Publications

January 1994 (Revised October 1995)
Background Note

Renewable Energy in the United States

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

Article

Credit Access and Social Welfare: The Rise of Consumer Lending in the United States and France

By: Gunnar Trumbull

Research into the causes of the 2008 financial crisis has drawn attention to a link between growing income inequality in the United States and high household indebtedness. Most accounts trace the U.S. idea of credit-as-welfare to the period of wage stagnation and... View Details

Keywords: Household Finance; Welfare State; Credit; Personal Finance; Welfare; Borrowing and Debt; France; United States

March 2012
Background Note

Managing the Layoff Process: The United States

By: Sandra J. Sucher

This note is an overview of the context for managing layoffs in the United States. It describes the legal responsibilities of managers in conducting layoffs, recent unemployment trends, and the financial, health, training, job placement, and other benefits that... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Resignation and Termination; Compensation and Benefits; Ethics; Management; Employees; Governance Compliance; United States

October 2010
Supplement

The Export-Import Bank of the United States (CW)

By: C. Fritz Foley and Matthew Johnson

In the fall of 2009, Fred Hochberg, Chairman of The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im), and his team struggled to find a way to help finance the sale of Boeing aircraft to Emirates. Ex-Im responds to the challenges in credit market with an innovative... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Cost Management; Credit; Financing and Loans; Innovation and Invention; Markets; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Banking Industry; United Arab Emirates; United States

August 1997 (Revised March 2008)
Background Note

Trends in the United States Steel Market,1980-1996

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Bret J. Baird

Provides a brief background on the history and structure of the steel industry in the United States. Focuses in some depth on the technological changes that have been difficult for the leading steel companies to implement. Shows that they stumbled when confronted with... View Details

Keywords: History; Technology; Trends; Steel Industry; United States

August 2008 (Revised July 2011)
Case

Consumer Payment Systems — United States

By: Benjamin Edelman and Andrei Hagiu

In 2008, the U.S. consumer payments landscape was characterized by the ongoing prevalence of credit and debit card networks, the decline of checks, the rise of stored value cards, and the growth of new payment methods such as PayPal, Bill Me Later, and decoupled debit.... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Financial Management; Personal Finance; Digital Platforms; Motivation and Incentives; Competitive Strategy; Internet and the Web; United States

December 1982
Article

Sticky Prices in the United States

By: J. J. Rotemberg

Keywords: Price; United States

Read Now

December 2007
Journal Article

Industrial Policy in the United States

By: Christian H.M. Ketels

Does US government policy purposefully benefit particular industries or is industrial policy absent in the USA? Based on a review of recent US policies this paper argues that the USA applies many policies with an industry-specific impact. But these policies do not... View Details

Keywords: Microeconomics; Entrepreneurship; Policy; Innovation and Invention; Supply and Industry; Business and Government Relations; United States

Read Now

September 2019 (Revised December 2022)
Background Note

African American Inequality in the United States

By: Janice H. Hammond, A. Kamau Massey and Mayra G. Garza

This note describes how historical and on-going policies and practices that discriminate against African Americans led to present-day inequality. Topics include slavery, segregation, Jim Crow laws, “black codes,” and policies and practices relating to criminal justice,... View Details

Keywords: African Americans; Justice; Slavery; Discrimination; Race; Equality and Inequality; Prejudice and Bias; Policy; History; United States

February 2019
Background Note

Mexican Farmworkers in the United States

By: Forest Reinhardt and Jonathan Schlefer

This note discusses the centuries-long history and current situation of Mexican farmworkers north of the border—documented or undocumented, resident or temporary, and increasingly indigenous. The story provides the background for discussion of dilemmas facing... View Details

Keywords: Migrant Farmworkers; Mexican Farmworkers; Agribusiness; Labor; History; Policy; Problems and Challenges; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

February 1993 (Revised March 1993)
Background Note

United States from 1897 to 1969

By: Benson P. Shapiro

Keywords: United States

January 2014 (Revised May 2014)
Background Note

Rail Transportation in the United States

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Matthew Guilford

In the 20th century, automobiles and airlines pushed rail into the background as an often-troubled and neglected mode. After a review of the long history of rail in the U.S., this paper examines the situation in the 21st century, including the rail market structure,... View Details

Keywords: Railroad History; History; Rail Transportation; Rail Industry

24 Oct 2023
Cold Call Podcast

How the United States Air Force Accelerated AI Adoption

Keywords: Re: Maria P. Roche

January 1995
Teaching Note

Renewable Energy in the United States TN

By: Forest L. Reinhardt and Richard H.K. Vietor

January 2023 (Revised November 2024)
Technical Note

Legal Analysis: Labor Unions in the United States

By: Reshmaan Hussam, Trevor Fetter and Grace Liu

This note provides an overview of the regulation, mechanics, and history of labor unions in the United States, along with an overview of their place in the early 21st century. View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Labor Unions; History; United States

28 Apr 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Environmental Federalism in the European Union and the United States

Keywords: by David Vogel, Michael Toffel, Diahanna Post & Nazli Z. Uludere Aragon

December 1983 (Revised March 1999)
Case

The United States Financial Crisis of 1931

The behavior of the Federal Reserve System during the early years of the Great Depression has been a topic of considerable controversy. The Fed, it has been argued, pursued a contracting policy, thereby helping to turn what might have been only a brief recession into... View Details

Keywords: Government and Politics; Financial Crisis; United States

31 Aug 2016
Research & Ideas

One Quarter of Entrepreneurs in the United States Are Immigrants

immigrant from Finland who came to the United States as an exchange visitor, worked under the H1-B visa program, and ultimately became a US citizen, did the heavy lifting to wrestle the database into a... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

April 1985 (Revised November 1985)
Case

United States Trust Co. of New York