Publications

2012
Working Paper

The Spatial Diffusion of Technology

By: Diego A. Comin, Mikhail Dmitriev and Esteban Rossi-Hansberg

We empirically study technology diffusion across countries and over time. We find significant evidence that technology diffuses slower to locations that are farther away from adoption leaders. This effect is stronger across rich countries and also when measuring... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Knowledge Dissemination; Technology Adoption

18 Jan 2018
News

The Lessons of All-Day Breakfast

Mac. To overcome that, we put together a task force led by a fantastic owner-operator out of Arizona and she said, let's see, let's see how we do this. What would it take, what would we have to change in terms of our procedures, our... View Details

Keywords: Food Services and Drinking Places; Hospitality

Comment

Comment to Martin Weitzman's 'Stochastic Income and Wealth'

By: Diego Comin

Keywords: Wealth; Compensation and Benefits

1997
Article

Convergence in Health: Dream or Reality?

By: Diego Comin

Keywords: Health

19 Jan 2011
First Look

First Look: Jan. 18

case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/511015-PDF-ENG Malaysia: People First? Diego Comin and John AbrahamHarvard Business School Case 710-033 On March 30, 2010, Prime Minister Najib Razak presented his... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Article

Was the Wealth of Nations Determined in 1000 B.C.?

By: Diego A. Comin, Bill Easterly and Erick Gong

We assemble a dataset on technology adoption in 1000 B.C., 0 A.D., and 1500 A.D. for the predecessors to today's nation states. We find that this very old history of technology adoption is surprisingly significant for today's national development outcomes. Our strong... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Growth and Development; Adoption; Business Strategy; Cost; Cost Management; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Culture; Technology Industry

February 2011
Module Note

Business Cycles and the New Challenges of Globalization

By: Diego A. Comin

Business Cycles and the New Challenges of Globalization is one of the core modules in Business Government and the International Economy (BGIE), a course for the required curriculum of the Harvard Business School. BGIE teaches the economic, political and historical... View Details

Keywords: Fluctuation; Business Cycles; Trade; Business Education; Curriculum and Courses; Capital; Cash Flow; Globalization; Problems and Challenges; China

2014
Chapter

The Intensive Margin of Technology Adoption

By: Diego A. Comin

We present a tractable model for analyzing the relationship between economic growth and the intensive and extensive margins of technology adoption. The "extensive" margin refers to the timing of a country's adoption of a new technology; the "intensive" margin refers to... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Microeconomics; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Analytics and Data Science; Growth and Development Strategy; Relationships; Technology Adoption

October 2009 (Revised March 2012)
Teaching Note

Spain: Can the House Resist the Storm? (TN)

By: Diego A. Comin

Teaching Note for [709021]. View Details

Keywords: Spain

September 2010
Teaching Note

Peru IXP (TN)

By: Diego A. Comin

Keywords: Peru

January 2009 (Revised January 2011)
Background Note

The Great Moderation, Dead or Alive?

By: Diego A. Comin

The Great Moderation is a significant decline in the volatility of fluctuations in most macroeconomic variables that the United States and other developed and developing economies have experienced at least since the mid-1980s. This case describes the basic facts,... View Details

Keywords: Volatility; Business Cycles; Macroeconomics; United States

Educators

October 2023
Case

CornerUp: Digitizing the Corner Store

By: Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui, Stacy Straaberg and Diego Zainos De La Sota Riva

In July 2023, Jason Diaz, co-founder and CEO of CornerUp, assessed the progress of his business-to-business e-procurement software application (app) startup, founded in January 2022. CornerUp began as a fast-moving consumer packaged goods (FMCG) distributor in New York... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Small Business; Transition; Decisions; Social Entrepreneurship; Geographic Location; Disruptive Innovation; Market Participation; Digital Platforms; Trust; Business Strategy; Expansion; Information Infrastructure; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption; Value Creation; Technology Industry; United States

Educators

28 Sep 2021
News

Alumni Connections Drive Career Opportunities for Students

Eric Westphal (MBA 2021) Diego Dzodan (MBA 1999) Eric Westphal (MBA 2021) Diego Dzodan (MBA 1999) As the impact of COVID-19 on individuals and businesses grew in intensity last year, HBS Career &... View Details

Keywords: Becca Carnahan

18 Nov 2008
First Look

First Look: November 18, 2008

Working PapersAn Exploration of the Japanese Slowdown during the 1990s Author:Diego A. Comin No abstract is available at this time. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-065.pdf (When) Are Religious People Nicer?... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

December 2008
Article

Technology Usage Lags

By: Diego A. Comin, Bart Hobijn and Emilie Rovito

We present evidence on the differences in the intensity with which ten major technologies are used in 185 countries across the world. We do so by calculating how many years ago these technologies were used in the U.S. at the same intensity as they are used in the... View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Global Range; Economy; Relationships; Performance Productivity; United States

2017
Working Paper

Crime and Violence: Desensitization in Victims to Watching Criminal Events

By: Rafael Di Tella, Lucía Freira, Ramiro H. Gálvez, Ernesto Schargrodsky, Diego Shalom and Mariano Sigman

We study desensitization to crime in a lab experiment by showing footage of criminal acts to a group of subjects, some of whom have been previously victimized. We measure biological markers of stress and behavioral indices of cognitive control before and after treated... View Details

Keywords: Crime; Biological Markers; Experiment; Victimization; Desensitization; Crime and Corruption; Perspective; Attitudes; Behavior

SSRN

January 2009 (Revised March 2012)
Case

Spain: Can the House Resist the Storm?

By: Diego A. Comin

On September 16, 2008, President Rodriguez Zapatero recognized the severity of Spain's macroeconomic situation and clearly pointed to the culprit in front of the Spanish Congress: "Let nobody doubt it; there is already a wide consensus about the origin of the crisis:... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Economy; Financial Crisis; Macroeconomics; System Shocks; Spain

Educators

2017
Working Paper

Crime and Violence: Desensitization in Victims to Watching Criminal Events

By: Rafael Di Tella, Lucia Freira, Ramiro H. Gálvez, Ernesto Schargrodsky, Diego Shalom and Mariano Sigman

We study desensitization to crime in a lab experiment by showing footage of criminal acts to a group of subjects, some of whom have been previously victimized. We measure biological markers of stress and behavioral indices of cognitive control before and after treated... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Attitudes; Perspective; Behavior