Publications

September 1992 (Revised August 2004)
Supplement

Martin Marietta: Managing Corporate Ethics (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine

The president of one of Martin Marietta's four main operating companies has learned of procurement irregularities in the company he manages. The problems involve U.S. government contracts the company is working on. After getting legal advice from the company's general... View Details

Keywords: Fluctuation; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Governing and Advisory Boards; Policy; Contracts; Leadership; United States

22 May 2007
First Look

First Look: May 22, 2007

J. Gomes, Laurence J. Kotlikoff, and Luis M. Viceira Abstract Governments are known for procrastinating when it comes to resolving painful policy problems. Whatever the political motives for waiting to... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2014
Working Paper

College Admissions as Non-Price Competition: The Case of South Korea

By: Christopher Avery, Alvin E. Roth and Soohyung Lee

This paper examines non-price competition among colleges to attract highly qualified students, exploiting the South Korean setting where the national government sets rules governing applications. We identify some basic facts about the behavior of colleges before and... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Higher Education; Policy; Government and Politics; Education Industry; South Korea

Article

How Elastic Are Preferences for Redistribution? Evidence from Randomized Survey Experiments

By: Ilyana Kuziemko, Michael I. Norton, Emmanuel Saez and Stefanie Stantcheva

We analyze randomized online survey experiments providing interactive, customized information on U.S. income inequality, the link between top income tax rates and economic growth, and the estate tax. The treatment has large effects on views about inequality but only... View Details

Keywords: Income; Taxation; Economic Growth; United States

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September 1998
Case

Cooperating to Compete: EGS of Turkey

By: Pankaj Ghemawat and C. Fritz Foley

In the early 1980s, Turkey adopted policies that liberalized trade as a part of a structural adjustment program. Within the garment industry, small- and medium-scale enterprises were not well positioned to take advantage of the new opportunities to compete in... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Corporate Governance; Policy; Partners and Partnerships; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Turkey

June 2010 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Remaking Singapore

By: Michael E. Porter, Boon Siong Neo and Christian H.M. Ketels

Looking through the lenses of both macro and micro economic policy, this case examines how Singapore has achieved such stellar success throughout its history, from independence through 2008. The case discusses the different policy choices the Singaporean government has... View Details

Keywords: History; Development Economics; Industry Clusters; Competitive Advantage; Policy; Economic Growth; Microeconomics; Government and Politics; Macroeconomics; Singapore

Using rainfall, public relief, and election data from India, we examine how governments respond to adverse shocks and how voters react to these responses. The data show that voters punish the incumbent party for weather events beyond its control. However, fewer... View Details

Video

Aroon Purie

Aroon Purie, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India Today, explains the opening of the Indian economy and suggests that the major drivers of economic growth have not been government policies but rather due to a series of revolutions in the IT industry, the auto... View Details

31 Oct 2019
Video

Anu Aga

Anu Aga discusses the decision India-based engineering company Thermax took in 1996 to devote a specific share of profits to social spending, and to focus explicitly on education, supporting schools and the... View Details

Article

Assessing the Impact of CEO Activism

By: Aaron K Chatterji and Michael W. Toffel

CEO activism refers to corporate leaders speaking out on social and environmental policy issues not directly related to their company’s core business. Distinct from nonmarket strategy and traditional corporate social responsibility, the recent wave of CEO activism... View Details

Keywords: Business And Society; Leadership; Policy; Ethics; Values and Beliefs; Governance; Social Issues; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Public Opinion

Editorial

Zeroing Out on zero-COVID

By: William C. Kirby

China’s culture reveres science, yet operates under a government that often defines what “science” is and is not. China’s “zero-COVID” policy has created a bifurcated scientific community that threatens international collaboration in science and technology. A... View Details

Keywords: COVID; Scientific Community; World Health Organization; Pseudoscience; Governance; Government and Politics; Health; Research and Development; Social Media; China

Article

Considering Concessions: A Survey Experiment on the Colombian Peace Process

By: Aila M. Matanock and Natalia Garbiras-Díaz

Designing peace agreements that can be signed and sustained can be difficult in civil conflict. Many recent cases of successful settlements include electoral provisions, often for rebel groups to participate as political parties. Engaging the electoral process,... View Details

Keywords: Peace Process; Political Parties; Politics; Government; Agreements; Political Backlash; Political Discourse; Civil Unrest; Civil War; Political Issues; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government and Politics; Policy; Conflict and Resolution; Latin America; Colombia

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Forthcoming
Article

Government, Business and Making China an Educational Powerhouse Since the 1980s

By: Geoffrey Jones, Yuan Jia-Zheng, Yuhai Wu and Qianru Wang

This article examines how China successfully built a highly competent K-12 education system since the 1980s achieving high literacy rates, broad basic education and gender equality. It argues that this success was driven by a strategy of blending public and private... View Details

Keywords: Early Childhood Education; Secondary Education; Literacy; Gender; Equality and Inequality; Business and Government Relations; Policy; Education Industry; China

March 2011 (Revised May 2011)
Case

Inequality in Brazil

By: Aldo Musacchio

This case examines the evolution of inequality in Brazil in the last few years and generates two debates. First, the case discusses inequality and whether it is a problem or not for capitalist societies, in this case Brazil. Second, the case discusses some of the... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Economic Systems; Policy; Government and Politics; Business and Government Relations; Poverty; Equality and Inequality; Brazil

Aiyesha Dey has been part of the Accounting and Management unit at the Harvard Business School (HBS) since July 2017. She started her career as an accounting faulty at the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, after which she joined the accounting group at... View Details

June 2004
Case

Medical Technology Industry and Japan (A), The

In a five-year effort, the Health Industry Manufacturers Association (HIMA) tried to influence government health policy in Japan. In 1993, HIMA mobilized in response to fears the Japanese government was planning to target the U.S. medical devices industry. The case... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Policy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Government and Politics; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Japan; United States

October 2003
Article

Capture by Threat

By: Ernesto Dal Bo and Rafael Di Tella

We analyze a simple stochastic environment in which policy makers can be threatened by “nasty” interest groups. In the absence of these groups, the policy maker’s desire for reelection guarantees that good policies are implemented for every realization of the shock.... View Details

Keywords: Political Parties; Politicians; Nash Equilibrium; Political Elections

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