Publications

2018
Book

American Fair Trade: Proprietary Capitalism, Corporatism, and the 'New Competition,' 1890–1940

By: Laura Phillips Sawyer

American Fair Trade explores the contested political and legal meanings of the term fair trade from the late nineteenth century through the New Deal era. This history of American capitalism argues that business associations partnered with regulators to... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Competition; Policy; Fairness; History; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; United States

2025
Working Paper

Small Business Innovation Applied to National Needs

By: Kyle Myers, Lauren Lanahan and Evan E. Johnson

Small businesses have long supplied a disproportionate share of major innovations in the United States. We review a centerpiece policy on this topic: the U.S. Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. We trace its legislative history and summarize program... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Innovation and Invention; Government Legislation; Entrepreneurial Finance; Business and Government Relations

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January 2023
Case

Thomas Buberl: Refounding AXA

By: Hubert Joly, Mihir Desai and Amram Migdal

In 2022, AXA and its CEO Thomas Buberl faced new types of challenges, including systemic risks such as climate change, geopolitical instability, public health crises, and social tensions caused by economic risks. AXA was one of the world’s largest insurers. Since... View Details

2020
Article

Inconvenient Truths: Interpreting the Origins of the Internet

By: Shane Greenstein

A conventional economic narrative provides intellectual underpinnings for governments to subsidize research and development ("R&D") that coordinates risky research to benefit many in society. This essay compares this narrative with the origins and invention of the... View Details

Keywords: Lead Users; Technology Transfer; Internet and the Web; History; Analysis; Research and Development; Governance; Information Technology; Policy

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Web

Publications - Faculty & Research

conventional wisdom that it orginated in economics departments in the 1960s, this research highlights the importance of teaching at Harvard Business... View Details Keywords: Harvard Business School ; International Business Citation... View Details

January 2017 (Revised January 2019)
Case

The Rise and Fall of Lehman Brothers

By: Stuart C. Gilson, Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott

With nearly $700 billion in assets, Lehman was the largest U.S. bankruptcy in history. In 2007, Lehman achieved record earnings of over $4 billion on revenues of $60 billion. By September 2008 the fourth largest investment bank in the world was bankrupt. How had a... View Details

Research Summary

Risk Management as a Function of Government

By: David A. Moss

Professor Moss's academic work in this area explores how and why governments manage private-sector risks. Based on historical and institutional research, he argues that risk management constitutes a critical function of government with far-reaching implications. ... View Details

June 2002 (Revised March 2003)
Case

Bolivia: Globalization, Sovereignty, or Democracy?

By: Rafael M. Di Tella, Huw Pill, Miguel Lopez de Silanes Gomez, Cinthia Fernholz Violand and Ingrid Vogel

Describes the economic stabilization program implemented by the Bolivian government in 1985 to 1986 and its impact on the development process in Bolivia. View Details

Keywords: History; Programs; Development Economics; Inflation and Deflation; Globalization; Government and Politics; Bolivia

02 Nov 2015
Book

Dear Internet: You Are Extraordinary, But Not Exceptional

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Computer; Telecommunications

13 Dec 2016
First Look

December 13, 2016

“cloak” their most valuable trades. This takes the form, for instance, of a manager who sells her entire position of Microsoft on March 30, and then repurchases to re-establish the same position on April 1. This manager will economically... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

01 May 2006
What Do You Think?

Who Will Cast a Longer Shadow on the 21st Century: Friedman or Galbraith?

Friedman's view may be more applicable in economically uniform societies. I hope that the later part of this century will be more suitable for Friedman's views." Ruth Rama was more succinct: "Friedman will prevail in the U.S.;... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

02 Mar 2018
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Trump’s Tariffs Could Harm Allies as Much as Opponents

investors perceive as a move that will have more disadvantages than benefits for the economy as a whole. Uncertainty ahead More broadly, Trump’s actions pave the way for much uncertainty ahead, since the long history of trade... View Details

Keywords: by Dante Roscini; Steel; Manufacturing

January 2008 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Forecasting the Great Depression

By: Walter A. Friedman

What is proper role of professional economic forecasting in financial decision making? The case presents excerpts from three leading economic forecasters on the eve of, and just after, the stock market crash of October 1929. The first set of excerpts is from Roger... View Details

Keywords: History; Mathematical Methods; Personal Development and Career; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Crisis

02 Sep 2002
Research & Ideas

The Role of Government When All Else Fails

to the following phase? Would you be able to predict what the fourth phase might be? A: One thing that I noticed in exploring the history of these risk management policies is that the basic goals policymakers were pursuing changed rather... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Linard

January 1999 (Revised December 2020)
Case

The U.S. Banking Panic of 1933 and Federal Deposit Insurance

By: Julio J. Rotemberg and Sabina M. Ciminero

After highlighting some key developments in the banking history of the United States, the case illustrates the Banking Panic of 1933 and the way in which Franklin D. Roosevelt dealt with it at the beginning of his presidency. Describes the main components of banking... View Details

Keywords: Government Legislation; Insurance; Crisis Management; Financial Crisis; Banks and Banking; History; Business and Government Relations; Banking Industry; United States

September 1993 (Revised September 1997)
Case

China (A): The Great Awakening

By: Debora L. Spar

As the third largest economy after the United States and Japan, China's startling economic growth has spurred increasing interest in the economic, social, and political factors that catapulted the country to sudden prominence. This case starts with an overview of the... View Details

Keywords: History; Government and Politics; Society; Macroeconomics; China

February 1999 (Revised November 2009)
Case

Michael Brown: Negotiating Slots at Foxwoods (A)

By: James K. Sebenius

The issues of the impending negotiation between the CEO of Foxwoods and the governor of Connecticut over lifting the ban on slot machines at Foxwoods are presented. Reviews the gaming business in the United States, the special history of Indian gaming, the Pequot... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Policy; Negotiation Deal; Business and Government Relations; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Connecticut

2016
Working Paper

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Modern Administrative State, 1912–1925: Trade Associations, Codes of Fair Competition, and State Building

By: Laura Phillips Sawyer

From its founding in 1912 through the interwar years, the Chamber's history shows a persistent preoccupation with progressive economics and policy-making. Rather than flouting the new ideas of institutional economics, which favored federal regulators overseeing data... View Details

Keywords: Organizations; Trade; Business and Government Relations; Competition; United States