Publications

Article

Capture New Value from Your Existing Tech Infrastructure

By: Stefan Thomke and Anthony Rodrigo

When senior managers think about how to respond to the threats and opportunities of technological change, they often dream of the same thing: If they just could start a new company or division that isn’t held back by conventional thinking or outdated business models.... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Technology; Ecosystem; Incubators; Technological Innovation; Telecommunications Industry; South Asia; Malaysia

2019
Working Paper

Fiscal Rules and Sovereign Default

By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk

Recurrent concerns over debt sustainability in emerging and developed nations have prompted renewed debate on the role of fiscal rules. Their optimality, however, remains unclear. We provide a quantitative analysis of fiscal rules in a standard model of sovereign debt... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Debt; Hyperbolic Discounting; Fiscal Rules; Sovereign Finance

Research Summary

Overview

Dr. Lurtz researches the history of agricultural economies in Latin America. She has a particular interest in export agriculture and attendant state- and locally-driven modernization projects. Her current work looks to the coffee economy of southern Mexico in the 19th... View Details

2017
Working Paper

Structural Transformation: A Competitiveness-based View

By: Christian H.M. Ketels

Competitiveness research aims to enhance our understanding of the drivers of prosperity differences across locations and of policies that can sustainably raise a location’s prosperity level. The paper outlines key elements of the competitiveness framework and discusses... View Details

Keywords: Competitiveness; Cluster; Development; Growth; Economic Policy; Competition; Development Economics; Economic Growth; Policy

Article

Physical and Situational Inequality on Airplanes Predict Air Rage

By: K. A. DeCelles and Michael I. Norton

We posit that the modern airplane is a social microcosm of class-based society, and that the increasing incidence of “air rage” can be understood through the lens of inequality. Research on inequality typically examines the effects of relatively fixed, macrostructural... View Details

Keywords: Physical Inequality; Equality and Inequality; Behavior; Air Transportation; Situation or Environment

14 Dec 2010
Op-Ed

Tax US Companies to Spur Spending

Recent tax deal-making has relied on conventional instruments of fiscal stimulus. Yet, we live in unconventional times, and more novel approaches suited to the peculiarities of our current economy are required. In particular, the... View Details

Keywords: by Mihir A. Desai

March 2005 (Revised July 2007)
Case

Capital Controls in Chile in the 1990s (A)

By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel

In 1991, Chile adopted a framework of capital controls focused on reducing the massive flows of foreign investment coming into the country as international interest rates remained low. Capital inflows threatened the Central Bank's ability to manage the exchange rate... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth; Financial Crisis; Capital; Governance Controls; Business and Government Relations; Chile

31 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 31, 2009

field—Dr. Jerome Grossman and Dr. Jason Hwang. Together, they examine a range of symptoms and offer proven solutions. Managing Crises: Responses to Large-Scale Emergencies Authors:Arnold M. Howitt, and Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 2025
Case

Doing Business in Kigali, Rwanda

By: Andy Zelleke, Martin A. Sinozich, Julianne Bliss and Choetsow Tenzin

Rwanda’s transformation from a post-genocide recovery effort to one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies presents a compelling case for investors and business leaders. With an ambitious Vision 2050 strategy, Kigali has emerged as a regional hub for trade, innovation,... View Details

Keywords: Business History; International Relations; Government and Politics; Foreign Direct Investment; Culture; Transformation; Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth; Emerging Markets; Rwanda

Research Summary

The Global Agglomeration of Multinational Firms

By: Laura Alfaro

The explosion of multinational activities in recent decades is rapidly transforming the global landscape of industrial production. But are the emerging clusters of multinational production the rule or the exception? What drives the offshore agglomeration of... View Details

Research Summary

Optimal Reserve Management and Sovereign Debt (with Fabio Kanczuk)

By: Laura Alfaro

Most models currently used to determine optimal foreign reserve holdings take the level of international debt as given. Some of the implications of this analysis, however, may not be generalized once one considers the joint decision to hold debt and reserves by a... View Details

28 Feb 2018 - 1 Mar 2018
Other Presentation

Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Africa—Part 1 & Part 2

By: Euvin Naidoo

Part 1: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Africa with Euvin Naidoo (February 28)

Part 2: Developing Capital Market:A Conversation with Mr. Bola “Koko” Onadele, Managing Director of FMDQ (March 1)
We cordially invite you to an exciting discussion... View Details

October 2012 (Revised February 2014)
Teaching Note

Intel: Strategic Decisions in Locating a New Assembly and Test Plant (A) and (B)

By: Juan Alcácer

The case is used in Harvard Business School's (HBS) elective course "Competing Globally" as the first case in the third module (see "Competing Globally: Course Note for Instructors," HBS No. 713-422). As the first case in the module, it introduces the framework to... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Positioning; Location Choices; Location Strategies; Strategic Planning; Strategy; Global Strategy; Geographic Location; Computer Industry

08 Mar 2016
Research & Ideas

Solving an Economic Mystery Surrounding Argentina and Chile

history that year was Dr. Andrea Lluch, from Argentina. This was the origins of a research program and conference series which led to this collaborative volume, and the Creating Emerging Markets oral history project, which began with... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

September 2013 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Qatar: Energy for Development

By: Aldo Musacchio, Colin Donovan, Samir Mikati, Rami Sarafa and Abdulla AlMisnad

Despite being the richest country in the world on a per capita basis, for analysts Qatar belongs in the group of emerging markets considered "frontier markets." This case analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the development strategy of this small country as set... View Details

Keywords: Frontier Markets; State-owned Enterprises; State Capitalism; Sovereign Wealth Funds; Economic Development; Sovereign Finance; State Ownership; Development Economics; Energy Industry; Middle East; Qatar

Research Summary

Current research

Professor Pomeranz's research is situated at the intersection of development economics and public finance. Her current work focuses in particular on corporate taxation and public procurement, the two key ways in which government finance affects firms and entrepreneurs.... View Details

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

Find at Harvard

December 2017 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Globalization Past, 1850–1914 (A)

By: Sophus A. Reinert and Federica Gabrieli

On the evening of 3 August 1914, British Foreign Secretary Lord Edward Grey contemplated whether to advise King and Parliament to declare war on Germany in the wake of the country’s invasion of Belgium or to stay out of what quickly was becoming a world war triggered... View Details

Keywords: The World; The Rise And Fall Of Globalization; World War; Globalization; War; Economics; Trade; Business Cycles; Economic Growth; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Society; History; Values and Beliefs; Macroeconomics