Publications

January 2009 (Revised October 2011)
Case

Barack Obama and the Bush Tax Cuts (A)

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl and Eric D. Werker

As his inauguration approached, President-elect Obama faced a financial sector meltdown, a costly bailout, and massive government deficits. With the economy in recession, interest rates near zero, and joblessness on the rise, Obama needed to decide whether, and how... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Management; Policy; Government Administration; Taxation; United States

15 Sep 2016
News

US political system risks economic competitiveness, study finds

Lynda M. Applegate

Lynda M. Applegate is a Baker Foundation Professor at HBS and is Chair of the Advisory Committee for Harvard University’s Masters Degree of Liberal Arts in Finance and Management at the Harvard University Extension School. She has also played a... View Details

Article

Conversational Receptiveness: Expressing Engagement with Opposing Views

By: M. Yeomans, J. Minson, H. Collins, H. Chen and F. Gino

We examine “conversational receptiveness”—the use of language to communicate one’s willingness to thoughtfully engage with opposing views. We develop an interpretable machine-learning algorithm to identify the linguistic profile of receptiveness (Studies 1A-B). We then... View Details

Keywords: Receptiveness; Natural Language Processing; Disagreement; Interpersonal Communication; Relationships; Conflict Management

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September 1992 (Revised March 1998)
Case

Japan Confronts an Interdependent World

By: George C. Lodge

Traces the evolution of Japan's economic strategy from 1972 to 1992. Describes the collapse of the Japanese stock market in the spring of 1992, raising the question: Is this the end of Japan's miraculous growth? To help students consider that question, the case... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Financial Markets; Information Technology; System Shocks; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Crisis; Government and Politics; Growth and Development; Situation or Environment; Japan; United States

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2008
Chapter

Learning in Environmental Policymaking and Implementation

By: Alnoor Ebrahim

This paper explores how "learning" occurs in the context of environmental policy formulation and implementation. Rather than viewing policy learning as a rational and technocratic process, the emphasis here is on the political and institutional contexts within which... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Corporate Accountability; Policy; Government and Politics; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Natural Environment; Power and Influence; South Africa; Brazil

December 1981 (Revised September 1986)
Case

Marriott Corp.

By: Thomas R. Piper

Marriott is considering the repurchase of ten million shares. This is apparently at odds with the financial policies that the Board of Directors passed two years earlier. Students must discuss why the policies were passed and why changes are now necessary. Includes a... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Policy; Governing and Advisory Boards; Change; Financial Strategy; Valuation

04 Mar 2020
News

Female Faculty Leading the Way on International Women's Day

April 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Malaysia: People First?

By: Diego A. Comin and John Abraham

On March 30, 2010, Prime Minister Najib Razak presented his new economic model (NEM) for Malaysia. With the goal of raising per capita income to over $15,000 by 2020 from the current level of $6,634, the plan included measures to improve human capital, reduce migration... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Economies and Regions; Problems and Challenges; Crime and Corruption; Developing Countries and Economies; Development Economics; Emerging Markets; Transformation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Wealth and Poverty; Equality and Inequality; Malaysia

09 Nov 2022
In Practice

COP27: What Can Business Leaders Do to Fight Climate Change Now?

The US government’s newly passed Inflation Reduction Act will direct $370 billion toward advancing renewal energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions—the country's largest investment in fighting climate change so far. As business and government leaders around the... View Details

Keywords: by Lynn Schenk and Danielle Kost

08 Mar 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Customer-Driven Misconduct: How Competition Corrupts Business Practices

Keywords: by Victor Manuel Bennett, Lamar Pierce, Jason A. Snyder & Michael W. Toffel; Auto

2014
Chapter

Promoting Corporate Sustainability through Integrated Reporting: The Role of Investment Fiduciaries and the Responsibilities of the Corporate Board

By: Robert G. Eccles, J. Herron and George Serafeim

This book is a comprehensive reference work exploring recent changes and future trends in the principles that govern institutional investors and fiduciaries. A wide range of contributors offer new perspectives on dynamics that drive the current emphasis on short-term... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Institutional Investing; Financial Services Industry

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02 Jan 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, January 3, 2018

government turns out to be different from that in the United States. It shows that big business emerged as a constructive player in environmental policy in the 1960s, when it persuaded the View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Jan 2013
News

What to do now: Shape up

2020
Working Paper

Targeting for Long-Term Outcomes

By: Jeremy Yang, Dean Eckles, Paramveer Dhillon and Sinan Aral

Decision makers often want to target interventions so as to maximize an outcome that is observed only in the long term. This typically requires delaying decisions until the outcome is observed or relying on simple short-term proxies for the long-term outcome. Here we... View Details

Keywords: Targeted Marketing; Optimization; Churn Management; Marketing; Customer Relationship Management; Policy; Learning; Outcome or Result

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20 Oct 2010
Op-Ed

Export Competitiveness: Reversing the Logic

sustained growth while pursuing a strong export orientation provided the empirical backdrop for this approach. Government policy to achieve export-led growth is then essentially about findings ways to... View Details

Keywords: by Christian Ketels

April 2013 (Revised February 2018)
Case

Norway: The Embarrassment of Riches

By: Sophus A. Reinert, Forest Reinhardt and Senny Munthe-Kaas

In early 2013, Norway was by many accounts the world’s most developed country; it topped various indices for everything from democracy to happiness, had a comprehensive welfare state, and massive oil revenues endowed it with a substantial, and growing, Sovereign Wealth... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Wealth Funds; Welfare State; Natural Resources; Internationalization; Dutch Disease; Happiness; Macroeconomics; Energy Sources; Values and Beliefs; Sovereign Finance; Immigration; Welfare; Energy Industry; Norway

April 2010 (Revised January 2013)
Case

California's Budget Crises, Tax Reform, and Domestic and International Tax Competition

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl and Jacob Kuipers

How do (and how should) governments design fiscal policies to compete in a globalized economy while meeting internal policy priorities including redistribution? In 2009, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger repeatedly declared fiscal emergencies as California's state budget... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Economy; Globalization; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Taxation; Competition; California