Publications

May 2021 (Revised November 2024)
Case

Colombia: An Economic Premium to Peace?

By: Richard Vietor

Colombia, once the fastest growing country in Latin America, continues to struggle with productivity. Both labor productivity and total factor productivity have been low for the past decade, despite economic growth of 4.7% annually. Many factors contribute, which... View Details

22 Apr 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Government Technology Policy, Social Value, and National Competitiveness

Keywords: by Frank Nagle

02 Sep 2002
Research & Ideas

The Role of Government When All Else Fails

In When All Else Fails: Government as the Ultimate Risk Manager, David A. Moss explores government's role as insurer of last resort in everything from crafting consumer protection law to bailing out airlines after September 11th. He... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Linard

January 2019
Case

King Abdullah Economic City: Population Drivers and Cash Flow

By: John D. Macomber

CEO of high profile new economic city in Saudi Arabia must decide how to allocate limited investment funds across projects under duress. Issues include understanding core economic drivers; planning infrastructure investment and return; attracting multinationals; and... View Details

Keywords: Urban Development; Infrastructure; Project Finance; Resource Allocation; Decision Making; City; Real Estate Industry; Saudi Arabia

31 Aug 2020
Research & Ideas

State and Local Governments Peer Into the Pandemic Abyss

million state and local public workers were laid off this spring as governments scrambled to cut expenses amid widespread mandatory lockdowns that halted vast swaths of economic activity. But not all states,... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

December 2008 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Special Economic Zones in India: Public Purpose and Private Property (A)

By: Laura Alfaro and Lakshmi Iyer

In 2005, the government of India enacted the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Act in order to attract investment, generate export revenues, and create manufacturing jobs. However, several planned projects faced difficulties in acquiring land for setting up the SEZ. In... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Development Economics; Economic Growth; Policy; Government Legislation; Property; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; India

July 2013 (Revised September 2013)
Case

New York City: Bloomberg's Strategy for Economic Development

By: Michael E. Porter, Christian H.M. Ketels and Jorge Ramirez-Vallejo

Traces the economic development of New York City from its founding in the 17th century through 2012. Focuses on the decisions made by New York City officials, past and present, highlighting the challenges of economic development at the city level. Enables deep... View Details

Keywords: History; Development Economics; Industry Clusters; Policy; Government Administration; Financial Crisis; Growth and Development Strategy

29 Jul 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Who Is Governing Whom? Senior Managers, Governance and the Structure of Generosity in Large U.S. Firms

Keywords: by Christopher Marquis & Matthew Lee

January 2013 (Revised June 2016)
Case

The Basque Country: Strategy for Economic Development

By: Michael E. Porter, Christian H.M. Ketels and Jesus M. Valdaliso

The Basque country, with a population of 2.1 million and covering 7,233 square kilometers, is an autonomous region located in the north of Spain, physically separated from it by the Pyrenees Mountains. Presents the history of the region—highly prosperous at the turn of... View Details

Keywords: History; Crime and Corruption; Industry Clusters; Competitive Strategy; Microeconomics; Developing Countries and Economies; Government and Politics; Basque Provinces; Spain

19 Jan 2010
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Managing the Economic Crisis

opportunity to develop and grow. Key concepts include: In a crisis, remember your internal compass of values: When crisis strikes, leaders often look for an "at-any-cost" quick fix in attempting to save face, says George. To ensure that View Details

Keywords: by Staff

February 1990
Article

Inflation and Taxation with Optimizing Governments

By: J. J. Rotemberg and James Poterba

Keywords: Inflation and Deflation; Taxation; Government and Politics

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2011
Book

Capitalism: Its Origins and Evolution as a System of Governance

By: Bruce R. Scott

Capitalism, as defined in this book, is an indirect, three-level system of governance for economic relationships (i.e., economic, administrative, and political). Whereas economic markets can coordinate supply and demand within an existing system thanks to the invisible... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Price; Governance; Government and Politics; Books; Markets; Relationships; System

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April 2025 (Revised June 2025)
Case

Governing Sustainability in a Shifting Context (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

In early 2025, boards of directors had to rethink corporate responsibility and sustainability efforts amid rapidly-shifting social, legal, regulatory, and economic forces. While just a few years earlier, calls to address racial justice and climate change reached into... View Details

05 May 2003
Research & Ideas

Sharing the Responsibility of Corporate Governance

environment, workplace safety, and community involvement, most firms do not provide this information. Second, it is not economically efficient for shareholders with a small stake in a number of companies to ferret out sufficient... View Details

Keywords: by Carla Tishler

May 27, 2020
Editorial

Stable Democracies Better at Fostering Economic Growth

By: Ashish Nanda

Differences across countries in how the COVID-19 pandemic has been managed have led some to raise the broader question of whether democracies are necessarily a good way to organise a society. Research findings clearly show that compared to autocracies, democracies... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Government and Politics

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16 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Making the Most of Government Upheaval

preliminary findings suggest that the profound economic metamorphoses taking place in Latin America's emerging economies have imposed dramatic changes on the competitive environment, compelling firms to develop new strategies and... View Details

Keywords: by Nancy O. Perry

July 2007
Teaching Note

Rwanda: National Economic Transformation (TN)

By: Michael E. Porter and Michael Patrick McCreless

Teaching Note to 706491. View Details

Keywords: Economy; Problems and Challenges; Development Economics; Policy; Poverty; Transformation; Performance Evaluation; Political Elections; Rwanda

Research Summary

Advertising and the Economics of Attention

Using novel technologies, such as eye- and face-tracking, to gauge attentional and emotional (facial) reactions to advertising, Professor Teixeira studies how advertising effectiveness can be optimized. Through complex statistical models of consumer response, he... View Details

1995
Chapter

Economic Policy: The Twentieth Century

By: N. F. Koehn

Keywords: Policy; Economics