Publications

April 2008 (Revised April 2022)
Background Note

The American Dream in History

By: Tom Nicholas and David Chen

Article

Pursuing the American Dream with 'WFA'

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury

U.S. immigration is unlikely to change soon, but those hoping to access opportunities could still have a new choice. View Details

Keywords: Work-from-anywhere; Immigration; Opportunities

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2011
Working Paper

Free to Punish? The American Dream and the Harsh Treatment of Criminals

By: Rafael Di Tella and Juan Dubra

We describe the evolution of selective aspects of punishment in the U.S. over the period 1980-2004. We note that imprisonment increased around 1980, a period that coincides with the "Reagan revolution" in economic matters. We build an economic model where beliefs about... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Economy; Moral Sensibility; Mathematical Methods; Opportunities; Behavior; United States

2011
Article

Free to Punish? The American Dream and the Harsh Treatment of Criminals

By: Rafael Di Tella

We describe the evolution of selective aspects of punishment in the U.S. over the period 1980-2004. We note that imprisonment increased around 1980, a period that coincides with the "Reagan revolution" in economic matters. We build an economic model where beliefs about... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption

2008
Blog

Harvard Business Online—Marketing Know:How: How Marketing the American Dream Caused Our Economic Crisis

By: John A. Quelch

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February 2021 (Revised February 2021)
Case

World of Dreams Entertainment Group: Building a Resilient Business

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Sarah Endline and Michael Norris

In 2021, Ron DeShay, former American Idol producer, is launching his new business venture: World of Dreams Entertainment Group. World of Dreams rethought the existing TV production model, giving audiences more power to directly influence the creation of shows through a... View Details

Keywords: Television Entertainment; Media; Social Issues; Sports; Business Ventures; Digital Platforms; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States; California; Los Angeles

2019
Book

Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream: How Technology Is Transforming Lending and Shaping a New Era of Small Business Opportunity

By: Karen G. Mills

Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream describes the needs of small businesses for capital and demonstrates how technology—novel data sources, artificial intelligence, machine learning—will transform the small business lending market. This market has been... View Details

Find at Harvard

10 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

American Auto’s Troubled Road

professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter, an expert on leadership and organizations. "For most of the industrial age, we expected large employers to provide essential benefits, including healthcare after retirement. That meant we didn't have to face much public... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Manufacturing; Transportation; Auto

02 Jun 2022
Research & Ideas

Blissful Thinking: When It Comes to Finding Happiness, 'Your Dreams Are Liars'

2008 book, Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matters for America—and How We Can Get More of It. And while his next move was to run the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) think tank, he couldn’t shake the topic. It wasn’t just a... View Details

Keywords: by Dan Morrell

Research Summary

Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream: How Technology Is Transforming Lending and Shaping a New Era of Small Business Opportunity

By: Karen Mills

Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream describes the needs of small businesses for capital and demonstrates how technology—novel data sources, artificial intelligence, machine learning—will transform the small business lending market. This market has been... View Details

21 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Will American Brands Be a Casualty of War?

to recruit the best distributors, and to capture market share from weaker, local competitors. Selling the American dream has paid off handsomely. Eight of the ten most valuable brands in the world, according... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

01 Aug 2000
Research & Ideas

A Latin American Vision: New HBS Research Center Opens

de la Rua praised the Center's potential for forging links for education, research and mutual support between Latin America and the Harvard Business School. "We have opened the Latin America Research Center with a Latin American... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

2024
Book

Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream: How Technology Is Transforming Lending and Shaping a New Era of Small Business Opportunity

By: Karen G. Mills

The second edition of Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream, builds on the groundbreaking 2019 book with new insights on how technology and artificial intelligence are transforming small business lending. This ambitious view covers the significance of... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; AI; AI and Machine Learning; Small Business; Economy; Technology Adoption; Credit; Financing and Loans; Analytics and Data Science

January 2025 (Revised March 2025)
Case

DJI- Striving for Innovation Amid Contestation

By: William C. Kirby and Daniel Fu

DJI was founded in a college dorm room in Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong. By 2020, DJI, a company manufacturing drones, occupied a 77% share of consumer drone sales in the United States with a wide array of clients including law enforcement and government agencies. Its... View Details

Keywords: Drones; Hong Kong; China; Chinese Manufacturing; Chinese Dream; China's Political Economy

Article

Hollywood on the Yellow Sea

By: Willy C. Shih and Henry McGee

Wang Jianlin, one of China's richest men, is creating a rival to the American dream factory, from scratch. View Details

Keywords: Competition; Film Entertainment; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; China; United States

12 Oct 2011
First Look

First Look: October 12

mainly involves a more rapid reallocation of jobs across establishments within target firms. Download the paper: http://papers.nber.org/papers/w17399 Free to Punish? The American Dream and the Harsh... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2014 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Teach For China and the Chinese Nonprofit Sector

By: William C. Kirby and Erica M. Zendell

Teach For China was founded in 2008 with the mission of expanding educational opportunity across China. By 2013, Andrea Pasinetti's lofty dream had taken flight: over 300 graduates from top American and Chinese universities were participating in its 2-year teaching... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit; China; Business And Government Relations; Business And Poverty; Business And Society; Emerging Market Entrepreneurship; Emerging Market; NGO; Education; Entrepreneurship; Social Enterprise; Emerging Markets; Non-Governmental Organizations; Nonprofit Organizations; Education Industry; China

June 2005 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Alex Montana at ESH Manufacturing Co.

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Michael Kernish

Alex Montana sat at his desk pondering the career decision before him. Alex was director of the North American division of ESH Manufacturing, a $4.6 billion, Cleveland-based company with operations on three continents. ESH's CEO had just offered Montana a promotion to... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Personal Development and Career; Work-Life Balance; Manufacturing Industry; Cleveland