Publications

2009
Report

Clusters, Cluster Policy, and Swedish Competitiveness

By: Christian H.M. Ketels

Proximity enables firms to take advantage of knowledge spill-overs and exploit supplierdemand linkages with other entities engaged in related activities. Cluster strength thus seems to be one of the important determinants of prosperity differences across geographies.... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Industry Clusters; Business and Government Relations; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Sweden

December 2011 (Revised May 2012)
Case

Heavy Metal (A): Baosteel Enters Brazil

What is Baosteel, a top Chinese steelmaker, doing in Brazil? The company is responding to the Chinese government's "go global" policy and to the possible rise in iron ore input costs. But steel mills are complex, capital-intensive projects, and Brazil is an emerging... View Details

2002
Chapter

Ranking National Environmental Regulation and Performance: A Leading Indicator of Future Competitiveness?

By: Daniel Esty and Michael E. Porter

This chapter from The Global Competitiveness Report analyzes the differences among countries in environmental performance and the link between environmental outcomes and national environmental policy choices. The chapter reveals the findings from an exploration... View Details

Keywords: Society; Strategy

March 2000 (Revised April 2001)
Case

Menem and the Populist Tradition in Argentina

By: Rafael M. Di Tella and Eliseo Neuman

Argentina has flourished under a fixed exchange rate system, yet there are large income and employment fluctuations. The social cost of unemployment is threatening the viability of the economic model. Building a welfare state is one alternative, but this may be a... View Details

Keywords: History; Governance; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Employment; Currency Exchange Rate; Welfare; Government Administration; Government and Politics; Argentina

May 2009
Article

The Empirical Impact of Intellectual Property Rights on Innovation: Puzzles and Clues

By: Josh Lerner

Economists have long seen the patent system as a crucial lever through which policymakers affect the speed and nature of innovation in the economy. It is not surprising, then, that the profound changes which have roiled the global patent system over the past 20 years... View Details

Keywords: Economy; Policy; Innovation and Invention; Intellectual Property; Rights; Business and Government Relations

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03 Oct 2023
HBS Case

Layoffs Can Be Bad Business: 5 Strategies to Consider Before Cutting Staff

response to more temporary economic shifts, such as recession, often proves less successful, Sucher says. “These are some of those commonsense things that may not occur to people because they are thinking with their labor hats on and not... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Telecommunications; Technology; Financial Services; Manufacturing

December 1994 (Revised July 1996)
Case

USSR 1988, The: The Search for Growth

For decades after the revolution of 1917, Communist Party leaders claimed that the socialist economic system was superior to the capitalist system on both moral and economic grounds. By 1985, when Mikhail Gorbachev became general secretary of the Communist Party of the... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Economic Growth; Government and Politics; Soviet Union

Spring 2016
Article

Net Neutrality: A Fast Lane to Understanding the Tradeoffs

By: Shane Greenstein, Martin Peitz and Tommaso Valletti

The last decade has seen a strident public debate about the principle of "net neutrality." The economic literature has focused on two definitions of net neutrality. The most basic definition of net neutrality is to prohibit payments from content providers to internet... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Policy

2009
Book

Boulevard of Broken Dreams: Why Public Efforts to Boost Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Have Failed and What to Do About It

By: Josh Lerner

In response to the financial crisis, governments are being far more aggressive in intervening to promote economic activity, a trend that shows little tendency of alleviating. This book looks at the experiences of governments in encouraging entrepreneurs and venture... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Financial Crisis; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Policy; Business and Government Relations

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2014
Chapter

Clusters of Entrepreneurship and Innovation

By: Aaron Chatterji, Edward Glaeser and William R. Kerr

This chapter reviews recent academic work on the spatial concentration of entrepreneurship and innovation in the United States. We discuss rationales for the agglomeration of these activities and the economic consequences of clusters. We identify and discuss policies... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Agglomeration; Clusters; Place Making; Industry Clusters; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; United States

2014
Discussion Paper

Do High Feed-in Tariffs for Solar PV Panels Hinder Competition (Japanese)

By: Koji Nomura and Tomomichi Amano

In Japan, feed-in-tariffs (FIT) are a key policy tool that has been deployed to produce the mass diffusion of photovoltaices (PV). In this study, we argue that this policy is unlikely to induce sustainable economic growth, which some use as a justification for FIT. We... View Details

September 1992 (Revised March 1998)
Case

Japan Confronts an Interdependent World

By: George C. Lodge

Traces the evolution of Japan's economic strategy from 1972 to 1992. Describes the collapse of the Japanese stock market in the spring of 1992, raising the question: Is this the end of Japan's miraculous growth? To help students consider that question, the case... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Financial Markets; Information Technology; System Shocks; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Crisis; Government and Politics; Growth and Development; Situation or Environment; Japan; United States

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Research Summary

Democratic Governance and Decision Making

By: David A. Moss

Under what conditions are public policies in a democracy determined by special interests or, alternatively, by the general interest? A good deal of academic work, particularly associated with the economic theory of regulation, suggests that special interests... View Details

October 2002 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Starbucks and Conservation International

By: James E. Austin and Cate Reavis

Starbucks, the world's leading specialty coffee company, developed a strategic alliance with Conservation International, a major international environmental nonprofit organization. The purpose of the alliance was to promote coffee-growing practices of small farms that... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Growth and Development Strategy; Markets; Demand and Consumers; Production; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Cooperative Ownership; Performance Efficiency; Alliances; Nonprofit Organizations; Food and Beverage Industry; Mexico

Research Summary

China and India in comparative perspective

China and India both have the potential of becoming economic superpowers. The conventional wisdom is that China is far ahead of India in economic reforms and economic performance. Together with my HBS colleague, Professor Tarun Khanna, we are re-examining this... View Details

February 2011 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Brazil: Leading the BRICs?

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich and Aldo Musacchio

Brazil's new president, Dilma Rousseff, had announced plans to sustain GDP growth above 5% annually and continue the country's leadership role among emerging economies. Between 2003 and 2010, Brazil benefited from strong economic growth and stable policies under the... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Intellectual Property; Infrastructure; Economic Growth; Trade; International Relations; Economic Systems; Globalization; Corporate Strategy; Brazil; Russia; India; China; United States

March 2005 (Revised November 2005)
Case

To Trade or Not to Trade: NAFTA and the Prospects for Free Trade in the Americas

By: Lakshmi Iyer

Discusses the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on the United States, Canada, and Mexico, a decade after it came into force in 1994. Keeping in mind NAFTA's effect on jobs, exports, productivity, and economic growth, policy makers had to decide... View Details

Keywords: History; Agreements and Arrangements; Performance Productivity; Jobs and Positions; Economic Growth; Trade; Foreign Direct Investment; North and Central America

April 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Malaysia: People First?

By: Diego A. Comin and John Abraham

On March 30, 2010, Prime Minister Najib Razak presented his new economic model (NEM) for Malaysia. With the goal of raising per capita income to over $15,000 by 2020 from the current level of $6,634, the plan included measures to improve human capital, reduce migration... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Economies and Regions; Problems and Challenges; Crime and Corruption; Developing Countries and Economies; Development Economics; Emerging Markets; Transformation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Wealth and Poverty; Equality and Inequality; Malaysia