Publications

February 2005
Article

Can Foreign Firms Bond Themselves Effectively by Renting U.S. Securities Laws?

By: Jordan I. Siegel

The study tests the functional convergence hypothesis, which states that foreign firms can leapfrog their countries' weak legal institutions by listing equities in New York and agreeing to follow U.S. securities law. Evidence shows that the SEC and minority... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Cross-listing; Reputation; Bonding; Business Ventures; Laws and Statutes; Financial Instruments; United States; Mexico

April 2025
Article

The Fed and the Secular Decline in Interest Rates

By: Sebastian Hillenbrand

In this paper I document a striking fact: a narrow window around Fed meetings fully captures the secular decline in U.S. Treasury yields since 1980. By contrast, yield movements outside this window are transitory and wash out over time. This is surprising because the... View Details

Keywords: United States Treasury; Monetary Policy; Yield Curve; Bonds; Financial Markets; Government Administration; Valuation; Interest Rates; United States

SSRN

January 2020 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Huawei: A Global Tech Giant in the Crossfire of a Digital Cold War

By: William C. Kirby, Billy Chan and John P. McHugh

By 2020, Ren Zhengfei, CEO of Huawei, had transformed the small telephone switch manufacturer he founded in 1987 into a $120 billion telecommunications company poised to lead the lucrative rollout of fifth-generation (5G) cellular networks. However, an emerging... View Details

Keywords: International Strategy; Government And Business; Digital Infrastructure; Political Risk; Information Technology; Infrastructure; Business and Government Relations; Government and Politics; Information Infrastructure; Technology Industry; China; United States

2025
Working Paper

Government-Brokerage Analysts and Market Stabilization: Evidence from China

By: Sheng Cao, Xianjie He, Charles C.Y. Wang and Huifang Yin

We show analysts at government-controlled brokerage firms serve as a market stabilization tool in China. Using earnings forecasts from 2005–2019, we find government-brokerage analysts issue relatively more optimistic—yet less accurate and timely—forecasts during... View Details

Keywords: Sell-side Analysts; Forecast Optimism; Forecast Accuracy; Government Incentives; Market Stabilization; Government Ownership; Coordinated Economies; Stocks; Forecasting and Prediction; Business and Government Relations; Emerging Markets

SSRN

April 2017
Supplement

Q&A with Tom Kalil, Deputy Director for Technology & Innovation

By: Linda A. Hill and Allison J. Wigen

In this video supplement to the HBS case study "Tom Kalil, Deputy Director for Technology & Innovation," case protagonist Tom Kalil discusses leading a team of policy entrepreneurs at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy from 2008-2016. View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Government; Government Innovation; Leading Teams; Collaboration; Cross-sector Collaboration; Innovation Strategy; Innovation Leadership; Leadership; Leadership Development; Groups and Teams; Policy; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; United States

2025
Working Paper

Extractive Taxation and the French Revolution

By: Tommaso Giommoni, Gabriel Loumeau and Marco Tabellini

We study the fiscal determinants of the French Revolution, exploiting plausibly exogenous variation in the salt tax—a large source of royal revenues and one of the most extractive forms of taxation of the Ancien Régime. Implementing a Regression Discontinuity... View Details

Keywords: Extractive Taxation; Regime Change; French Revolution; State Capacity; Taxation; History; Government Administration; Attitudes; Public Opinion

January–February 2018
Article

The New CEO Activists

By: Aaron K Chatterji and Michael W. Toffel

Though corporations have been lobbying the government and making campaign donations for a long time now, in recent years a dramatic new trend has emerged in U.S. politics: CEOs are taking very public stands on thorny political issues that have nothing to do with their... View Details

Keywords: Government Policy; Rights; Leadership & Corporate Accountability; Sustainability; Leadership; Corporate Accountability; Policy; Social Issues; Communication Intention and Meaning; United States

Register to Read

February 2015
Supplement

The Affordable Care Act (H): Implementation Begins

By: Joseph L. Bower and Michael Norris

In the spring of 2010, after the ACA is signed into law, the government begins implementation. View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care Policy; Government And Politics; Health; Policy; Health Industry; United States

November 2014
Teaching Note

Marketing Marijuana in Colorado

By: John A. Quelch

The case, set in the middle of 2014, reviews the first six months of marketplace activity in Colorado, following the legalization of marijuana for recreational use and the expansion of marijuana retailing from medical dispensaries to recreational stores. The case... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Innovations; Retail Government Services; Public Health; Agribusiness; Customers; Goods and Commodities; Government and Politics; Health; Marketing; Society; Consumer Products Industry; Distribution Industry; Health Industry; Public Administration Industry; North and Central America

February 2022
Article

Taxation and Innovation in the 20th Century

By: Ufuk Akcigit, John Grigsby, Tom Nicholas and Stefanie Stantcheva

This paper studies the effect of corporate and personal taxes on innovation in the United States over the twentieth century. We build a panel of the universe of inventors who patent since 1920, and a historical state-level corporate tax database with corporate tax... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Income Taxes; Corporate Taxation; Firms; Inventors; State Taxation; Business Taxation; R＆D Tax Credits; Taxation; Innovation and Invention; History; United States

December 2016 (Revised October 2018)
Case

U.S. Digital Service

By: Mitchell Weiss, Nick Sinai and Michael Norris

Mikey Dickerson and Haley Van Dyck found themselves far from home and far from certain about where to take the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) next. In the summer of 2015, they had landed in London to meet with Mike Bracken, director of the United Kingdom’s Government... View Details

Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Haley Van Dyck; Mikey Dickerson; United States Digital Service; Digital Services; Innovation Teams; Scaling Innovation; 18F; Presidential Innovation Fellows; Government Digital Service; Mike Bracken; Innovation Fellowships; Entrepreneurship; Government Administration; Innovation and Management; United States; United Kingdom

March 2024 (Revised September 2024)
Case

Norway: An Embarrassment of Riches

By: Sophus A. Reinert, Forest Reinhardt and Jens-Henrik Munthe-Kaas

Keywords: Sovereign Wealth Funds; Welfare State; Internationalization; Dutch Disease; Macroeconomics; Energy Sources; Values and Beliefs; Sovereign Finance; Immigration; Welfare; Natural Resources; Happiness; Energy Industry; Norway

Research Summary

Regulatory Change/Business-Government Relations

“Sources of Learning Heterogeneity: Discontinuous Regulatory Shock and its Impact on Organizational Search Behaviors”

Co-authoring with Jerry Kim, in this study I look at how discontinuous regulatory shock shapes organizational... View Details

Keywords: Business ＆ Government Relations; Regulations; Regulatory Capture; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

August 2012 (Revised September 2012)
Case

JP Morgan Chase & the CIO Losses

By: Clayton Rose

On July 13, 2012, JP Morgan Chase & Co. announced a larger than expected loss for the quarter, $4.4 billion, from positions held in the Chief Investment Office (CIO), raising the total losses to $5.9 billion. Since the substantial risks in the CIO had first been... View Details

Keywords: Banking; Governance; Finance; Risk Management; Corporate Governance; Business Earnings; Accounting; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

Summer 2019
Article

The Political Influence of Voters' Interests on SEC Enforcement

By: Jonas Heese

I examine whether political influence as a response to voters’ interest in employment levels is reflected in the enforcement actions of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). I find that large employers are less likely to experience SEC enforcement actions.... View Details

Keywords: SEC Enforcement; Government Preferences; Voters' Interests; Political Influence; Employment; Public Opinion; Government Administration; Governance Compliance; Political Elections

SSRN

October 2018 (Revised August 2019)
Case

Everybody Knows: Russia and the Election

By: Rawi Abdelal, Rafael Di Tella and Galit Goldstein

Following a contentious presidential race, Donald Trump’s 2016 election destabilized America’s status quo. Academics, journalists, politicians and the public at large examined why Trump had won. Many Americans, inside and outside the government, asserted that a... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Industry; Strategic Alliances (Business); Business And Government; Business And Public Policy; Business And Society; Media Businesses; Media Content; Media Slant; Media Regulation; Internet Of Everything; Government Policy; Politics; Political Campaigns; Political Strategy; Political Turmoil; Government; Government Regulation; Security; International Business; International Relations; National Security; Political Elections; News; Media; Internet and the Web; Rights; Problems and Challenges; Globalization; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Government Legislation; Risk and Uncertainty; Cognition and Thinking; Conflict and Resolution; Identity; Civil Society or Community; Culture; Public Opinion; Social Issues; War; Social Media; Public Administration Industry; United States; Russia

Research Summary

Overview

In my research historical inquiry plays an important part in understanding the continuities from the pre-1949 past and the complex convergence of business institutions in the process of China’s current economic, political, and social modernization. Historians are able... View Details

Keywords: Business History; China; Business Government Relations; Entrepreneurs; Family Business; Industrial Development; Infrastructure; Transportation; Entrepreneurship; History; Manufacturing Industry; Transportation Industry; Rail Industry; Construction Industry; Asia

January 2004 (Revised August 2004)
Supplement

Innovation at the Treasury: Treasury Inflation-Protection Securities (B)

By: Kenneth A. Froot, Peter A. Hecht and Christopher Edward James Payton

In 1997, the U.S. Treasury was deciding whether to proceed with a proposal to issue inflation-indexed bonds. This case explores the challenges facing innovation in the financial markets as the Treasury tries to determine whether to introduce Treasury... View Details

Keywords: Inflation; Innovation; Federal Government; Securities; Financial Instruments; Inflation and Deflation; Financial Markets; Government and Politics; Financial Institutions; Innovation and Invention; United States

January 2004 (Revised June 2004)
Case

Innovation at the Treasury: Treasury Inflation-Protection Securities (A)

By: Kenneth A. Froot, Peter A. Hecht and Christopher Edward James Payton

In 1997, the U.S. Treasury was deciding whether to proceed with a proposal to issue inflation-indexed bonds. This case explores the challenges facing innovation in the financial markets as the Treasury tries to determine whether to introduce Treasury... View Details

Keywords: Inflation; Innovation; Federal Government; Securities; Debt Securities; Risk Management; Bonds; Investment Portfolio; Capital Markets; Inflation and Deflation; Government and Politics; Innovation and Invention; United States