Publications

October 2018
Article

Africa Rising? A Historical Perspective

By: Ewout Frankema and Marlous van Waijenburg

Sub-Saharan Africa’s recent economic boom has raised hopes and expectations to lift the regions’ ‘bottom millions’ out of poverty by 2030. How realistic is that goal? We approach this question by comparing the experiences of three front-runners of region-specific... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Economy; Transformation; Poverty; History; Africa

2020
Working Paper

Tech Clusters

By: William R. Kerr and Frederic Robert-Nicoud

Tech clusters like Silicon Valley play a central role for modern innovation, business competitiveness, and economic performance. This paper reviews what constitutes a tech cluster, how they function internally, and the degree to which policy makers can purposefully... View Details

Keywords: Clusters; Agglomeration; Innovation; Industry Clusters; Innovation and Invention; Entrepreneurship; Patents

SSRN

15 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Remembering Alfred Chandler

base of decades of archival research, what remains the most convincing explanation for the growth of large firms and the emergence of modern management. Moreover this research agenda was framed in a much... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

11 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: ’Entrepreneurship and Multinationals’

book excerpt Firms As Actors From Chapter 1 Entrepreneurship and Multinationals: Global Business and the Making of the Modern World By Geoffrey Jones Entrepreneurs and firms have been important actors in the making of our View Details

Keywords: Re: Geoffrey G. Jones

May 2022
Article

Strengthening Digital Infrastructure: A Policy Agenda for Free and Open Source Software

By: Frank Nagle

While there is little debate that digital forces are playing an increasingly crucial role in the economy, there is limited understanding of the importance of the digital infrastructure that underlies this role. Much of the discussion around digital infrastructure has... View Details

Keywords: Open Source; Applications and Software; Policy; Infrastructure; Open Source Distribution

15 Apr 2015
Other Presentation

The Social Progress Paradigm Shift

By: Michael E. Porter

The last 50 years have been dominated by the idea that economic growth is the most direct route to better lives for the world's expanding population. But the signs are everywhere—environmental destruction, inequality, injustice—that economic development alone is not... View Details

Keywords: Society; England; Social Entrepreneurship; Civil Society or Community; Economic Growth; Innovation and Invention; England

June 2023
Teaching Note

Agricultural Revolution without a Land Revolution: The Megafarms of CP Group

By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 316-150. The case introduces students to an innovative new agricultural venture on the outskirts of Beijing. It can be used as a platform to discuss broader issues of agricultural policy reform and regional disparities in social and... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Policy; Economic Growth; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Thailand

Purchase

December 2013 (Revised May 2015)
Supplement

Land Acquisition in India: Public Purpose and Private Property (C)

By: Laura Alfaro, Lakshmi Iyer and Rachna Tahilyani

Keywords: India; Special Economic Zones; Land Markets; Land Politics; Industrial Development; Land Reform; Developing Markets; Developing Countries; Industrialization; Industrial Property; Economic Growth; Developing Countries and Economies; Economics; Economy; Macroeconomics; Social Issues; India; Asia; South Asia

Purchase

16 Jun 2013
News

A House of Cards

Raffaella Sadun

Raffaella Sadun is Charles E. Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and is a Co-Chair of Harvard Business School’s Project on Managing the Future of Work and co-PI of the Digital Reskilling Lab. Sadun received her PhD in Economics... View Details

14 Nov 2019
Book

Lifting the Lid on Turkey's Hidden Business History

Turkey’s economic development story has always been something of a black box for scholars to understand, perhaps in part because many of the most successful business enterprises there have been in family hands and largely closed to public scrutiny. The authors of a new... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

2019
Chapter

The Great Divergence and the Great Convergence

By: Geoffrey Jones

This chapter provides a new lens to the extensive debate among economists and economic historians concerning why the West grew rich and the rest of the world lagged behind as modern industrialization took hold in the 19th century. The literature has focused heavily on... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Growth and Development; History; Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America; Middle East; North and Central America; Oceania

Summer 2020
Article

Tech Clusters

By: William R. Kerr and Frederic Robert-Nicoud

Tech clusters like Silicon Valley play a central role for modern innovation, business competitiveness, and economic performance. This paper reviews what constitutes a tech cluster, how they function internally, and the degree to which policy makers can purposefully... View Details

Keywords: Clusters; Agglomeration; Innovation; Industry Clusters; Innovation and Invention; Entrepreneurship; Patents

10 May 2015
Conference Presentation

Building a Competitive Jerusalem

By: Michael E. Porter and Christian H.M. Ketels

Jerusalem 2020 is a five-year growth plan for Jerusalem's economic development based on Professor Michael E. Porter's theory of competitive advantage. The plan was presented to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the goal of significant investment by the... View Details

Keywords: Israel; Economics; Israel