Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(336)
- Faculty Publications (132)
- 2009
- Working Paper
An Ounce of Prevention: The Power of Public Risk Management in Stabilizing the Financial System
By: David A. Moss
The magnitude of the current financial crisis reflects the failure of an economic and regulatory philosophy that had proved increasingly influential in policy circles over the past three decades.
This paper suggests (1) that contrary to the prevailing wisdom,... View Details
- 2008
- Working Paper
Media versus Special Interests
By: Alexander Dyck, David A. Moss and Luigi Zingales
We argue that profit-maximizing media helps overcome the problem of "rational ignorance" highlighted by Downs (1957) and in so doing makes elected representatives more sensitive to the interests of general voters. By collecting news and combining it with entertainment,... View Details
- 2008
- Working Paper
Rethinking the Role of History in Law & Economics: The Case of the Federal Radio Commission in 1927
By: David A. Moss and Jonathan B. Lackow
In the study of law and economics, there is a danger that historical inferences from theory may infect historical tests of theory. It is imperative, therefore, that historical tests always involve a vigorous search not only for confirming evidence, but for... View Details
- February 2008 (Revised November 2011)
- Case
The International Monetary Fund in Crisis
By: Rawi Abdelal, David Moss and Eugene Kintgen
When Dominique Strauss-Kahn became the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund in late 2007, he faced a number of significant changes. The organization had lost much of its legitimacy over the previous decade, and countries seemed increasingly reluctant to... View Details
- January 2008
- Case
The Deutsche Bank (A)
By: David A. Moss
Founded in 1870 to help finance surging German exports and imports, the Deutsche Bank soon moved into domestic banking. In fact, its founders aimed to create both a commercial bank and an investment bank under one roof—that is, a "universal bank." By the end of the... View Details
- January 2008 (Revised September 2009)
- Case
Financing American Housing Construction in the Aftermath of War
By: David Moss and Cole Bolton
At the start of WWI, the United States faced a significant housing shortage. Public officials feared the spread of disease—and even communism—in the nation's cramped urban centers where vacancy rates held near zero and families often "doubled up" in single-housing... View Details
- January 2008 (Revised January 2009)
- Case
The Armstrong Investigation
By: David Moss and Eugene Kintgen
In the early 20th century, public outrage at certain life insurance practices led to an investigation in New York State that threatened to curtail growth in the industry. Charles Evans Hughes guided the four-month-long Armstrong Investigation, which made startling... View Details
- 2008
- Other Unpublished Work
The Paranoid Style in the Study of American Politics
By: David Moss and Mary Oey
The conventional view is that political actors, like economic actors, pursue their self interest, and that special interest groups dominate the policy making process by satisfying policy makers' need for money and other forms of political support. Indeed, many... View Details
Keywords: Policy; Government Legislation; Media; Interests; Power and Influence; Public Opinion; United States
- December 2007
- Case
Envisioning "Free Banking" in Antebellum New York (A)
By: David A. Moss and Cole Bolton
Banks throughout New York State suspended specie payments (i.e., payments in gold and silver) in May 1837 following the collapse of several state banks and the onset of a nationwide financial panic. Amid the chaos, the upstart Whigs were able to depose the longstanding... View Details
- December 2007
- Case
Ruling the Modern Corporation: The Debate over Limited Liability in Massachusetts
By: David A. Moss and Eugene Kintgen
In 1830, Governor Levi Lincoln, Jr. urged the Massachusetts state legislature to introduce a limited liability regime for manufacturing corporations similar to that adopted in neighboring states. At least since 1809, shareholders in the state's manufacturing... View Details
- December 2007
- Case
The Campaign for Bank Insurance in Antebellum New York
By: David A. Moss and Cole Bolton
The New York State Legislature had come to a standstill in 1829 as lawmakers refused to charter any new banks or recharter any existing banks. Four of New York's forty banks had failed since 1825, and many legislatures believed that a significant change in the banking... View Details
- December 2007 (Revised September 2009)
- Case
Wall Street's First Panic (A)
By: David A. Moss and Cole Bolton
In the early 1790s, a flood of newly issued public and private securities sparked an investment boom in the nascent United States. In New York, the bustling commercial district along Wall Street emerged as the center of the city's securities trade. One of the many... View Details
- 2007
- Book
A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics: What Managers, Executives, and Students Need to Know
By: David A. Moss
Now more than ever before, executives and managers need to understand their larger economic context. In The Concise Guide to Macroeconomics, David Moss leverages his many years of teaching experience at Harvard Business School to lay out important macroeconomic... View Details
- 2006
- Other Unpublished Work
Early Radio Regulation, Capture Theory, and the Problem of History-by-Inference
By: David A. Moss and Jonathan Lackow
Keywords: Telecommunications Industry
- 2005
- Working Paper
Macro for Managers
By: David A. Moss
This note attempts to provide a conceptual overview of macroeconomics. Designed for managers and students of management, it emphasizes fundamental ideas and relationships, rather than mathematical models and formulas. The note identifies—and is structured around—three... View Details
- 2004
- Working Paper
Regulation and Reaction: The Other Side of Free Banking in Antebellum New York
By: David A. Moss and Sarah Brennan
Free banking, which first appeared in the United States in the late 1830s, comprised two essential features: general incorporation for banks and rigorous security requirements for note issue. Because the general incorporation feature is what allowed free entry, it has... View Details
- January 2004
- Supplement
Macroeconomic Policy and the State of the U.S. Economy, 2003
By: David A. Moss
- January 2004
- Case
Macroeconomic Policy and the State of the U.S. Economy, 2003
By: David A. Moss
Based on excerpts from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on July 16, 2003, as well as economic data that were available to Chairman Greenspan at the time. Taken together, the text... View Details