Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,569)
- Faculty Publications (308)
- Article
Did Bank Distress Stifle Innovation During the Great Depression?
By: Ramana Nanda and Tom Nicholas
We find a negative relationship between bank distress and the level, quality, and trajectory of firm-level innovation during the Great Depression, particularly for R&D firms operating in capital intensive industries. However, we also show that because a sufficient... View Details
- 2014
- Chapter
Technology, Innovation and Economic Growth in Britain Since 1870
By: Tom Nicholas
This chapter examines technological change in Britain over the last 140 years. It analyzes the effects of patent laws and innovation prizes that were designed to promote technical progress. It explores the challenge associated with the changing organizational structure... View Details
- October 2014 (Revised December 2015)
- Background Note
China's Environmental Challenge
By: William C. Kirby, Nora Bynum, Erica M. Zendell and Brittany Crow
China faces enormous environmental challenges. This background note looks at the historical, economic and political origins of the environmental crisis that faces the world's fastest-growing economy. View Details
- October 2014
- Article
Industrial Policy and the Creation of New Industries: Evidence from Brazil's Bioethanol Industry
By: Santiago Mingo and Tarun Khanna
Industrial policy programs are frequently used by governments to stimulate economic activity in particular sectors of the economy. This study explores how an industrial policy program can affect the creation and evolution of an industry and, ultimately, the long-term... View Details
- September 2014 (Revised September 2015)
- Case
Doing Business in Morocco
By: Jill Avery, Tonia Junker and Daniela Beyersdorfer
This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Morocco. It highlights Morocco's ongoing economic transformation in the decades leading up to 2014 in the context of its historical, political, and cultural background. The case summarizes some of... View Details
- 2014
- Chapter
Business History and the Impact of MNEs on Host Economies
By: Geoffrey Jones
Business history has long been recognized as providing an important dimension in international business studies. Much of this historical work has focused on mapping historical growth patterns of multinationals and exploring the determinants of their growth. However,... View Details
- September 2014
- Article
Metropolitan Blueprints of Colonial Taxation? Lessons from Fiscal Capacity Building in British and French Africa, 1880-1940
By: Ewout Frankema and Marlous van Waijenburg
The historical and social science literature is divided about the importance of metropolitan blueprints of colonial rule for the development of colonial states. We exploit historical records of colonial state finances to explore the importance of metropolitan identity... View Details
Keywords: Colonial Administration; Quantitative Sources; Governance; Money; Taxation; Trade; History; Africa
- June 2014 (Revised July 2014)
- Background Note
An Overview of Project Finance and Infrastructure Finance—2014 Update
By: Benjamin C. Esty, Carla Chavich and Aldo Sesia
Provides an introduction to the fields of project finance and infrastructure finance, and gives a statistical overview of project-financed investments over the years from 2009 to 2013. Examples of project-financed investments include the Kashagan oil field development... View Details
- May 2014 (Revised August 2014)
- Teaching Note
Women MBAs at Harvard Business School: 1962–2012
By: Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams
Keywords: Female; General Management; American History; Economic History; Business History; Career Planning; Nonverbal; Sexism; Leadership Development; Organizational Behavior; Women; HBS; Harvard Business School; Management; Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Education; Globalization; Gender; United States
- April–June 2014
- Article
Firmes mondialisées et imaginaire de la beauté
By: G. Jones
This article highlights the role of business enterprises as influences on ideals of human beauty. The homogenization of such ideals has been one of the most noteworthy features of globalization over the last two centuries. This study suggests that firms were both... View Details
- 2014
- Chapter
Firms and Global Capitalism
By: Geoffrey Jones
This chapter forms part of the two-volume Cambridge History of Capitalism, a definitive new reference work that traces the history of capitalism from its origins to the present day. The chapter focuses on the role of business enterprises as powerful actors in... View Details
- March 2014 (Revised January 2025)
- Case
Ukraine: On the Border of Europe and Eurasia
By: Rawi Abdelal, Rafael M. Di Tella, Sogomon Tarontsi and Lavinia Teodorescu
In the fall of 2013, the people of Ukraine disagreed passionately whether their country should intensify ties with the European Union or Russia. After President Yanukovych rejected the free trade agreement with the EU in November, thousands of Ukrainians peacefully... View Details
Keywords: Decision Making; Cost vs Benefits; Decision Choices and Conditions; Decisions; Forecasting and Prediction; Judgments; Geopolitical Units; Country; Globalization; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Global Strategy; Globalized Economies and Regions; Globalized Markets and Industries; Government and Politics; International Relations; National Security; Growth and Development; History; Europe; Ukraine; European Union; Russia
- 2014
- Book
Can China Lead? Reaching the Limits of Power and Growth
By: Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby and F. Warren McFarlan
At the time of the American Revolution, China was the strongest, richest, and most powerful civilization in the world. The Great Qing Empire ruled China and dominated East Asia by a combination of power and cultural prestige. China's economy was the world's largest.... View Details
- 2014
- Book
Business History
By: Walter A. Friedman and Geoffrey Jones
This volume contains a selection of 42 foundational articles on the discipline of business history written between 1934 and the present day by scholars based in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. A wide-ranging editorial introduction describes the... View Details
- 2013
- Book
Fortune Tellers: The Story of America's First Economic Forecasters
The period leading up to the Great Depression witnessed the rise of the economic forecasters, pioneers who sought to use the tools of science to predict the future, with the aim of profiting from their forecasts. This book chronicles the lives and careers of the men... View Details
- 2013
- Book
Entrepreneurship and Multinationals: Global Business and the Making of the Modern World
By: Geoffrey Jones
This book examines the history of entrepreneurship and multinationals in the making of the modern world. In recent years economists, historians, and political scientists have written extensively on the history of globalization and patterns of global wealth and poverty,... View Details
Keywords: FDI; Economic History; Business History; Industrial Organization; Chinitz; Agglomeration; Clusters; Cities; Mines; Globalization; Entrepreneurship; Government and Politics; Banking Industry; Chemical Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Electronics Industry; Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America; Middle East; North and Central America; South America
- 2013
- Working Paper
Bank Failures and Output During the Great Depression
By: Jeffrey Miron and Natalia Rigol
In response to the Financial Crisis of 2008, macroeconomic policymakers employed a range of tools designed to prevent failures of large, complex financial institutions (“banks”). The Treasury and the Fed justified these actions by arguing that bank failures exacerbate... View Details
- 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
- 2013
- Working Paper
Entrepreneurs, Firms and Global Wealth since 1850
By: G. Jones
This working paper integrates the role of entrepreneurship and firms into debates on why Asia, Latin America and Africa were slow to catch up with the West following the Industrial Revolution and the advent of modern economic growth. It argues that the currently... View Details
Keywords: Institutional Change; Political Economy; Emerging Economies; Developing Countries; Industrial Development; Culture; Human Capital; Economic History; History; Wealth and Poverty; Business History; Emerging Markets; Globalization; Developing Countries and Economies; Manufacturing Industry; Mining Industry; Service Industry; Latin America; Asia; North and Central America; Africa; South America; Europe
- January 2013 (Revised March 2022)
- Case
The Origins and Development of Silicon Valley
By: Tom Nicholas and James Lee
On October 1, 1891, as Senator Leland Stanford cut the ribbon at the ceremony gifting 8,000-acres of his Palo Alto, California, stock farm to a new, 559-student university bearing his name and seeking to produce "useful" in addition to "cultured" graduates, the... View Details