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- News (12)
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- Faculty Publications (160)
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(215)
- News (12)
- Research (196)
- Events (1)
- Multimedia (1)
- Faculty Publications (160)
- March 2006 (Revised November 2006)
- Case
China: To Float or Not To Float? (E)- ABB Investment in China
By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel
In July 2005, China revalued its currency by 2.1% and adjusted its exchange rate regime toward a more market-based system. ABB, a global power and automation technologies company based out of Switzerland with operations in China, was among those companies confronted... View Details
Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate; Investment; Multinational Firms and Management; International Relations; Problems and Challenges; Value Creation; China; Switzerland
Alfaro, Laura, Rafael M. Di Tella, and Ingrid Vogel. "China: To Float or Not To Float? (E)- ABB Investment in China." Harvard Business School Case 706-035, March 2006. (Revised November 2006.)
- April 2003
- Article
The Role of Wages and Auditing during a Crackdown on Corruption in the City of Buenos Aires
By: Rafael Di Tella and Ernesto Schargrodsky
We study the prices paid for basic inputs during a crackdown on corruption in the public hospitals of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, during 1996 97. We find a well-defined, negative effect on the measures used to capture corruption. Prices paid by hospitals for... View Details
Di Tella, Rafael, and Ernesto Schargrodsky. "The Role of Wages and Auditing during a Crackdown on Corruption in the City of Buenos Aires." Journal of Law & Economics 46, no. 1 (April 2003): 269–92.
- July 2005 (Revised September 2020)
- Case
The U.S. Current Account Deficit
By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael Di Tella, Ingrid Vogel, Renee Kim, Sarah Jeong, Matthew Johnson and Jonathan Schlefer
Investors and policymakers throughout the world were confronted with the risk of painful economic consequences arising from the large U.S. current account deficit. In 2007, the U.S. current account deficit was $731 billion, equivalent to 5.3% of GDP. The implications... View Details
Keywords: World Economy; Macroeconomics; Borrowing and Debt; Currency; Foreign Direct Investment; Business and Government Relations; United States
Alfaro, Laura, Rafael Di Tella, Ingrid Vogel, Renee Kim, Sarah Jeong, Matthew Johnson, and Jonathan Schlefer. "The U.S. Current Account Deficit." Harvard Business School Case 706-002, July 2005. (Revised September 2020.)
- March 2004
- Article
Inflation, Inflation Variability, and Corruption
By: Miguel Braun and Rafael Di Tella
We present a model where agents can inflate the cost of goods needed to start an investment project and inflation variability increases monitoring costs. We show that inflation variability can lead to higher corruption and lower investment. We document a positive... View Details
Braun, Miguel, and Rafael Di Tella. "Inflation, Inflation Variability, and Corruption." Economics & Politics 16, no. 1 (March 2004).
- 1998
- Working Paper
Some Evidence on the Optimal Welfare State Based on Subjective Data
By: Rafael Di Tella and Robert MacCulloch
It is often difficult to evaluate all the costs and benefits of the welfare state. This paper suggests an alternative approach based on surveys of citizen satisfaction with welfare programs. In the first part of the paper we estimate the level of unemployment benefits... View Details
- Web
Faculty & Advisors - MBA
co-founder and CTO of Clever, an educational technology platform that is used by nearly half of the school districts in the U.S. Prior to Clever, Rafael was an Algorithmic Trader at Jump Trading. Dayna... View Details
- October 2011
- Article
Government Advertising and Media Coverage of Corruption Scandals
By: Rafael Di Tella and Ignacio Franceschelli
We construct measures of the extent to which the four main newspapers in Argentina report government corruption in their front page during the period 1998-2007 and correlate them with government advertising. The correlation is negative. The size is considerable: a one... View Details
Di Tella, Rafael, and Ignacio Franceschelli. "Government Advertising and Media Coverage of Corruption Scandals." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 3, no. 4 (October 2011): 119–151.
- March 2006 (Revised April 2015)
- Case
China: To Float or Not To Float? (B)- Timeline of Changes Relevant to the Chinese Renminbi
By: Laura Alfaro and Rafael M. Di Tella
On July 21, 2005 China revalued its decade-long quasi-fixed exchange rate of approximately 8.28 yuan per U.S. dollar by 2.1% to 8.11% and, at the same time, introduced a more market-based exchange rate system. Many analysts and economists were disappointed with what... View Details
Keywords: Currency; Exchange Rate; China; Macroeconomics; Trade; Currency Exchange Rate; Governance Controls; Policy; China; United States
Alfaro, Laura, and Rafael M. Di Tella. "China: To Float or Not To Float? (B)- Timeline of Changes Relevant to the Chinese Renminbi." Harvard Business School Case 706-022, March 2006. (Revised April 2015.)
- March 2021 (Revised January 2023)
- Case
The Trouble with TCE
By: Vincent Pons, Rafael Di Tella and Galit Goldstein
Trichloroethylene, or TCE, was a chemical used by tens of thousands of businesses in the United States. It was an affordable tool for many. Yet, TCE had been associated with important health risks, including cancer and autoimmune disease. TCE potentially posed other... View Details
Keywords: Trichloroethylene; Toxicity; Lobbying; Chemicals; Health Disorders; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Ethics; Business and Government Relations; Chemical Industry; United States
Pons, Vincent, Rafael Di Tella, and Galit Goldstein. "The Trouble with TCE." Harvard Business School Case 721-031, March 2021. (Revised January 2023.)
- Article
Reputation When Threats and Transfers Are Available
By: Ernesto Dal Bo, Pedro Dal Bo and Rafael Di Tella
We present a model where a long-run player is allowed to use both money transfers and threats to influence the decisions of a sequence of short-run players. We show that threats might be used credibly (even in arbitrarily short repeated games) by a long-lived player... View Details
Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Decision Choices and Conditions; Game Theory; Mathematical Methods; Interests; Power and Influence; Reputation
Dal Bo, Ernesto, Pedro Dal Bo, and Rafael Di Tella. "Reputation When Threats and Transfers Are Available." Journal of Economics & Management Strategy 16, no. 3 (Fall 2007).
- Article
Criminal Recidivism after Prison and Electronic Monitoring
By: Rafael Di Tella and Ernesto Schargrodsky
We study criminal recidivism in Argentina by focusing on the re-arrest rates of two groups: individuals released from prison and individuals released from electronic monitoring. Detainees are randomly assigned to judges, and ideological differences across judges... View Details
Keywords: Crime; Prison; Recidivism; Behavior; Situation or Environment; Crime and Corruption; Argentina
Di Tella, Rafael, and Ernesto Schargrodsky. "Criminal Recidivism after Prison and Electronic Monitoring." Journal of Political Economy 121, no. 1 (February 2013): 28–73.
- Article
Anger and Regulation
By: Rafael Di Tella and Juan Dubra
We study a model in which agents experience anger when they see a firm that has displayed insufficient concern for the welfare of its clients (i.e., altruism) making high profits. Regulation can increase welfare, for example, through fines (even with no changes in... View Details
Keywords: Altruism; Populism; Public Relations; Profit; Consumer Behavior; Perception; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms
Di Tella, Rafael, and Juan Dubra. "Anger and Regulation." Scandinavian Journal of Economics 116, no. 3 (July 2014): 734–765.
- March 2006 (Revised November 2006)
- Case
China: To Float or Not To Float? (D)- Bank of America's Strategic Investment in China Construction Bank
By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel
With its $3 billion investment in Chinese state bank China Construction Bank, Bank of America--the second U.S. bank behind Citigroup in terms of assets and market capitalization--was one of several foreign banks directly participating in China's banking sector reform.... View Details
Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate; Banks and Banking; Foreign Direct Investment; International Relations; Banking Industry; China; United States
Alfaro, Laura, Rafael M. Di Tella, and Ingrid Vogel. "China: To Float or Not To Float? (D)- Bank of America's Strategic Investment in China Construction Bank." Harvard Business School Case 706-031, March 2006. (Revised November 2006.)
- July 1997
- Article
National Champions and Corruption: Some Unpleasant Interventionist Arithmetic
By: Alberto Ades and Rafael Di Tella
We present a hold-up model of investment where active industrial policy promotes both corruption and investment. Since corruption deters investment, the effect of industrial policy on investment is lower than when corruption is absent. We find evidence suggesting that... View Details
Keywords: Crime and Corruption
Ades, Alberto, and Rafael Di Tella. "National Champions and Corruption: Some Unpleasant Interventionist Arithmetic." Economic Journal 107, no. 443 (July 1997): 1023–43.
- June 2016
- Teaching Note
The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation
By: Rafael Di Tella and Christine Snively
Israel enjoyed the highest concentration of technology start-ups in the world per capita. Despite regional instability, the country maintained strong economic growth and was considered a high-tech powerhouse. But not all Israelis benefited. Between the 1980s and 2010s,... View Details
- June 2016 (Revised December 2017)
- Case
The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation
By: Rafael Di Tella and Christine Snively
Israel enjoyed the highest concentration of technology start-ups in the world per capita. Despite regional instability, the country maintained strong economic growth and was considered a high-tech powerhouse. But not all Israelis benefited. Between the 1980s and 2010s,... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Business Conglomerates; Business Startups; Israel
Di Tella, Rafael, and Christine Snively. "The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation." Harvard Business School Case 716-060, June 2016. (Revised December 2017.)
- November 2006 (Revised July 2007)
- Case
CNN and the Cable News Wars
Set in 1996, when ABC, NBC and Microsoft, and Fox all announced that they will challenge Cable News Network's near monopoly position in the 24-hour cable news channel market. The focus is on the interaction of the strategies likely to be adopted by each player given... View Details
Keywords: Leadership; Resource Allocation; Monopoly; Rank and Position; Reputation; Adoption; Competition
- December 2013 (Revised March 2024)
- Case
Breaking Bad (the Rules): Argentina Defaults, Inflates (and Grows), 1997–2015
By: Rafael Di Tella and Fernanda Miguel
In late October 2011, after losing 1 billion of dollar reserves in one month, the Argentine government began imposing a series of currency controls, limiting the ability to buy foreign currency. As of October 2011, Argentina's tax collection agency AFIP had been... View Details
Di Tella, Rafael, and Fernanda Miguel. "Breaking Bad (the Rules): Argentina Defaults, Inflates (and Grows), 1997–2015." Harvard Business School Case 714-036, December 2013. (Revised March 2024.)
- November 2004
- Article
Unemployment Benefits As a Substitute for a Conservative Central Banker
By: Rafael Di Tella and Robert MacCulloch
In the many years since their introduction, positive theories of inflation have rarely been tested. This paper documents a negative relationship between inflation and the welfare state (proxied by the parameters of the unemployment benefit program) that is to be... View Details
Di Tella, Rafael, and Robert MacCulloch. "Unemployment Benefits As a Substitute for a Conservative Central Banker." Review of Economics and Statistics 86, no. 4 (November 2004): 911–23.
- March 2011 (Revised June 2016)
- Case
Hungary: Economic Crisis and a Shift to the Right
By: Rafael M. Di Tella, Matthew C. Weinzierl and Jacob Kuipers
Instructors may also obtain a Teaching Note, written by this case's author, that provides suggestions for using this case effectively in the classroom. View Details
Di Tella, Rafael M., Matthew C. Weinzierl, and Jacob Kuipers. "Hungary: Economic Crisis and a Shift to the Right." Harvard Business School Case 711-051, March 2011. (Revised June 2016.)