Courses & Teaching Resources

Entrepreneurship and Global Capitalism

Taught by Geoffrey Jones

This second-year elective offers a wide-ranging framework for understanding the role of entrepreneurs in shaping global capitalism. Through the eyes of entrepreneurs of the past two centuries, the course explores how global business opportunities have been identified and exploited, and the challenges and opportunities posed by "foreignness" as firms crossed national borders.It provides cases on entrepreneurs and firms from many countries who were active in pursuits ranging from opium trading and luxury watches to fashion, cinema, finance, and information and communications technologies. The course includes some of the world’s best-known entrepreneurs, as well as some of the most infamous, and shows their roles in the major events of the last century, from Gandhi's struggle for Indian Independence to the nightmare of Nazi Germany. Placing business in a broad political, economic, and cultural context, the course explores the challenging decisions and ethical dilemmas entrepreneurs have faced in countries with repressive regimes and failed states in different historical eras. By reviewing the historical evidence on global entrepreneurship, it provides perspective and a unique learning opportunity for those considering careers both in entrepreneurship and general management.

Creating the Modern Financial System

Taught by David Moss

This second-year elective offers a vital perspective on finance and the financial system by exploring the historical development of key financial instruments and institutions worldwide. The premise of the course is that students will gain a richer and more intuitive understanding of modern financial markets and organizations by examining where these institutions came from and how they evolved.It covers seminal financial developments in a diverse set of countries from the 18th century to the present. Some cases highlight the introduction of new financial markets (such as the Dojima futures market in early modern Japan), or the creation of new instruments (such as mortgage-backed securities), while others trace the emergence and maturation of critical financial institutions (including banks and insurance companies). Still others focus on the behavior of financial actors and groups, particularly in the context of financial bubbles and crashes. Because the course highlights the origins of financial markets and instruments as well as the fallout from numerous financial crises, government also looms large as an actor in many of the cases. Although the past is unlikely to repeat itself exactly, business managers who have a strong background in financial history are likely to be better prepared for the full diversity of financial innovations, shocks, and crises that they will face in the future.

The Coming of Managerial Capitalism

Taught by Tom Nicholas

This second-year elective course explores the historical development of the most important economic actors and institutions—entrepreneurs, corporations, labor unions, and financial markets, as well as relevant government bodies—as the United States became increasingly industrial, urban, and technologically advanced.The course covers changes in the strategy and structure of institutions, especially corporations, and shifts in the nature of competition between businesses. The development of the workplace and labor movement and the changing role of government in the country’s economy are investigated as well. In addition, the course examines the relation between capital market innovation and economic development and surveys the long-term impact of entrepreneurship, technological change, and market evolution. The history of managerial capitalism in the United States offers students a comparative point of reference for considering business strategy as well as economic and social change across time and national boundaries.

Global Capitalism: Past, Present, and Future (GloCap)

Taught by Sophus Reinert

Few forces have shaped the world over the past millennium more than capitalism—yet few terms remain more elusive and more divisive. Today, less than half of young Americans view capitalism positively, and calls for alternatives are becoming ever more frequent.1Why? And why have different forms of capitalism led to such unequal outcomes around the world? What is capitalism, really; what has it been, and what might it be? The First-Year Seminar Global Capitalism: Past, Present, Future (GloCap) explores these questions by tracing the evolution of capitalism across time and space. The aim is not to define capitalism once and for all, but to equip students with the historical perspectives, theories, frameworks, and analytical tools to grapple with its ongoing transformations. Today, the world economy stands at a rare confluence of inflection points. This course engages directly with those shifts, using the following company and country cases to illuminate the past, interpret the present, and anticipate possible futures. Through a wide range of cases spanning countries, territories, and even extraterrestrial frontiers, the course invites participants to examine the diverse forms capitalism has taken and the varied consequences it has produced. Each case summary below includes assignment questions and core concepts to think about before class, alongside works of art, music, and film—some directly relevant, others obliquely so—intended to provoke deeper reflection. Ultimately, GloCap interrogates capitalism not only as an economic system, but as a historical, social, and ultimately moral one. And, rather than treating capitalism as inevitable or uniform, the course approaches it as historically contingent, politically contested, and culturally embedded. It considers how capitalism has shaped—and been shaped by—technologies, institutions, values, and human aspirations. Participants are invited to reflect not only on the structure of the world economy, but also on the meaning of life and their own potential—as thinkers, leaders, and global citizens—to shape the paths capitalism may yet take beyond the hallowed halls of Harvard University. The future of capitalism, like its past, will ultimately depend on what human beings choose to value.