Publications

SSRN

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01 Aug 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Business History, the Great Divergence and the Great Convergence

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones

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

April 2015 (Revised October 2019)
Case

The Great Divergence: Europe and Modern Economic Growth

By: Sophus A. Reinert

The continent of Europe seemed in the spring of 2015 to be in a weaker position relative to other world regions than it had in centuries. Though comparatively small, it had long played a disproportionate role in world history, to the extent that the modern world system... View Details

Keywords: The Great Divergence; Modern Economic Growth; Empire; Disruption; Economic Growth; Values and Beliefs; History; Globalization; Europe

October 2017
Article

American Danger: United States Empire, Eurafrica, and the Territorialization of Industrial Capitalism, 1870–1950

By: Sven Beckert

During the last third of the nineteenth century, a debate emerged in a number of European countries on the “American danger.” Responding to the rapid rise of the United States as the world’s most important economy, some European observers feared their nations’... View Details

Keywords: Atlantropa; Colonial Expansion; Economic Nationalism; Second Great Divergence; Economics; Global Range; History; United States; Europe; Africa

November 2021 (Revised January 2024)
Case

The Global Great Depression, 1929-1939

By: Alberto Cavallo, Sophus A. Reinert and Federica Gabrieli

The Great Depression was, by far, the worst economic contraction of the twentieth century, and some of the most important ideas about both fiscal and monetary policy in the second half of the century were developed in response to it. The economic collapse, which... View Details

Keywords: Great Depression; Economic Conditions; Unemployment; Homelessness; Financial Crisis; History; Economy; Policy; Poverty; Social Issues; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation

January 2023
Article

Racial Diversity and Racial Policy Preferences: The Great Migration and Civil Rights

By: Alvaro Calderon, Vasiliki Fouka and Marco Tabellini

Between 1940 and 1970, more than 4 million African Americans moved from the South to the North of the United States, during the Second Great Migration. This same period witnessed the struggle and eventual success of the civil rights movement in ending institutionalized... View Details

Keywords: Civil Rights; Great Migration; History; Race; Rights; Prejudice and Bias; Government Legislation

Awards

McKinsey Award. Second Place

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

Won the second place 2011 McKinsey Award for the best article in Harvard Business Review during 2010 for “How Great Companies Think Differently.” View Details

01 Mar 2006
News

Second Acts

Meakem now seeks out young, local companies that can benefit from his investment and advice. “I get such a thrill to find a great company with loads of potential,” Meakem told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (September 18, 2005). Seeking to... View Details

Keywords: e-commerce; B2B; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information

September 2003 (Revised January 2005)
Case

Emergence, Valhalla, and Orchid: Divergent Models for Venture Capital Funds

By: William A. Sahlman and Matthew Willis

Compares and contrasts three different venture capital funds from the perspective of a potential investor. The first fund has a technology-enabled services preference, the second a Mid-Atlantic region preference, and the third a seed round preference. Students are... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Entrepreneurship; Service Operations; Information Technology; Venture Capital

08 Sep 2014
News

Survey Highlights A Troubling Divergence in the U.S. Economy

8:30 AM – 7 PM EDT, 24 Jun 2020
Virtual Programming

Unleashing Greatness in Others

With the COVID crisis extending into the second half of 2020, workforces and their leaders are both feeling a sense of burnout. In a new virtual program, Professor Frances Frei explains how conventional leadership advice glosses over the most important thing you can do... View Details

23 Jul 2013
News

Building Great Schools around Great Teachers

Tony Klemmer Photo courtesy of NAATE Plans for a second career took an abrupt turn in just one day for Tony Klemmer (MBA 1983) when, after a quarter century of successful startup launches, he left the business world to pursue personal... View Details

Keywords: Linda Kush; Elementary and Secondary Schools; Educational Services

September 2009 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Urban Decay: A Great Idea

By: Lena G. Goldberg

Casual discussions of ideas for a new business can have unintended legal consequences and expectations about founder status and ownership shares may diverge widely. Using facts from a litigated case, the concept of inadvertent formation of a partnership is explored. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Spoken Communication; Lawsuits and Litigation; Ownership Stake; Partners and Partnerships

23 Jun 2016
Blog Post

How I Structured My Second Year at HBS

entrepreneurship, who love helping students. I would have spent more time building these relationship during my second year because it is such a great way to expand your perspective and the EC year provides... View Details

January 2008 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Forecasting the Great Depression

By: Walter A. Friedman

What is proper role of professional economic forecasting in financial decision making? The case presents excerpts from three leading economic forecasters on the eve of, and just after, the stock market crash of October 1929. The first set of excerpts is from Roger... View Details

Keywords: History; Mathematical Methods; Personal Development and Career; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Crisis

02 Mar 2017
News

Such Great Heights

write about Terris Moore, who is an MBA student in 1931, who went off in search of a mountain higher than Everest. Tom, it's really great to have you here today to give us that modern day perspective of mountaineering and the outdoor... View Details

Keywords: mountain; climbing; adventure

April 2013
Article

In Search of a Second Act: Riding the Popularity of a Great First Product Is Easy; Finding the Next One Is Hard

By: Elie Ofek and Jill Avery

The article presents a fictional case study on new product development and improvement after the successful launch of a first breakthrough product. Topics include business planning for brand name products, finance and investment for the development of educational toys,... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Growth Strategy; Consumer Marketing; Marketing; Brand Management; Market Research; New Product Development; Marketing Management; Technology Commercialization; Technology; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry; Technology Industry; North and Central America; United States

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19 Nov 2015
Blog Post

What to Expect During Your Second Year at HBS

and tracking them in the marketplace. In my second semester, I worked with a classmate to explore how women in finance help other women in finance throughout their career development. Through this independent project, we conducted in... View Details

2018
Working Paper

Black Out-Migration and Southern Political Realignment

By: Leah Boustan and Marco Tabellini

Can emigration from less democratic and economically less developed areas induce political and economic change? We study this question in the context of the second Great Migration of African Americans (1940–1970), when more than 4 million blacks left the U.S. South and... View Details

Keywords: Great Migration; Immigration; Race; Government and Politics; Economics; United States