Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(587)
- Faculty Publications (224)
- 2008
- Chapter
The Importance of Default Options for Retirement Saving Outcomes: Evidence from the United States
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian
This paper summarizes the empirical evidence on how defaults impact retirement savings outcomes. After outlining the salient features of the various sources of retirement income in the U.S., the paper presents the empirical evidence on how defaults impact retirement... View Details
- November 2007 (Revised August 2009)
- Case
Iceland: Small fish in a global pond
By: Michael E. Porter and Christian H.M. Ketels
Describes the economic development of Iceland since 1945, focusing in particular on the years since 2000, when Iceland experienced strong growth and Icelandic companies aggressively internationalized. View Details
- 2007
- Working Paper
New Framework for Measuring and Managing Macrofinancial Risk and Financial Stability
By: Dale F. Gray, Robert C. Merton and Zvi Bodie
This paper proposes a new approach to improve the way central banks can analyze and manage the financial risks of a national economy. It is based on the modern theory and practice of contingent claims analysis (CCA), which is successfully used today at the level of... View Details
- 2007
- Working Paper
Facts and Fallacies about U.S. FDI in China
By: Lee Branstetter and C. Fritz Foley
Despite the rapid expansion of U.S.-China trade ties, the increase in U.S. FDI in China, and the expanding amount of economic research exploring these developments, a number of misconceptions distort the popular understanding of U.S. multinationals in China. In this... View Details
- 2007
- Book
A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics: What Managers, Executives, and Students Need to Know
By: David A. Moss
Now more than ever before, executives and managers need to understand their larger economic context. In The Concise Guide to Macroeconomics, David Moss leverages his many years of teaching experience at Harvard Business School to lay out important macroeconomic... View Details
- June 2007 (Revised November 2007)
- Case
Italy: If not now, when?
By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Julia Galef
Describes Italy's main macroeconomic problems: low productivity growth, stagnant GDP growth, and high public debt. As of early 2007, the country's global competitiveness has plummeted and its debt remains well above the level allowed by the EU's Maastricht treaty.... View Details
- 2007
- Working Paper
Plant-Size Distribution and Cross-Country Income Differences
By: Laura Alfaro, Andrew Charlton and Fabio Kanzcuk
We investigate, using plant-level data for 79 developed and developing countries, whether differences in the allocation of resources across heterogeneous plants are a significant determinant of cross-country differences in income per worker. For this purpose, we use a... View Details
- March 2007 (Revised January 2008)
- Case
Korea: After the 1997 Financial Crisis
By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael M. Di Tella and Renee Kim
Examines what happened to Korea after the 1997 financial crisis and the implementation of the IMF-mandated reforms imposed on Korea as conditionalities to the country's emergency loan package. View Details
- January 2007
- Case
Robert E. Rubin (A)
By: Nitin Nohria, Robert Steven Kaplan and Nicole Davison
Bob Rubin was a businessman given the task of setting up and running the National Economic Council for the Clinton Administration. Unfamiliar with management in a political climate, Rubin worked hard to design, staff, and position the Council to make better economic... View Details
- November 2006 (Revised October 2017)
- Case
China: 'To Get Rich Is Glorious'
By: Richard Vietor and Julia Galef
In 1978, Deng Xiaoping assumed the leadership of an impoverished China, after Mao Zedong's disastrous Cultural Revolution. During the next 17 years, Deng applied pragmatic policies to liberalize the Chinese economy gradually while maintaining the power of the Communist... View Details
- March 2006 (Revised April 2015)
- Case
China: To Float or Not To Float? (B)- Timeline of Changes Relevant to the Chinese Renminbi
By: Laura Alfaro and Rafael M. Di Tella
On July 21, 2005 China revalued its decade-long quasi-fixed exchange rate of approximately 8.28 yuan per U.S. dollar by 2.1% to 8.11% and, at the same time, introduced a more market-based exchange rate system. Many analysts and economists were disappointed with what... View Details
Keywords: Currency; Exchange Rate; China; Macroeconomics; Trade; Currency Exchange Rate; Governance Controls; Policy; China; United States
- March 2006 (Revised April 2010)
- Case
China: To Float or Not To Float? (A)
By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel
On July 21, 2005 China revalued its decade-long quasi-fixed exchange rate of approximately 8.28 yuan per U.S. dollar by 2.1% to 8.11 and, at the same time, introduced a more market-based exchange rate system. Many analysts and economists were disappointed with what... View Details
- 2005
- Casebook
Institutions, Macroeconomics and the Global Economy
By: Rafael Di Tella, Huw Pill and Ingrid Vogel
- July 2005 (Revised March 2010)
- Case
Foreign Direct Investment and Ireland's Tiger Economy (A)
By: Laura Alfaro, Vinati Dev and Stephen McIntyre
Describes Ireland's transformation from one of Europe's poorest countries to one of its richest in just 10 years, earning it the title Celtic Tiger. The spectacular story of growth and recovery is attributed, in large part, to foreign direct investment (FDI),... View Details
- July 2005 (Revised December 2006)
- Case
Japan: Deficits, Demography, and Deflation
By 2005, Japan's debt had risen to 163% of GDP. For more than a decade, the government had run huge deficits, trying unsuccessfully to stimulate economic growth. Interest rates, meanwhile, had been zero for years. But with slow growth and banks in crisis, nothing had... View Details
- July 2005 (Revised September 2020)
- Case
The U.S. Current Account Deficit
By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael Di Tella, Ingrid Vogel, Renee Kim, Sarah Jeong, Matthew Johnson and Jonathan Schlefer
Investors and policymakers throughout the world were confronted with the risk of painful economic consequences arising from the large U.S. current account deficit. In 2007, the U.S. current account deficit was $731 billion, equivalent to 5.3% of GDP. The implications... View Details
- April 2005
- Article
Partisan Social Happiness
By: Rafael Di Tella and Robert MacCulloch
We use a new approach to study questions in political economy that relies on data on the subjective well-being of a large sample of people living in the OECD over the period 1975-1992. Controlling for the personal characteristics of the respondents, year and country... View Details
- 2005
- Working Paper
Macro for Managers
By: David A. Moss
This note attempts to provide a conceptual overview of macroeconomics. Designed for managers and students of management, it emphasizes fundamental ideas and relationships, rather than mathematical models and formulas. The note identifies—and is structured around—three... View Details
- May 2004 (Revised November 2005)
- Case
Turkey: Securing Stability in a Rough Neighborhood
By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Emily Thompson
After suffering years of volatility and crises, Turkey desperately sought macroeconomic and political stability in an ever-worsening region of the world. In the short term, Turkey had to repay its debt, which amounted to more than 80% of GDP. By January 2004, Turkey... View Details
- May 2004 (Revised June 2005)
- Background Note
Exchange Rate Regimes
By: Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel
There are many options for a country in the management of monetary policy. At the most basic level is the decision of whether to adopt a fixed or a floating exchange rate. Introduces the economics behind exchange rates and the debate between fixed vs. floating regimes. View Details