Publications

Why did America embrace consumer credit over the course of the twentieth century, when most other countries did not? How did American policy makers by the late twentieth century come to believe that more credit would make even poor families better off? This book traces... View Details

Keywords: Attitudes; Credit; France; United States

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2010
Working Paper

Regulating for Legitimacy: Consumer Credit Access in France and America

Theories of legitimate regulation have emphasized the role of governments either in fixing market failures to promote greater efficiency or in restricting the efficient functioning of markets in order to pursue public welfare goals. In either case, features of markets... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Credit; Financial Markets; Personal Finance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business History; Business and Government Relations; Welfare; France; United States

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2010
Working Paper

A Brief Postwar History of U.S. Consumer Finance

By: Andrea Ryan, Gunnar Trumbull and Peter Tufano

This article describes the consumer finance sector in the US since World War II. We first define the sector in terms of the functions delivered by firms (payments, savings/investing, borrowing, managing risk, and providing advice.) We provide time series evidence on... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Borrowing and Debt; Mortgages; Personal Finance; Business History; Innovation and Invention; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Services Industry; United States

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April 2004 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Wal-Mart in Europe

By: J. Gunnar Trumbull and Louisa Neissa

Presents challenges facing Wal-Mart during its move into Germany. Explores the dynamics of the German retail market. View Details

Keywords: Globalized Markets and Industries; Distribution Channels; Expansion; Trade; Foreign Direct Investment; Retail Industry; Europe; Germany

Fall 2011
Article

A Brief Postwar History of U.S. Consumer Finance

By: Gunnar Trumbull and Peter Tufano

In this brief history of U.S. consumer finance since World War II, the sector is defined based on the functions delivered by firms in the form of payments, savings and investing, borrowing, managing risk, and providing advice. Evidence of major trends in consumption,... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Finance; Consumer Credit; U.s. History; Consumer Behavior; Personal Finance; Credit; Trends; History; United States

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11 May 2010
First Look

First Look: May 11

Invention of Data Privacy in the United States and France Author:J. Gunnar Trumbull Publication:In The Voice of the Citizen Consumer, edited by K. Bruckweh. Cambridge:... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2024 (Revised November 2024)
Case

Commonwealth Fusion Systems: Born at Scale

By: Joshua Lev Krieger, Jim Matheson, Kyle Myers, Gunnar Trumbull and Richard Vietor

This case study chronicles the journey of Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) on its ambitious mission to commercialize fusion energy and become the world’s leading provider of fusion power plants. Emerging from a “special arrangement” with MIT's Plasma Science and... View Details

Keywords: Nuclear Energy; Innovation; Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial Finance; Energy Generation; Commercialization; Science-Based Business; Technological Innovation; Market Entry and Exit; Energy Industry

06 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 6

PublicationsStrength in Numbers: The Political Power of Weak Interests Author:Gunnar Trumbull Publication:Harvard University Press, forthcoming Abstract This book investigates the sources of interest group influence has on public... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

27 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 27

ordinary managers. In The Innovator's DNA, the authors identify five capabilities demonstrated by the best innovators: (1) Associating: drawing connections between questions, problems, or ideas from unrelated fields; (2) Questioning:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 13, 2010

to each strategy. By "inviting in the lions" to critique your idea—and being prepared for them—you'll capture busy people's attention, help them grasp your proposal's value, and secure their commitment to implementing the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2022 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Colossal: Bringing Back the Woolly Mammoth

spring 2006
Article

Varieties of Consumerism

Keywords: Customers

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2002
Working Paper

The Rise of Consumer Politics: Market Institutions and Product Choice in Postwar France and Germany

21 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: December 21

Gunnar Trumbull, and Peter Tufano Abstract This article describes the consumer finance sector in the U.S. since World War II. We first define the sector in terms of the functions delivered by firms... View Details

01 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 1

internship by his employer in order to obtain data from industry competitors. Purchase this case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/611041-PDF-ENG European Union: The Road to Lisbon Gunnar View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

27 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 27

our results suggest that the predictive value of accruals and market participants' ability to process it are a significant driver of accrual-based anomalies. Consumer Policy Author:J. Gunnar Trumbull... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2022
Technical Note

Accounting for Climate Change

September 2019
Teaching Note

The German Export Engine

Teaching Note for HBS No. 715-045. View Details

March 2011
Module Note

Varieties of Capitalism

This module, part of the second year HBS course MITI, introduces a political economy approach to analyzing national economic strategies, with a primary focus on German economic policy. View Details

Keywords: Economy; Markets; Curriculum and Courses; Policy; Competitive Advantage; Goals and Objectives; Geographic Location; Strategy; Germany