Publications

Find at Harvard

April 2006 (Revised April 2012)
Case

Ghana: National Economic Strategy

By: Michael E. Porter and Kjell Ke-Li Carlsson

Set in the year 2001, as President John Kufuor contemplates a national economic strategy following his election in the first democratic transfer of power in Ghana's history. Focuses on Ghana's long history of poor economic performance and intractable poverty,... View Details

Keywords: History; Economic Growth; Government Administration; Developing Countries and Economies; Growth and Development Strategy; Ghana

Educators

06 Nov 2017
News

Finding the Good in the Republican Tax Plan

January 2022
Article

Implications of Uncertainty for Optimal Policies

By: Todd Lensman and Maxim Troshkin

We study the implications of ambiguity for optimal fiscal policy in macro public finance environments with heterogeneous agents and private idiosyncratic shocks. We describe conditions under which ambiguity implies that it is optimal to periodically reform policies.... View Details

12 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

Competition the Cure for Healthcare

the various actors in the system are not designed around value, nor is competition reinforcing improvements in value. For example, let's take the prescription drug benefit, the big reform of today that everyone is talking about. This is... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Health

05 Jul 2006
Op-Ed

Corporate Governance Activists are Headed in the Wrong Direction

Activist corporate governance reformers are spending too much time—and capturing too much of the media's attention—on fringe issues. One current initiative, for example, focuses on promoting "majority voting" for directors, a... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Hinsey

April 2003 (Revised October 2003)
Case

Banking on Germany?

Explores the causes and consequences of transforming Germany's bank-oriented financial system into one more oriented to capital markets. The economics of globalization, international accords such as Basel II, EU financial policies, and Germany's own regulatory reforms... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Financial Crisis; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Germany

Educators

2014
Working Paper

Lobbying Behavior of Governmental Entities: Evidence from Public Pension Accounting Rules

By: Abigail Allen and Reining Petacchi

We examine the lobbying behavior of state governments in the development of recently issued public pension accounting standards GASB 67 and 68. Consistent with opportunistic motivations, we find that states' opposition to the liability increasing provisions embedded in... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Accounting Industry; United States

SSRN

November 1998 (Revised July 1999)
Background Note

Business as Stakeholder in Public Education: A History of Business Efforts to Improve Public Schools in the United States

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

Explores seven roles businesses and business leaders have played with respect to U.S. public education reform historically and today: "owners" helping set the agenda; "investors" donating funds; "customers" hiring graduates; "experts" contributing management know-how;... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Education; Performance Improvement; Business and Community Relations; United States

Find at Harvard

20 Sep 2009
News

Why We Need Universal, Consumer-Driven Health Care

Rafael M. Di Tella

I received my first degree in Economics in 1990 from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina and a D.Phil in Economics from Oxford University in 1996. After a short stay in Argentina I joined Harvard Business School in July 1997, where I... View Details

Keywords: broadcasting; state government

1 Mar 2012
Talk

German Health Care: Moving to a Value-Based System

By: Michael E. Porter

Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School assesses the German health care system and offers suggestions for reforming to a value-based system, where rewards flow to those practices performing best. Introduced by Karl Lauterbach, professor of health economics and... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; Germany

08 Dec 2014
News

Seesaws and Social Security Benefits Indexing

February 1993 (Revised March 2003)
Case

India (A)

By: Richard H.K. Vietor, Waleed J. Iskandar and Max L. Weston

Outlines India's import substitution strategy and its planned development process. The effects of the difficult political and social context on economic development are analyzed. The failure of the system to achieve sustainable growth and improvement leads to attempts... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Ethnicity; Development Economics; Trade; Economic Growth; Policy; Government and Politics; India

Find at Harvard

10 Nov 2009
News

Give Employees Cash to Buy Care

30 May 2019
Working Paper Summaries

US Antitrust Law and Policy in Historical Perspective

Keywords: by Laura Phillips Sawyer; Education

February 2015
Supplement

The Affordable Care Act (G): The Final Votes

By: Joseph L. Bower and Michael Norris

In the fall of 2009, the House and Senate each voted to pass health reform bills. These bills then had to be combined into the Affordable Care Act and the ACA had to be passed by both houses. Reconciliation had to be used because of Republican Scott Brown's Senate... View Details

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

14 Apr 2015
News

The Type of Socially Responsible Investments That Make Firms More Profitable

15 Sep 2017
News

Harvard professor has a novel way to fix Washington before 2018

February 2006 (Revised October 2006)
Case

China: Building "Capitalism with Socialist Characteristics"

By: Debora L. Spar

Describes China's phenomenal development from a poor, communist country to a global powerhouse. Provides background on China's history and culture, details the reforms launched in 1978 by Seng Xiaoping, and describes the situation as of 2006, focusing on the... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Government and Politics; China

Educators