Business, Government & the International Economy
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- June 2024
- Article
Real Growth in Space Manufacturing Output Substantially Exceeds Growth in the Overall Space Economy
By: Tina Highfill and Matthew WeinzierlAccurately measuring real economic output in the space economy is made difficult by the rapid increase in capabilities and decrease in prices of launch and satellite technologies achieved over the past two decades. Nominal measures of output in space will tend to underestimate real growth if customers are paying lower prices for better services over time. In this paper, we use price indexes that apply techniques to the space economy that have been used for decades to adjust nominal measures of output in sectors such as information technology, including matched-model and explicit hedonic quality adjustment. We find that adjusting for price and quality changes in the space economy has substantial effects on estimated growth in economic output, especially across its sectors. Price increases over time in the space information sector, which is dominated by direct-to-home (DTH) satellite television, mean that real growth has been slower than nominal growth since at least 2012, the typical pattern in industries not undergoing rapid technological change. In sharp contrast, rapid price decreases and quality increases in other areas—especially launch and manufacturing of satellite, earth observation, and positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) equipment—have meant that nominal growth rates substantially understate real growth rates in those industries. Given the central importance of space to our modern economy, having accurate information on growth in the space economy is vital for efficiently allocating the substantial private and public investment being devoted to its development.
- June 2024
- Article
Real Growth in Space Manufacturing Output Substantially Exceeds Growth in the Overall Space Economy
By: Tina Highfill and Matthew WeinzierlAccurately measuring real economic output in the space economy is made difficult by the rapid increase in capabilities and decrease in prices of launch and satellite technologies achieved over the past two decades. Nominal measures of output in space will tend to underestimate real growth if customers are paying lower prices for better services...
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- June, 2024
- Book Review
Debunking Immigration Myths: A Review Essay of 'Streets of Gold: America’s Untold Story of Immigrant Success' (PublicAffairs, 2022) by Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan
By: Marco TabelliniThis essay reviews Streets of Gold: America’s Untold Story of Immigrant Success by Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan. This elegantly written book, highly accessible to both economists and non-economists, is a must-read for anyone interested in the topic of immigration. Streets of Gold is a tour-de-force that walks the reader through the history of U.S. immigration, examining patterns of immigrant economic, social, and cultural assimilation from the mid-nineteenth century to today. Using rigorous empirical methods and novel datasets assembled by the authors over more than 15 years of work, the book challenges two widespread but incorrect myths about U.S. immigration. First, it shows that historical European immigrants did not always arrive poor and quickly climb the economic and social ladder. Second, it documents that the pace of immigrant assimilation today resembles that prevailing at the turn of the twentieth century. The book also provides evidence that immigrants’ success—both today and in the past—does not displace natives, and that immigrants spur economic growth.
- June, 2024
- Book Review
Debunking Immigration Myths: A Review Essay of 'Streets of Gold: America’s Untold Story of Immigrant Success' (PublicAffairs, 2022) by Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan
By: Marco TabelliniThis essay reviews Streets of Gold: America’s Untold Story of Immigrant Success by Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan. This elegantly written book, highly accessible to both economists and non-economists, is a must-read for anyone interested in the topic of immigration. Streets of Gold is a tour-de-force that walks the reader through the history of...
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- May 2024
- Article
Refugees Are Hosted in Highly Vulnerable Communities
By: C. Austin Davis, Paula Lopez-Peña, A. Mushfiq Mobarak and Jaya Y. WenLow- and middle-income nations host 76 percent of the world's refugees. This study uses original data to explore within-country spatial variability in refugee-hosting responsibilities. We find that hosting responsibilities for the displaced Rohingya people in Bangladesh are allocated in similarly unequal fashion when analyzed at the national, regional, and microregional levels. Refugee camps are placed in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities relative to both Bangladesh as a whole and surrounding areas. Our findings underscore the importance of considering host communities in the coordination of humanitarian responses to refugee crises to prevent economic hardship and political backlash.
- May 2024
- Article
Refugees Are Hosted in Highly Vulnerable Communities
By: C. Austin Davis, Paula Lopez-Peña, A. Mushfiq Mobarak and Jaya Y. WenLow- and middle-income nations host 76 percent of the world's refugees. This study uses original data to explore within-country spatial variability in refugee-hosting responsibilities. We find that hosting responsibilities for the displaced Rohingya people in Bangladesh are allocated in similarly unequal fashion when analyzed at the national,...
About the Unit
The BGIE Unit conducts research on, and teaches about, the economic, political, social, and legal environment in which business operates. The Unit includes scholars trained in economics, political science, and history; in its work, it draws on perspectives from all three of these disciplines.
The following demonstrates one way of classifying the approaches the Unit takes to learning and teaching.
- The Unit examines the “rules” and policies established by government and other non-business institutions that affect business in the United States.
- The Unit turns to history to understand the origins of today’s business environment as well as some of the alternatives that have emerged from time to time.
- The Unit examines other countries’ business environments and their historical development.
- The BGIE group is deeply interested in the impact of globalization and the way rules are emerging to govern international economic transactions as globalization proceeds.
Recent Publications
Real Growth in Space Manufacturing Output Substantially Exceeds Growth in the Overall Space Economy
- June 2024 |
- Article |
- Acta Astronautica
Debunking Immigration Myths: A Review Essay of 'Streets of Gold: America’s Untold Story of Immigrant Success' (PublicAffairs, 2022) by Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan
- June, 2024 |
- Book Review |
- Journal of Economic Literature
Refugees Are Hosted in Highly Vulnerable Communities
- May 2024 |
- Article |
- American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings
HarvEast
- May 2024 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Zegna
- April 2024 |
- Teaching Note |
- Faculty Research
Social Movements and Public Opinion in the United States
- 2024 |
- Working Paper |
- Faculty Research
East-Central Europe: The Young and the Far-Right
- April 2024 |
- Article |
- Journal of Democracy
Fit for 55: Europe at a Climate Crossroads?
- March 2024 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Harvard Business Publishing
Seminars & Conferences
There are no upcoming events.