Publications

January 2008
Class Lecture

Billions of Entrepreneurs: The Yin and Yang of China and India (FSS)

By: Tarun Khanna

Two emerging nations, China and India, are on the move to wards economic development. They are entering the world economy on their own terms. China's model has received greater attention. India's is a diametrically different model-yin to China's yang-with different... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Emerging Markets; Business and Government Relations; China; India

2013
Working Paper

International Health Economics

By: Mark Egan and Tomas J. Philipson

Perhaps because health care is a local service sector, health economists have paid little attention to international linkages between domestic health care economies. However, the growth in domestic health care sectors is often attributed to medical innovations whose... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Global Range; Economics

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2019
Chapter

The Great Divergence and the Great Convergence

By: Geoffrey Jones

This chapter provides a new lens to the extensive debate among economists and economic historians concerning why the West grew rich and the rest of the world lagged behind as modern industrialization took hold in the 19th century. The literature has focused heavily on... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Growth and Development; History; Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America; Middle East; North and Central America; Oceania

March 2021 (Revised December 2023)
Case

Capitalism and the Party-State: The People's Republic of China at 70

By: Meg Rithmire and Courtney Han

In 2019, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) turned seventy-years-old and became the longest active authoritarian regime in recent history. By then, China was the world’s second largest economy by GDP (after the United States), and a high-technology industrial... View Details

Keywords: Party-state; Economic Systems; Business and Government Relations; Economy; Society; International Relations; China

Educators

Article

Technology Diffusion and Postwar Growth

By: Diego A. Comin and Bart Hobijn

In the aftermath of World War II, the world's economies exhibited very different rates of economic recovery. We provide evidence that those countries that caught up the most with the U.S. in the postwar period are those that saw an acceleration in the speed of adopting... View Details

Keywords: Hardware; Country; Business Cycles; Globalized Economies and Regions; Economic Growth; Welfare or Wellbeing; War; Technology Industry; United States; Japan; Europe

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23 May 2005
Research & Ideas

What Could Bring Globalization Down?

We tend to think of the forces of globalization as a permanent part of the landscape—but then perhaps they were thinking that way too in 1914, when a number of factors from an over-extended superpower to a rise in terrorism ushered in the First View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

07 Oct 2010
Working Paper Summaries

The Profits of Power: Commercial Realpolitik in Eurasia

Keywords: by Rawi E. Abdelal; Energy; Utilities

April 2002 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Malaysia: Capital and Control

By: Rawi E. Abdelal and Laura Alfaro

On September 1, 1998, the government of Malaysia imposed currency and capital controls in response to the financial crisis that had swept Asia. The controls sparked an enormous controversy in the world of international finance. Some celebrated the controls for... View Details

Keywords: Capital Controls; Business and Government Relations; International Finance; Policy; Crisis Management; Balance and Stability; Globalized Economies and Regions; Malaysia

Educators

29 Jun 2016
Research & Ideas

The $1 Trillion Link Between Mental Health and Economic Productivity

In April, the World Health Organization released a groundbreaking study that established a definitive link between mental health and economic productivity. The findings were both depressing and hopeful. On the downside, depression and... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

July 2020
Teaching Note

COVID-19: The Global Shutdown

By: Laura Alfaro and Sarah Jeong

In the first months of 2020, a pandemic overwhelmed the world. COVID-19, commonly known as the coronavirus, spread from China and created a severe public health emergency across countries. While an immediate fear of the disease’s impact on human life permeaacted... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Health Pandemics; Trade; Microeconomics; Macroeconomics; Financial Crisis; Economy; Policy; Governance; Economic Systems; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Economic Sectors

1994
Book

The Making of Global Enterprises

By: G. Jones

This volume presents new insights on the history of international business. Two main themes are addressed: how and when has global business developed over the last century? and what has been its impact on host economies? The volume includes a pioneering study by Mira... View Details

Keywords: Economic History; Business Subsidiaries; Economy; Trade; Globalized Firms and Management; Information Technology

March 1991 (Revised May 1991)
Case

TBIRD: The Thai Business Initiative in Rural Development

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

During the period of 1987 to 1990, while Thailand had one of the fastest growing economies in the world (average growth rate of 12%), the income disparity between its rural and urban population (especially Bangkok City) was growing increasingly worse. Mechai... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Management Skills; Programs; Wealth and Poverty; Thailand

30 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 31, 2006

markets allow the backward linkages between foreign and domestic firms to turn into FDI spillovers. Our calibration exercises indicate that a) holding the extent of foreign presence constant, financially well-developed economies... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 1991 (Revised October 1991)
Case

General Electric: Reg Jones and Jack Welch

By: Francis Aguilar and Christopher A. Bartlett

When GE's retiring Reginald Jones turned the job of CEO over to Jack Welch on April 1, 1981, the Wall Street Journal reported that GE had "decided to replace a legend with a live wire." Some wondered if the young dynamo could fill the elder statesman's very large... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Business or Company Management; Change Management; Leading Change; Restructuring; Investment; Strategic Planning; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Management Succession

Educators

04 Feb 2022
Book

Beyond the Cold War: Reinventing Socialism in 5 Countries

from Ripe for Revolution, Friedman discusses how conventional thinking about socialism has evolved since the Cold War. Book Excerpt Ripe for Revolution: Building Socialism in the Third World Jeremy Friedman Socialist Revolution as a... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

2009
Report

Nordic Globalization Barometer 2009: Global Pressure—Nordic Solutions?

By: Christian H.M. Ketels

Less than a year after the first Nordic Globalization Barometer has been launched, the state of the world economy has changed dramatically. A deep financial crisis is taking its toll on investors, borrowers, and the financial institutions that serve them. A deep... View Details

Keywords: Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Financial Crisis; Financial Markets; Globalized Economies and Regions; Competitive Strategy; Scandinavia

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30 Jun 2021
In Practice

The Harvard Business School Faculty Summer Reader 2021

Michelle's story is a stark contrast and look forward to hearing her side of things. Next up for me this summer for physical books is my colleague Tsedal Neeley's Remote Work Revolution: Succeeding From Anywhere. As a longtime leader of remote teams myself, I have... View Details

Keywords: by Kathryn Haviland

December 2007
Article

Learning to Live with Governments: Unilever in India and Turkey, 1950-1980

By: G. Jones

A noteworthy characteristic of the contemporary global economy is the uneven distribution of world foreign direct investment (FDI). In 2007 three-quarters of world FDI was located in developed countries. The residual was concentrated in a small number of emerging... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Ethics; Foreign Direct Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Consumer Products Industry; India; Turkey