Publications

November 1999 (Revised November 2000)
Background Note

Economic Liberalization and Industry Dynamics

Programs of economic liberalization often lead to dramatic changes in industry structure. This note presents excerpts from several research papers that summarize findings on how industries evolve following abrupt policy reforms. The note is organized into seven... View Details

Keywords: Industry Structures

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2018
Chapter

Between Economic Planning and Market Competition: International Law and Economics in the U.S.

By: Laura Phillips Sawyer

The impact of institutional economics in shaping the American regulatory tradition has largely been dismissed as an incoherent attack on the neoclassical economic paradigm. This essay briefly reconstructs the interwar institutionalist movement, exploring the... View Details

Keywords: Economics; History; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Government Relations; United States

Spring 2020
Article

The Basic Economics of Internet Infrastructure

By: Shane Greenstein

The internet's structure and operations remain invisible to most economists. What determines the economic value of internet infrastructure and the incentives to improve it? What are the open research questions for the most salient policy issues? This article reviews... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Infrastructure; Operations; Economics; Value

11 Aug 2014
HBS Case

The Business of Behavioral Economics

You've done everything—endured diets, purged your freezer of Ben & Jerry's, and educated yourself on fat, sugar, and calories. Yet, you can't manage to lose weight. What's wrong with you? According to standard economic theory, which... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage; Health

March 17, 2017
Article

How Economics Can Shape Precision Medicines

By: Ariel Dora Stern, Brian M. Alexander and Amitabh Chandra

Many public and private efforts in coming years will focus on research in precision medicine, developing biomarkers to indicate which patients are likely to benefit from a certain treatment so that others can be spared the cost—financial and physical—of being treated... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Research; Economics; Motivation and Incentives

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Research Summary

Research and Publication Interests

Michelle Craig McDonald is currently writing a Harvard Business School case study on the impact of the International Coffee Act on small producers. She is interested in early American economic development, especially the role of foreign trade and re-exported... View Details

May 2021
Article

Fifty Shades of QE: Comparing Findings of Central Bankers and Academics

By: Brian Fabo, Marina Jančoková, Elisabeth Kempf and Ľuboš Pástor

We compare the findings of central bank researchers and academic economists regarding the macroeconomic effects of quantitative easing (QE). We find that central bank papers find QE to be more effective than academic papers do. Central bank papers report larger effects... View Details

Keywords: Quantitative Easing; Career Concerns; Economic Research; Central Banking; Macroeconomics; Economic Growth

Teaching Interest

Space: Public and Commercial Economics

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl

Space is a place of unparalleled possibility for humanity, and it is in the midst of a revolution. In this course, we will learn about this revolution and the companies, such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, Axiom, Planet, and more. We will be joined by leaders in the... View Details

2017
Article

Agricultural Insurance and Economic Development

By: Shawn A. Cole and Wentao Xiong

This article provides a review of recent research on agricultural insurance (AI) in developing countries. Agricultural producers face a variety of significant risks; historically, only government-subsidized products have achieved widespread adoption. A recent... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Insurance; Developing Countries and Economies; Adoption; Risk Management; Research; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

November 1999 (Revised May 2000)
Supplement

Data Supplement: Post-War US Economic Statistics

By: Julio J. Rotemberg and Cherie Nursalim

Supplements Tax Cut of 1964 (9-382-078), Nixon's Economic Strategy--1969 (8-378-258), and The Reagan Plan (9-381-173). View Details

Keywords: History; Sovereign Finance; Development Economics; Mathematical Methods; Taxation; Policy; Government Administration; Macroeconomics; United States

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May 27, 2020
Editorial

Stable Democracies Better at Fostering Economic Growth

By: Ashish Nanda

Differences across countries in how the COVID-19 pandemic has been managed have led some to raise the broader question of whether democracies are necessarily a good way to organise a society. Research findings clearly show that compared to autocracies, democracies... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Government and Politics

Research Summary

Economics of Organization and Firm Performance

A great deal of theoretical and empirical research indicates that economic actors should organize activities so as to minimize the 'transaction costs' associated with managing these activities. But little is known about the consequences of violating this prescription.... View Details

09 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

The Entrepreneurs Who Invented Economic Forecasting

economic future? How have forecasting methods changed over time? What makes one forecaster more popular than another? I chose to research these questions by focusing on the first generation of View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

2020
Working Paper

What Can Economics Say About Alzheimer's Disease?

By: Amitabh Chandra, Courtney Coile and Corina Mommaerts

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) affects one in ten people aged 65 or older and is the most expensive disease in the United States. We describe the central economic questions raised by AD. While there is overlap with the economics of aging, the defining features of the... View Details

Keywords: Health Disorders; Health Care and Treatment; Economics

03 Nov 2008
HBS Case

Economics of the Ethanol Business

Reinhardt, with Senior Researcher James Weber and Agribusiness Program Director Mary Shelman (HBS MBA '87), examines the complex political and economic underpinnings of the ethanol industry and the dilemma... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Energy

05 Aug 2024
Research & Ideas

Watching for the Next Economic Downturn? Follow Corporate Debt

information about the risk of future economic crashes and deserve more scrutiny from policymakers, economists, and regulators. The paper emerges after years of persistent inflation and mounting interest rates, and amid close scrutiny of... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

Research Summary

The Economics of Enterprise IT

By: Shane M. Greenstein

Why do some organizations adopt new information systems while others do not? Why do some face high costs while others do not? Professor Greenstein has been pursuing this stream of research throughout his career, analyzing the factors shaping the costs of acquiring... View Details

1987
Chapter

Laboratory Experimentation in Economics

By: A. E. Roth

Keywords: Economics; Research

2020
Chapter

Foreign Direct Investment, Finance and Economic Development

By: Laura Alfaro and Jasmina Chauvin

Research has sought to understand how foreign direct investment affects host economies. This paper reviews the empirical literature, specifically addressing the question: How does FDI affect economic development of host countries and what is the role of local financial... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Developing Countries and Economies; Financial Condition; Development Economics