Publications

Article

Bringing Probability Judgments into Policy Debates via Forecasting Tournaments

By: Philip E. Tetlock, Barbara A. Mellers and J. Peter Scoblic

Political debates often suffer from vague-verbiage predictions that make it difficult to assess accuracy and improve policy. A tournament sponsored by the U.S. intelligence community revealed ways in which forecasters can better use probability estimates to make... View Details

Keywords: Tournaments; Politics; Depolarization; Knowledge Creation; Forecasting and Prediction; Government and Politics

September 2004
Article

Spin (and Pitch) Doctors: Campaign Strategies in Televised Political Debates

By: Michael I. Norton and George R. Goethals

January 2014
Article

China's 'New Regionalism': Subnational Analysis in Chinese Political Economy

By: Meg Rithmire

The study of Chinese political economy has undergone a sea change since the late 1990s; instead of debating the origins and direction of national reform, scholars have turned to examining the origins of local economic variation. This essay reviews recent work in... View Details

Keywords: China; Political Economy; Economy; Government and Politics; China

21 Nov 2019
Research & Ideas

Do TV Debates Sway Voters?

Or Ronald Reagan’s witty response to concerns about his age that arose in his 1984 debate with Walter Mondale: “I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” The... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

Summer 2013
Other Article

The Roots of Our Tax Debates

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl

Our fiscal debates are endlessly frustrating. The outlines of a compromise seem clear, yet both sides remain incapable of agreement. But is the proper balance between spending less and taxing more really so obvious? A look at what underlies the political wars over... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Debates; Taxation; Budgets and Budgeting; United States

October 2022 (Revised November 2022)
Case

The Commission on Presidential Debates

By: Boris Groysberg, Alexis Lefort, Kerry Herman and Joshua Groysberg

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) has organized the presidential and vice-presidential debates in the United States since 1988. In the spring of 2022, the Republican National Committee threatened to bar their nominees from participating in any CPD-sponsored... View Details

Keywords: Government and Politics; Political Elections; Conflict and Resolution; United States

April 2017 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Making Target the Target: Boycotts and Corporate Political Activity

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Victor Wu

Through the challenges facing Target, the case examines ways in which corporations can become involved in political and legislative debates and processes, ranging from campaign contributions to lobbying to political activism. In 2016, Target CEO Brian Cornell must... View Details

2021
Working Paper

Does Social Media Cause Polarization? Evidence from Access to Twitter Echo Chambers during the 2019 Argentine Presidential Debate

By: Rafael Di Tella, Ramiro H. Gálvez and Ernesto Schargrodsky

We study how two groups, those inside vs. those outside echo chambers, react to a political event when we vary social media status (Twitter). Our treatments mimic two strategies often suggested as a way to limit polarization on social media: they expose people to... View Details

Keywords: Political Polarization; Political Elections; Internet and the Web; Attitudes; Social Media; Argentina

22 Sep 2020
News

The minimal effects of TV debates between candidates

01 Jun 2009
News

Big Bailouts, Little Debate

the product of long, structured deliberation. As for the decision to let AIG pay out its controversial bonuses, regulators simply refused to address the issue until events had moved beyond their control. And going back even further, few people ever seriously View Details

Keywords: Charles Duhigg; Finance; Administration of Economic Programs; Government

2015
Book

How Culture Shapes the Climate Change Debate

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

Though the scientific community largely agrees that climate change is underway, debates about this issue remain fiercely polarized. These conversations have become a rhetorical contest, one where opposing sides try to achieve victory through playing on fear, distrust,... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Culture; Values and Beliefs; Knowledge Dissemination

10 Dec 2014
Research & Ideas

Minimum Wage Debate Is Really About Social Values

Suddenly, the minimum wage debate is on high boil. Perhaps spurred by growing concern over wealth inequality, minimum wage proposals are heating heat up in cities from Chicago to Albany, and in states from South Carolina to Florida.... View Details

Keywords: by April White; Retail; Manufacturing

February 2014 (Revised August 2015)
Case

The Estate Tax Debate

By: Matthew Weinzierl, Katrina Flanagan and Valerie Galinskaya

Per dollar of revenue, no tax policy generates more sound and fury than the taxation of estates. To supporters, the tax is a break on the concentration of wealth and power and an easy way to fund redistribution. To opponents, the tax is an unjust punishment of the... View Details

Keywords: Atkinson-Stiglitz; Optimal Capital Taxation; Bequest Motives; Taxation; Family and Family Relationships; Property

21 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Going Negative in Political Advertising

For more details, see Greater Good: How Good Marketing Makes For Better Democracy by John Quelch and Katherine Jocz (Harvard Business Press 2008). Choice sells, in politics and in the supermarket. Distinct choices on the shelf attract our... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

August 2004 (Revised June 2008)
Case

Debating the Expropriation of Mexican Oil

By: Geoffrey G. Jones and R. Daniel Wadhwani

In 1938, the Mexican government expropriated the assets of foreign oil companies. Explores the legal and moral arguments in favor of and against expropriation. View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Globalized Firms and Management; Government and Politics; Business History; Lawfulness; Business and Government Relations; Energy Industry; Mexico

Summer 2019
Article

Breaking Even: Political Economy and Private Enterprise in the Norwegian Glass Industry, 1739-1803

By: Rolv Petter Amdam, Robert Fredona and Sophus A. Reinert

Using internal debates and surviving account books, this article traces the 18th-century history of the Norwegian glass industry, created to exploit Norway's immense natural resource wealth, and of the chartered company that would later become Norway's iconic... View Details

Keywords: Glass Industry; Natural Resources; Profitability; Political Economy; Cameralism; Liberalization; Patriotism; Profit; Natural Environment; Business History; Norway

21 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

HBS Faculty Debate Financial Reform Legislation

effectiveness as political theater, there is too much focus on proprietary trading and hedge funds, both of which had limited culpability for the crisis. Little has been done to eliminate or mitigate the threat to the system from firms... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

07 Apr 2008
Research & Ideas

The Debate over Taxing Foreign Profits

on foreign income; it is undertaking a serious reexamination of that now. In terms of the political debate, the ability to defer U.S. taxation until profits are repatriated is often framed as providing an incentive to ship jobs overseas.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

Article

Managing a Polarized Workforce: How to Foster Debate and Promote Trust

By: Julia A. Minson and Francesca Gino

One of the toughest challenges leaders face is managing diverse perspectives—and given heightened tensions over politics and movements such as #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, that’s more difficult today than ever before. At the same time, productive disagreement and... View Details

Keywords: Polarization; Employees; Perspective; Interpersonal Communication; Organizational Culture; Trust