Publications

April 2025
Article

How Central Banks Manage Climate and Energy Transition Risks

By: Esther Shears, Jonas Meckling and Jared Finnegan

Central banks have begun to examine and manage climate risks, including both transition risks of moving from fossil fuels to clean energy and physical climate risks. Here we provide a systematic assessment of how and why central banks address climate risks on the basis... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Risk and Uncertainty; Climate Change; Transition; Risk Management

December 2015 (Revised January 2016)
Case

Woolf Farming and the California Water Crisis

By: Forest Reinhardt, David Bell, Natalie Kindred, Mary Shelman and Laura Winig

This case highlights the tough choices, competing interests, and decision-making mechanisms involved in California's management of its severe drought, entering its fifth year in 2015. Stuart Woolf, CEO of Woolf Farming, a grower and processor of almonds, tomatoes, and... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Natural Disasters; Climate Change; Resource Allocation; Environmental Sustainability; Government and Politics; Economics; Weather; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; California

Web

Class Profile - Doctoral

Education 89 Undergraduate Institutions GMAT & GRE All applicants are required to take either the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) or the General Test of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). Additional information regarding... View Details

15 Jul 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Poultry in Motion: A Study of International Trade Finance Practices

Keywords: by Pol Antras & C. Fritz Foley; Agriculture & Agribusiness

January 2010 (Revised March 2011)
Case

Ben Bernanke: Person of the Year?

By: Lakshmi Iyer and Matthew C. Weinzierl

In response to the economic and financial crisis of 2008–2009, the Federal Reserve greatly expanded the scale and scope of its activities. Though lauded by many experts for its actions, the Fed and its chairman, Ben Bernanke, faced harsh criticism from some public... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Central Banking; Governance Controls; Policy; Crisis Management; Power and Influence; Public Administration Industry; United States

Web

Business, Government & the International Economy - Faculty & Research

institutions. Alternative mechanisms—including human capital accumulation and economic growth—cannot, alone, explain our findings. Keywords: Democratization ; Institutional Development ; View Details

October 2019
Case

Agility Africa

By: Juan Alcacer, Caroline M. Elkins and Esel Çekin

This case illustrates the challenge and opportunities that firms face when developing and executing new business models in high-risk, low-infrastructure, low-trust countries. It features a global logistics group, Agility, that aimed to become the leader in supplying... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Expansion; Emerging Markets; Decision Choices and Conditions; Real Estate Industry; Distribution Industry; Africa

October 1996 (Revised May 1998)
Case

Regarding NAFTA

By: Debora L. Spar

In the aftermath of World War II, the countries of the industrialized world engaged in an unprecedented round of institution-building, through which historical barriers to international trade, especially tariffs, came tumbling down. The GATT has reshaped the... View Details

Keywords: Organizations; Trade; North America

June 1996 (Revised July 1997)
Case

Hostile Bid for Red October, The

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Alan Bigman

Manatep Bank, a Russian investment bank, has just announced the country's first hostile tender offer for Red October, a confectionery company located in Moscow. As the chief financial officer of the target company, Yuri Yegorov must decide how to respond, how much his... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Cash; Governance Controls; Financial Condition; Investment Banking; Financial Markets; Trade; Valuation; Financial Management; Food and Beverage Industry; Moscow

01 Mar 2016
First Look

March 1, 2016

piping. Standard welfare economics teaches us that either subsidies or Pigouvian fines can solve that problem, but both solutions are problematic when institutions are weak. Subsidies lead to waste and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

19 Sep 2023
HBS Case

How Will the Tech Titans Behind ChatGPT, Bard, and LLaMA Make Money?

says. “I think the basic economics of a generative AI are being overlooked.” In an interview, Wu discusses the challenging economics of AI, how business models are likely to differ from traditional software... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Technology; Information Technology

October 2009 (Revised November 2011)
Case

Citigroup-Wachovia-Wells Fargo

By: Guhan Subramanian and Nithyasri Sharma

In late September 2008, amidst the spiraling financial crisis, many firms on Wall Street were in a precarious position. One such institution was Wachovia, which entered acquisition talks with Citigroup and Wells Fargo. This case describes the development of these... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Crisis; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Managerial Roles; Banking Industry; United States

March 2022 (Revised June 2023)
Background Note

Climate Issues on the Ground: Snapshots of Diverse American Cities

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Coelin Scibetta and Ryan Barr

This compilation provides brief snapshots of climate action and its geographic and institutional context in 13 U.S. cities that send diverse participants to the Harvard Business School Young American Leaders Program to learn about cross-sector collaboration to address... View Details

Keywords: Cities; Ecosystems; Cross-sector Collaboration; Green Business; U.S. Competitiveness; Economic Sectors; City; Climate Change; Leadership; Change; Boston; Detroit; Minneapolis; Pittsburgh; San Jose; Seattle

Research Summary

Principal Research Interests

My research is principally focused on nineteenth- and twentieth-century subjects, with an emphasis on economic and especially financial history. I am interested in the role of banks and capital markets in the process of economic development as well as in the political... View Details

September 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

B Lab: Building a New Sector of the Economy

By: Christopher Marquis, Andrew David Klaber and Bobbi Thomason

The founders of B Lab are on a mission to create a new sector of the economy and are specifically focused on a three objectives: 1) building a community of Certified B Corporations (B=Benefit) that legally expand their corporate responsibilities to include... View Details

Keywords: Economic Sectors; Social Entrepreneurship; Investment; Policy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Government Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Social Enterprise; Value Creation

September 2011
Article

Global Capitalism at Risk: What Are You Doing About It?

By: Joseph L. Bower, Herman B. Leonard and Lynn S. Paine

Market capitalism, a system that has proven to be a remarkable engine of wealth creation, is poised for a breakdown. That sounds dire, and it is. Increasing income inequality, migration, weaknesses in the global financial system, environmental degradation, and... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Economic Systems; Globalization; Corporate Governance; Markets; Risk and Uncertainty

Find at Harvard

1994
Chapter

Competition Policy and Privatization: An Organizational Perspective

By: James Langenfeld and Dennis Yao

Competition (antitrust) policies in Central and Eastern Europe need to address both short-term problems associated with the transition to a market economy as well as the development of institutions suitable for a mature market economy. In this paper we employ an... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Policy; Development Economics; Emerging Markets

Find at Harvard

June 2015
Article

The Capital Purchase Program and Subsequent Bank SEOs

By: Mozaffar N. Khan and Dushyantkumar Vyas

We find that in the aftermath of the recent financial crisis banks replenished only 12% of crisis-related losses through SEOs in 2009 and 2010. However, SEOs are disproportionately conducted by Capital Purchase Program (CPP) recipients, and this is not explained by CPP... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Capital; Equity; Financial Crisis; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; United States