Publications

Find at Harvard

2023
Working Paper

State Employment as a Strategy of Autocratic Control in China

By: Jaya Y. Wen

This paper presents evidence that autocrats use state-owned firms to strategically pacify social unrest via employment provision, a role that may contribute to their favorable treatment and persistence across settings. I use variation in a regional conflict between... View Details

Keywords: State Ownership; Employment; Government and Politics; Conflict Management; China

Read Now

June 2013 (Revised March 2016)
Case

Estonia: Transition, EU Membership, and the Euro

By: Michael E. Porter, Christian Ketels and Örjan Sölvell

The case discusses the economic development of Estonia, covering specifically the period from regaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 until 2015. It tracks the process from the initial transition towards a market economy to becoming an EU member country,... View Details

Keywords: Economy; Macroeconomics; Microeconomics; Policy; Government and Politics; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy; Estonia

February 2011 (Revised July 2011)
Case

Deferred Tax Assets in Basel III: Lessons from Japan

By: David F. Hawkins, Karthik Ramanna, Nobuo Sato and Mayuka Yamazaki

In a controversial decision, the Bank for International Settlements includes deferred tax assets as part of a bank's core capital. View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Assets; Capital; Central Banking; Taxation; Banking Industry; Japan

December 2007
Case

Envisioning "Free Banking" in Antebellum New York (A)

By: David A. Moss and Cole Bolton

Banks throughout New York State suspended specie payments (i.e., payments in gold and silver) in May 1837 following the collapse of several state banks and the onset of a nationwide financial panic. Amid the chaos, the upstart Whigs were able to depose the longstanding... View Details

Keywords: History; Government Legislation; Capital; Financial Crisis; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; New York (state, US)

2008
Book

Hedgehogs and Foxes: Character, Leadership, and Command in Organizations

By: Abraham Zaleznik

In this compelling look at charismatic leaders and their leadership styles, Abraham Zaleznik asserts that leaders are either "hedgehogs," who view leadership as a single-minded track driven by unwavering rules, or "foxes," who assess and re-evaluate their... View Details

Keywords: Attitudes; Leadership Style; Government and Politics; Power and Influence; Innovation and Invention

February 2000 (Revised August 2005)
Case

Deep Sight Technology, Inc.

By: Henry B. Reiling and Catherine M. Conneely

The founders of a deep sea technology company must refine their tentative capital structure and founders agreement in response to tax factors. Some parties are conveying partnership assets, others are conveying rights to an invention, another will be primarily... View Details

Keywords: Contracts; Agreements and Arrangements; Capital Structure; Alliances; Taxation; Entrepreneurship; Technology Industry

14 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Water, Electricity, and Transportation: Preparing for the Population Boom

By 2050, the Earth's population will likely exceed 9 billion people, up 30 percent from 6.9 billion today, according to projections from both the US Census Bureau and the United Nations. What's more, the population in the world's cities is expected to increase by 3... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

Article

An Exploration of Optimal Stabilization Policy

By: N. Gregory Mankiw and Matthew C. Weinzierl

This paper examines the optimal response of monetary and fiscal policy to a decline in aggregate demand. The theoretical framework is a two-period general equilibrium model in which prices are sticky in the short-run and flexible in the long-run. Policy is evaluated by... View Details

Keywords: Fiscal Policy; Monetary Policy; Economic Models; Aggregate Demand; Demand and Consumers; Money; Mathematical Methods; Taxation; Spending; Policy; Welfare; Household; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation

Find at Harvard

Read Now

2009
Working Paper

Breakthrough Inventions and Migrating Clusters of Innovation

By: William R. Kerr

We investigate the speed at which clusters of invention for a technology migrate spatially following breakthrough inventions. We identify breakthrough inventions as the top one percent of US inventions for a technology during 1975-1984 in terms of subsequent citations.... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Immigration; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Patents; Industry Clusters; United States

SSRN

Read Now

January 2008 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Financing American Housing Construction in the Aftermath of War

By: David Moss and Cole Bolton

At the start of WWI, the United States faced a significant housing shortage. Public officials feared the spread of disease—and even communism—in the nation's cramped urban centers where vacancy rates held near zero and families often "doubled up" in single-housing... View Details

Keywords: Central Banking; Bonds; Mortgages; Government Legislation; Business History; Housing; Banking Industry; United States

January 2008 (Revised November 2009)
Case

China's Evolving Labor Laws (A)

By: Lynn Sharp Paine and Aldo Sesia Jr.

The (A) case describes key provisions of the new labor contract law proposed by China's National People's Congress in 2006. The case invites students to consider how domestic and multinational companies should respond to the Chinese government's invitation to comment... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Government Legislation; Labor; Contracts; Laws and Statutes; Business and Government Relations; China

July 2000
Case

Aerospace Technologies, Inc.

By: Paul M. Healy and Jacob Cohen

Ben Galil's privately held engineering consulting firm represents aerospace products manufacturers in Israeli government biddings. The company incurs expenses for years before getting paid. This case deals with the alternative methods for booking revenues and expenses... View Details

Keywords: Accrual Accounting; Accounting; Revenue; Cost; Business or Company Management; Profit; Engineering; Bids and Bidding; Government and Politics; Private Ownership; Consulting Industry; Israel

Find at Harvard

June 2010 (Revised June 2011)
Case

U.S. Department of Energy & Recovery Act Funding: Bridging the "Valley of Death"

By: Michael J. Roberts, Joseph B. Lassiter III and Ramana Nanda

The case focuses on the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the $38 billion of stimulus funding the DOE received to encourage clean tech. They focus on "bridging the valley of death" (i.e., helping young, innovative companies finance technically risky and very capital... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Government and Politics; Innovation and Invention; Programs; Business and Government Relations; Climate Change; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry