- 15 May 2019
- Research Event
The Unconventional Capitalism That Shapes Business History
Geoffrey G. Jones reports on a business history conference studying the many shades of capitalism around the world and through time. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 01 May 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
Rehabilitating Corporate Purpose
Shareholder value maximization has become the de facto expression of the institutional purpose guiding many managers’ decision making. The author proposes an alternative, justice-based guideline for corporate purpose based on established moral and organizational principles.
- 07 Dec 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Oral History and Writing the Business History of Emerging Markets
Oral history is a valuable resource to explore how businesses developed and functioned in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, regions with a growing share of global economic activity and the majority of the world’s population. While oral history is not uncritical, it provides openings for opinions, voices, and judgements on events on which there was often silence.
- 26 Sep 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Merchants and the Origins of Capitalism
This chapter shows how a new kind of predominantly Italian merchants emerged as global figures during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Then as now, they pooled capital and shared risk to enrich themselves and their polities, utilized the infrastructure and markets that they helped make, and created new legal and financial instruments to facilitate their ventures.
- 31 Oct 2016
- Research & Ideas
Quantitative Easing Didn’t Ease the Housing Crisis for the Neediest
A new study by Marco Di Maggio and colleagues takes a deep dive into the efficacy of the Fed’s quantitative easing strategy to understand how the various rounds of QE affected “the real economy.” Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 07 May 2014
- What Do You Think?
How Should Wealth Be Redistributed?
SUMMING UP James Heskett's readers weigh in on Thomas Piketty and how wealth disparity is burdening society. Closed for comment; 42 Comment(s) posted.
- 29 Jul 2013
- Research & Ideas
A Manager’s Moral Obligation to Preserve Capitalism
Harvard Business School's Rebecca M. Henderson and Karthik Ramanna argue that company managers have a moral obligation to preserve capitalism. Closed for comment; 20 Comment(s) posted.
- 06 Feb 2013
- What Do You Think?
Is ‘Conscious Capitalism’ an Antidote to Income Inequality?
Summing-Up If capitalism creates unacceptable income inequality, what can be done about it? asks Jim Heskett. Whole Foods Market offers one possible solution, and now Jim's readers offer their own. Closed for comment; 46 Comment(s) posted.
- 20 Feb 2009
- Working Paper Summaries
When Does Domestic Saving Matter for Economic Growth?
The researchers begin with a simply stated question: Can a country grow faster by saving more? Long-run growth theories imply that a country can grow faster by investing more in human or physical capital or in R&D, but that a country with access to international capital markets cannot grow faster by saving more. Domestic saving is therefore not considered an important ingredient in the growth process because investment can be financed by foreign saving. From the point of view of standard growth theory, the positive cross-country correlation between saving and growth that many commentators have noted appears puzzling. HBS professor Diego Comin and colleagues develop a theory of local saving and growth in an open economy with domestic and foreign investors. Key concepts include: Domestic saving is more critical for adopting new technologies in developing rather than developed economies. Familiarity with the technology frontier reduces its cost of adoption. Advanced countries readily adopt the frontier technology, but for countries far from the technology frontier, it is too expensive to adopt such technology without outside help. Entrepreneurs in these countries need to rely on foreign investors. However, domestic entrepreneurs may not deliver on their input contribution unless they have invested sufficient capital in the project. This co-investment is in turn financed out of domestic saving, highlighting the role of domestic saving in economic growth. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
- 20 Aug 2008
- Op-Ed
The Time is Right for Creative Capitalism
Bill Gates has it right. Business is the most powerful force for change in the world right now and gives the idea of creative capitalism real power, writes Harvard Business School Professor Nancy F. Koehn. Open for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
- 12 Oct 1999
- Research & Ideas
It Came in the First Ships: Capitalism in America
The Virginians in Jamestown, the Puritans in Massachusetts Bay, the Quakers in Pennsylvania and other early settlers of what later became the United States all brought with them elements of capitalism, precursors of the future nation's market-driven direction. In this excerpt from his article "American Capitalism" in Creating Modern Capitalism: How Entrepreneurs, Companies, and Countries Triumphed in Three Industrial Revolutions, HBS Professor Thomas K. McCraw looks at the early years of capitalism on the North American continent. Open for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
Varieties of Outward Chinese Capital: Domestic Politics Status and Globalization of Chinese Firms
Most popular and scholarly writing about China’s global push overemphasizes the power of the state. This paper explains how three types of domestic Chinese capital—state capital, private capital, and crony capital—differ in political vulnerability and pursue globalization in different ways. All prefer capital openness, but they do so for different reasons.