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• Background Note | HBS Case Collection | 2013

  Comparative Advantage

  Matthew Weinzierl

  The theory of comparative advantage is a factor in international trade. In this note, we introduce the basic economics of comparative advantage and study its key implications.

  Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Comparative Advantage; economics; International trade;

  Citation:

  Weinzierl, Matthew. "Comparative Advantage." Harvard Business School Background Note 713-080, April 2013.

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2013 (Revised from original 2011 version)

  Debt and Development in Jamaica

  Rafael Di Tella, Gunnar Trumbull and Natalie Kindred

  This case describes the economic development problems faced by the small Caribbean-island country of Jamaica over most of the past half-century. The Jamaican economy showed relatively strong growth in the 1960s but stagnated in the 1970s. By the end of that decade, Jamaica was forced to turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for balance-of-payments support. Over the 1980s and early 1990s, the unpopular policy conditions associated with IMF loan programs made the Fund a lightning rod for criticism over Jamaica's lack of economic progress. Jamaicans celebrated the end of IMF borrowing in the mid-1990s, but a severe financial crisis later that decade created a new layer of economic problems. In 2010, in the context of the global economic downturn, Jamaica once again returned to the IMF for financing support. This case allows students to explore the complicated economic difficulties faced by Jamaica, which remains burdened by a self-reinforcing set of interrelated factors, including high public debt, a sluggish private sector, an inefficient public sector, poverty, and crime, among others.

  Keywords: History; Government Administration; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; International Finance; Crime and Corruption; Poverty; Private Sector; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Borrowing and Debt; Developing Countries and Economies; Jamaica;

  Citation:

  Di Tella, Rafael, Gunnar Trumbull, and Natalie Kindred. "Debt and Development in Jamaica." Harvard Business School Case 711-031, April 2013. (Revised from original April 2011 version.)

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• Teaching Plan | HBS Case Collection | 2013

  Latvia: Navigating the Strait of Messina (TP)

  Rawi Abdelal, Rafael Di Tella and Natalie Kindred

  Citation:

  Abdelal, Rawi, Rafael Di Tella, and Natalie Kindred. "Latvia: Navigating the Strait of Messina (TP)." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 713-010, April 2013.

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