Publications

Educators

2007
Other Unpublished Work

Implementing Technology

By: Diego Comin and Bart Hobijn

We introduce a tractable model of endogenous growth in which the returns to innovation are determined by the technology adoption decisions of the users of new technologies. Technology adoption involves an implementation investment that determines the initial... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Investment; Investment Return; Innovation and Invention; Growth and Development Strategy; Performance Productivity; Technology Adoption

18 Nov 2008
First Look

First Look: November 18, 2008

Working PapersAn Exploration of the Japanese Slowdown during the 1990s Author:Diego A. Comin No abstract is available at this time. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-065.pdf (When) Are... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 2011 (Revised December 2012)
Supplement

South Africa (B): Getting Unstuck?

By: Richard H. K. Vietor and Diego Comin

15 years after ending apartheid, formal unemployment in South Africa was still at 24%. While the country had grown at 4 to 5% annually during the 2000s, the financial crisis set it back by 1 million more unemployed. Moreover, it seemed as if the nation were stuck... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Inflation and Deflation; Policy; Employment; Wages; Competition; South Africa

April 2011 (Revised May 2013)
Case

South Africa (A): Stuck in the Middle?

By: Richard H. K. Vietor and Diego Comin

Fifteen years after ending apartheid, formal unemployment in South Africa was still at 24%. While the country had grown at 4 to 5% annually during the 2000s, the financial crisis set it back by 1 million more unemployed. Moreover, it seemed as if the nation were stuck... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Inflation and Deflation; Policy; Employment; Wages; Competition; South Africa

Educators

2009
Working Paper

Technology Innovation and Diffusion as Sources of Output and Asset Price Fluctuations

By: Diego A. Comin, Mark Gertler and Ana Maria Santacreu

We develop a model in which innovations in an economy's growth potential are an important driving force of the business cycle. The framework shares the emphasis of the recent "new shock" literature on revisions of beliefs about the future as a source of fluctuations,... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Economic Growth; Asset Pricing; Technological Innovation; Mathematical Methods; System Shocks; Technology Adoption

17 Nov 2009
First Look

First Look: Nov. 17

Lehman Brothers reduced their lending to a greater extent. Nobel Laureate Panel Discussion: What Retirement Means to Me Authors:Robert C. Merton, Paul A. Samuelson, and Robert M. Solow Publication:Chap. 1 in The Future of Life-Cycle... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

21 Jun 2011
First Look

First Look: June 21

characterizes the financial world. They also overlook the role of natural selection. To be sure, natural selection in the financial world is not exactly analogous to the processes first described by Darwin and elaborated on View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Feb 2011
First Look

First Look: Feb. 1

case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/310052-PDF-ENG China 'Unbalanced' Diego Comin and Richard H.K. VietorHarvard Business School Case 711-010 : In 2010, Wen Jiabao looked back at the financial crisis... View Details

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

2014
Chapter

Technology Diffusion: Measurement, Causes and Consequences

By: Diego A. Comin and Marti Mestieri

This chapter discusses different approaches pursued to explore three broad questions related to technology diffusion: what general patterns characterize the diffusion of technologies, and how have they changed over time; what are the key drivers of technology, and what... View Details

Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Technology Adoption

October 2009
Journal Article

Testing the Commitment Hypothesis in Contractual Settings: Evidence from Soccer

By: Oriol Carbonell and Diego A. Comin

This paper designs and implements an empirical test to discern whether the parties to a contract are able to commit not to renegotiate their agreement. We study optimal contracts with and without commitment and derive an exclusion restriction that is useful to identify... View Details

Keywords: Contracts; Agreements and Arrangements; Research; Sports Industry; Spain

11 Dec 2012
First Look

First Look: Dec. 11

Back, Moving Forward: A Review of Group and Team-Based Research, edited by Margaret A. Neale and Elizabeth A. Mannix, 359-381. Emerald Group Publishing, 2012 Abstract... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Article

Savings in Transnational Households: A Field Experiment Among Migrants from El Salvador

By: Nava Ashraf, Diego Aycinena, Claudia Martinez A. and Dean Yang

While remittance flows to developing countries are very large, it is unknown whether migrants desire more control over how remittances are used. This research uses a randomized field experiment to investigate the importance of migrant control over the use of... View Details

Keywords: Migration; Remittances; Intrahousehold Allocation; Savings; Saving; Residency; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; El Salvador; United States

2009
Working Paper

When Does Domestic Saving Matter for Economic Growth?

By: Philippe Aghion, Diego A. Comin, Peter Howitt and Isabel Tecu

Can a country grow faster by saving more? We address this question both theoretically and empirically. In our theoretical model, growth results from innovations that allow local sectors to catch up with frontier technology. In poor countries, catching up requires the... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth; Entrepreneurship; Foreign Direct Investment; Saving; Technological Innovation; Mathematical Methods

2013
Working Paper

If Technology Has Arrived Everywhere, Why Has Income Diverged?

By: Diego A. Comin and Marti Mestieri Ferrer

We study the lags with which new technologies are adopted across countries, and their long-run penetration rates once they are adopted. Using data from the last two centuries, we document two new facts: there has been convergence in adoption lags between rich and poor... View Details

Keywords: Income Characteristics; Technology Adoption; Globalization

October 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Teaching Note

Malaysia: People First? (TN)

By: Diego A. Comin

Teaching Note for 710033. View Details

Keywords: Malaysia

February 2011
Module Note

Business Cycles and the New Challenges of Globalization

By: Diego A. Comin

Business Cycles and the New Challenges of Globalization is one of the core modules in Business Government and the International Economy (BGIE), a course for the required curriculum of the Harvard Business School. BGIE teaches the economic, political and historical... View Details

Keywords: Fluctuation; Business Cycles; Trade; Business Education; Curriculum and Courses; Capital; Cash Flow; Globalization; Problems and Challenges; China

2014
Chapter

The Intensive Margin of Technology Adoption

By: Diego A. Comin

We present a tractable model for analyzing the relationship between economic growth and the intensive and extensive margins of technology adoption. The "extensive" margin refers to the timing of a country's adoption of a new technology; the "intensive" margin refers to... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Microeconomics; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Analytics and Data Science; Growth and Development Strategy; Relationships; Technology Adoption