supplement

Savage Beast (B)

By: Noam Wasserman, LP Maurice and Yael Braid

For several months, things had been spiraling downwards at Savage Beast, the music-recommendation company started three years before by Tim Westergren. The company's founder-CEO recently left due to pressures both at home and within the venture. Dozens of investors... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Entrepreneurship; Compensation and Benefits; Employee Relationship Management; Lawsuits and Litigation; Groups and Teams

10 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 10

economic harm that system operators could prevent or mitigate. Although the legal system can respond, regulations have mixed results. I examine the applicable legal rules that constrain online fraud and the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Article

Matching in Networks with Bilateral Contracts

By: John William Hatfield and Scott Duke Kominers

We introduce a model in which firms trade goods via bilateral contracts which specify a buyer, a seller, and the terms of the exchange. This setting subsumes (many-to-many) matching with contracts, as well as supply chain matching. When firms' relationships do not... View Details

Keywords: Contracts; Market Design; Marketplace Matching; Supply Chain

October 2014
Technical Note

Legal Hazards of Product Launches

By: Lena Goldberg and Annelena Lobb

This note considers common legal pitfalls associated with the launch of new products. A series of questions are presented that companies poised to launch a product should keep in mind. Questions about advertising, pricing, and branding are explored, as well as who in a... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Product Launch; Legal Liability

Educators