Publications

Democracy

To all who declare that American democracy is broken—riven by partisanship, undermined by extremism, and corrupted by wealth—history offers hope. In nearly every generation since the nation’s founding, critics have made similar declarations, and yet the nation is... View Details

Forthcoming
Article

Economic Integration and the Transmission of Democracy

By: Marco Tabellini and Giacomo Magistretti

In this paper, we study the effects of economic integration with democratic partners on democracy. We assemble a large country-level panel dataset from 1960 to 2015, and exploit improvements in air, relative to sea, transportation to derive a time-varying instrument... View Details

Keywords: Democratization; Institutional Development; Economic Integration; International Trade; Democracy; Political Preferences; Institutions; Trade; Global Range; Economics; Government and Politics

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September 2022 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Audrey Tang: Using Technology to Strengthen Democracy in Taiwan

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

Since the early days of the internet, Taiwan had a vibrant community of civic hackers and open-source programmers who engaged with social issues. Audrey Tang was one of them. She spearheaded the 2014 Sunflower Student Movement in Taiwan, where protestors peacefully... View Details

Keywords: Democracy; Internet; Web Technology; Digital Transformation; Digital Platform; COVID; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Governance; Entrepreneurship; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Innovation and Invention; Taiwan; China; Asia

August 2015 (Revised January 2022)
Case

George Washington and the Foundations of American Democracy

By: Tom Nicholas and Matthew G. Preble

George Washington is perhaps the most well-known of the U.S.'s founding fathers because of his political and military achievements. However, Washington also operated a number of successful business ventures out of his Mount Vernon estate, and he became a landowner on... View Details

Keywords: Government; History; George Washington; Democracy; Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Government and Politics; Business History; Leadership; United States

11 Jan 2021
News

Strengthening Democracy

Image credit: Dan Bejar ALUMNI One Paramount Priority Diane Hessan (MBA 1977) on how to preserve the republic after the election A More Perfect Union America’s faith in democracy is fading. Daniella Ballou-Aares (MBA 2001) is leading a... View Details

The Global Rise of Democracy

We examine the influence of an interstate network created by intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) on the global diffusion of democracy. We propose that IGOs facilitate democracy’s diffusion by transmitting information between member states and by interpreting... View Details

12 PM – 1 PM EST, 13 Jan 2021
Virtual Programming

Harnessing Entrepreneurship to Revamp Democracy

Can we solve big public problems anymore? HBS Professor Mitchell Weiss (MBA 2004) believes that a renewed entrepreneurial spirit can transform the public sector's response to big problems at all levels. One of our biggest challenges? Faith in the democratic process... View Details

2012
Chapter

Marketing and Democracy

By: John A. Quelch and Katherine E. Jocz

March 2014 (Revised June 2015)
Case

Can Mexico Make Democracy Work?

By: Gunnar Trumbull and Jonathan Schlefer

Enrique Peña Nieto, the presidential candidate of the old Mexican ruling party elected in 2012, passed the most fundamental reforms in at least two decades. They included allowing private competition in the energy sector, including with the state-owned oil company,... View Details

Keywords: Democratization; Economic Development; Competition Policy; Exchange Rates; Comparative Advantage; Growth and Development; Government Legislation; Political Elections; Economic Growth; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Energy Industry; Communications Industry; Banking Industry; Latin America; Mexico

12 PM – 1 PM EDT, 21 Mar 2017
Webinars: Trending@HBS

Is American Democracy in Trouble? Thoughts on the Perils (and Promise) of an Aging Democracy

Is American democracy in trouble? What could this mean for the nations economy and business environment? Professor Moss will take up these questions from an historical perspective, exploring the strengths and weaknesses of the nations political system as it has evolved... View Details

1977
Other Unpublished Work

Democracy in Crisis

By: Michael C. Jensen and William H. Meckling

May 27, 2020
Editorial

Stable Democracies Better at Fostering Economic Growth

By: Ashish Nanda

Differences across countries in how the COVID-19 pandemic has been managed have led some to raise the broader question of whether democracies are necessarily a good way to organise a society. Research findings clearly show that compared to autocracies, democracies... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Government and Politics

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01 Sep 2020
News

Making Democracy Work

A democratically elected government is essential to free-market capitalism—a strong democracy provides the foundation necessary for capitalism to benefit all, rather than only a few. Today, democracy is in... View Details

08 Jun 2010
News

Does democracy hinder growth?

Article

Representative Democracy and the Implementation of Majority-Preferred Alternatives

By: Katherine Baldiga Coffman

In this paper, we contrast direct and representative democracy. In a direct democracy, individuals have the opportunity to vote over the alternatives in every choice problem the population faces. In a representative democracy, the population commits to a candidate ex... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Voting; Decision Choices and Conditions