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Publications
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(7,145)
- Faculty Publications (1,404)
- March 2004
- Article
Inflation, Inflation Variability, and Corruption
By: Miguel Braun and Rafael Di Tella
We present a model where agents can inflate the cost of goods needed to start an investment project and inflation variability increases monitoring costs. We show that inflation variability can lead to higher corruption and lower investment. We document a positive... View Details
- February 2004 (Revised March 2010)
- Case
Brazil 2003: Inflation Targeting and Debt Dynamics
By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel
In October 2002, Brazilians elected a left-wing president, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, for the first time in that country's history. As markets faltered in response, Lula sought to reaffirm his commitment to fiscal discipline, a floating exchange rate, and inflation... View Details
Keywords: Economy; Inflation and Deflation; Money; Borrowing and Debt; Policy; Emerging Markets; Brazil
- January 2004 (Revised March 2004)
- Case
Redesigning Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanisms
By: Mihir A. Desai, Christina Pham, Julia Stevens and Kathleen Luchs
How should the debt of sovereign countries be restructured when countries approach default? Anne O. Krueger of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is proposing a new approach to sovereign defaults: the Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanism (SDRM). The SDRM would... View Details
- January 2004 (Revised November 2004)
- Case
Rwandan Tea Industry, The: Looking into the Future
By: Debora L. Spar
In 2003, the Rwandan government was focused on transforming the nation's tea industry into a world-class competitor. To accomplish this objective and stave off the downward prices that plagued the international tea market, the government believed that the industry... View Details
- January 2004
- Article
Corporate Venturing: The Origins of Unilever's Pregnancy Test
By: Geoffrey Jones and Alison Kraft
The relative ability of different sizes of firm and organisational designs to develop and sustain dynamic capabilities in innovation and create new businesses remains a matter of contention. While Chandler among many others has emphasised the pre-eminent role of large... View Details
- December 2003 (Revised October 2006)
- Case
Globalizing the Cost of Capital and Capital Budgeting at AES
By: Mihir A. Desai and Douglas Kurt Schillinger
With electricity generating businesses around the world, AES Corp. is seeking a methodology for calculating the cost of capital for its various businesses and potential projects. In the past, AES used the same cost of capital for all of its capital budgeting, but the... View Details
- November 2003 (Revised April 2010)
- Case
Flextronics International, Ltd.
By: Robert S. Huckman and Gary P. Pisano
Describes Flextronics' evolution from providing outsourced manufacturing services for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the electronics industry to developing entire unbranded products for purchase by OEMs. In 2001, Flextronics began a development program that... View Details
- November 2003 (Revised March 2006)
- Case
Dow Chemical's Bid for the Privatization of PBB in Argentina
By: Mihir A. Desai and Alexandra de Royere
What price should Dow Chemical bid for PBB, a petrochemical complex that is being privatized by the Argentine government? To answer this question, students are forced to consider the role of country risk, the underlying currency exposure of the business, and how to... View Details
- November 2003 (Revised March 2004)
- Case
Drilling South: Petrobras Evaluates Pecom
By: Mihir A. Desai and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho
The Brazilian oil company, Petrobras, is evaluating the acquisition of an Argentine oil company, the Perez Companc Group (Pecom). The acquisition would increase Petrobras' oil reserves and expand its interests outside Brazil, a significant step for the largest company... View Details
Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Crisis; Non-Renewable Energy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Corporate Governance; Risk Management; Emerging Markets; State Ownership; Performance Evaluation; Risk and Uncertainty; Valuation; Energy Industry; Argentina; Brazil
- November 2003 (Revised December 2003)
- Case
Enabling Business Strategy with IT at the World Bank
By: F. Warren McFarlan and Brian DeLacey
World Bank IT provides services (communications, applications, video conferencing, knowledge sharing, distance learning, information sharing, client commerce, crisis management, etc.) on a global basis to the poorest countries in the globe via satellites. This case... View Details
- November 2003 (Revised May 2016)
- Case
Weetman Pearson and the Mexican Oil Industry (A)
By: Geoffrey Jones and Lisa Bud-Freirman
Taught in the MBA Evolution of Global Business course, a business history course on the growth of multinationals. Explores the role of the British entrepreneur Weetman Pearson in developing the Mexican oil industry before 1914. Shows this entrepreneur's evolution from... View Details
- November 2003
- Article
The Macroeconomics of Happiness
By: Rafael Di Tella, Robert MacCulloch and Andrew J. Oswald
We show that macroeconomic movements have strong effects on the happiness of nations. First, we find that there are clear microeconomic patterns in the psychological well-being levels of a quarter of a million randomly sampled Europeans and Americans from the 1970s to... View Details
- October 2003 (Revised January 2004)
- Case
BSE in Canada
By: Ray A. Goldberg and Kevin Allison
A cow was determined to have Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in Canada, which closed its beef exports to the United States and 39 other countries. What future action should be taken, and how will country of origin specification and traceability take place in the... View Details
- October 2003 (Revised January 2004)
- Case
Global Farmer and the Future of Soybean Production, The
By: Ray A. Goldberg and Kevin M. Allison
Three farmers from three different countries are looking at the global soybean system and how to position themselves in the future. View Details
- October 2003 (Revised November 2004)
- Case
Joe Bachelder: Executive Pay Negotiator
By: Jason R. Barro, Brian J. Hall and Aaron Zimmerman
Joe Bachelder was the leading executive pay negotiator in the United States, securing generous contracts for CEOs and executives at Fortune 500 companies. The CEO of Victor Sports Co. resigned, and the board offered the job to Charles Suarez, a star executive from a... View Details
- 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
- September 2003 (Revised May 2004)
- Case
New Partnership for Africa's Development, The
By: Laura Alfaro, Debora L. Spar and Cate Reavis
In a world context of international institutions such as the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund and their interaction with developing countries, this case looks at an African development initiative to address its own problems: The New Economic... View Details
- 28 Sep 2003
- Other Presentation
Competitiveness and Economic Development of Gulf and Middle Eastern Countries
Competitiveness presentation at Middle East Petrotech 2003, Bahrain. View Details
- September 2003
- Case
Nelson Mandela, Turnaround Leader
By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Euvin Naidoo
Nelson Mandela was the first democratically elected president of South Africa. He had to shift the culture of a country after the end of the apartheid regime, which enforced separation of the races and stifled freedom of the press. He established more open dialogue,... View Details
- June 2003 (Revised March 2008)
- Case
India on the Move
By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Emily Thompson
By 2003, India had been growing at almost 6% annually since 1992, after it suffered a financial collapse, abandoned import substitution, and moved gradually to adopt the Washington Consensus. Now, financial controls and competition barriers are less burdensome,... View Details