Since 1978, Spain had struggled to control unemployment. The country's labor law was protective of employees hired long-term and companies used temporary contracts as buffers. In 2012, amid economic recession and a 23.6% unemployment rate, a center-right government of Mariano Rajoy passed a reform to liberalize the labor market. The authors of the labor reform argued that it helped to close the current account deficit and recover from the recession. Critics of the reform instead argued that it increased job precariousness and impoverished employees. Others believed that even more flexibility was necessary. In January 2021, Spain was governed by a coalition between the socialists and the extreme left-wing electoral alliance Unidas Podemos, led by the populist left wing party Podemos. Both the Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, also the socialist party leader, and Pablo Iglesias Turrión, Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Social Rights and the head of Podemos, had promised to repeal the labor law in the electoral campaign of 2019. But not all ministers in the cabinet shared the same view. In addition, the government was applying for funding from the EU to help the Spanish economy to recover from the recession that followed the COVID-19 pandemic. But to unlock the €140 billion in grants and loans from the EU COVID-19 fund, Sanchez had to present a convincing plan of structural reforms to boost the economy and address its structural problems. Would the EU Commission approve Spain's recovery plan if the 2012 reform were to be repealed? What should Sánchez's government do?
Trichloroethylene, or TCE, was a chemical used by tens of thousands of businesses in the United States. It was an affordable tool for many. Yet, TCE had been associated with important health risks, including cancer and autoimmune disease. TCE potentially posed other risks as well: some researchers argued that low doses of TCE caused deformities in fetal hearts, while others argued that there was not enough science to back up this claim. Over twenty years, a vigorous debate encompassing academic, government and industry voices played out around just how toxic TCE was. The American chemical industry and TCE end-users used lobbying to advocate for their positions. A loose coalition of activists, academics and journalists promoted their own, different, perspectives on TCE. Developments in the TCE story were often communicated to the public through investigative reporting, a field of journalism facing economic crisis. The U.S. government and its Environmental Protection Agency were responsible for assessing TCE's toxicity, leading to secondary policy decisions around how the chemical should be regulated. Yet, by the end of 2020, controversy remained around whether successive governments had been untowardly influenced by special interests in their TCE decision-making. Which stance should the Biden administration take in regards to TCE? More broadly, which broader lessons could be drawn from the TCE case? In particular, should the influence of lobbying on regulations and policies be constrained in any way?
For the first half of 2020, the COVID-19 crisis seemed on the verge of spiraling out of control. The business world struggled to figure out what COVID meant for macroeconomics. Extended restrictions limiting human interaction meant an end to normal economic production, and a resulting global economic crisis. France, Germany and the United States tackled the economic side of the COVID crisis through complex fiscal policy measures, with differing levels of success.
In 2020, Chileans would head to the ballot box to decide their country's future. Many international observers credited Chile's decades of neoliberal governance with turning the country into Latin America's "Tiger," a prosperous, diversified economy on its way to becoming the continent's first developed country. But in October of 2019, a mass protest movement ground the country to a halt and shocked its political class, showing the world a different Chile-one defined by inequality, social distrust, and a young generation of political activists. As Chile prepared to vote in the fall of 2020 on whether to adopt a new constitution, could it sculpt a more equitable society while remaining "the exception" on a continent known for its political instability? Or would Chile's prosperity go the same way as its neoliberal experiment?
The collapse of central authority in the Soviet Union in 1991 ushered in a period of revolutionary transformations for the states that emerged in its wake. The leaders of Russia, the USSR's successor, struggled to reestablish central authority while also seeking to avoid further disintegration, establish a democratic polity, and institute a market economy across the next several years. Russia would navigate further economic crisis and a swiftly evolving geopolitical order as it returned to the world stage. The case examines the different governance approaches adopted by Presidents Boris Yeltsin, Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin, and concludes with a discussion of Russia's strategic challenges and opportunities in 2019. The case focuses on problems of state authority; fiscal capacity; institutionalization of political parties; relations between the federal center and provincial governments; relations between the state and big business; economic policy; international relations; and models of economic development.
Following a contentious presidential race, Donald Trump's 2016 election destabilized America's status quo. Academics, journalists, politicians and the public at large examined why Trump had won. Many Americans, inside and outside the government, asserted that a state-led Russian disinformation campaign had influenced the election's outcome. The leaders of major social media companies, including Twitter and Facebook, also conceded that state actors had gamed their platforms to influence American politics. Trump himself made conflicting statements, while Russian politicians asserted that American elites had rhetorically weaponized the issue of election interference to justify an unwillingness to work with their country internationally. It was hard to parse where reality ended and political rhetoric began. Post-election, the future of U.S.-Russia relations remained unclear, and the United States grappled with how to regulate cyberspace. Analyzing the 2016 election and its aftershocks helps students confront interrelated questions about business regulation, international relations, cultural identity, strategic communications, political will and the Internet. The case encourages students to consider the boundary between narrative and reality and examine subjectivity, objectivity, and power in the public and private sectors.
During the 2016 U.S. election, long-time politician Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, and celebrity billionaire Donald Trump, a Republican, faced off in a contentious race for president. In the primaries, candidates from both major political parties used anti-establishment messaging to appeal to the electorate, a theme that had been on the sidelines of U.S. political discourse for decades. Trump, in particular, played into the rising anti-establishment sentiment as he embraced a populist platform and emphasized his position as a Washington-outsider. He proved to be an unpredictable and incendiary candidate on the campaign trail, garnering much media attention and creating divisions within the traditional Republican base, yet his directness and promise to "Make America Great Again" resonated with several segments of the population. While many experts predicted a Clinton victory, Trump was ultimately elected president in November 2016. During his first 100 days in office, Trump tested the boundaries of the U.S. government, and observers looked on with uncertainty as he took an unconventional and unpredictable approach to policymaking.
Founded in 1945, Grupo ClarÃn expanded over several decades to become Argentina's largest media conglomerate. With leading positions in newspapers, broadcast television, broadcast radio, cable television, and Internet services, Grupo ClarÃn caught the attention of U.S.-based investment bank Goldman Sachs, which acquired an 18% share of Grupo ClarÃn for US$500 million in 1999. While Grupo ClarÃn struggled during the economic crisis from 2001 to 2002, it was well positioned to grow as the economy began to recover in 2003, in part due to government policies that helped stabilize the media industry. Now in October 2007, Grupo ClarÃn was preparing to make an IPO in London and Buenos Aires, and fund managers at Goldman Sachs were reevaluating their position. What price would the IPO reach and how much, if any, of their stake should they sell? What was the return Goldman Sachs would obtain if they sold its entire position, or just one part?
Over the past several decades, rapid growth in Chinese investment and trade has created for Africa a new development partner. China represents an alternative to U.S. and European nations whose past imperialism, resource avarice, and economic dictates-through the conditionality of IMF and World Bank lending-remain a negative legacy. This case uses the story of Zambia's Chambishi copper mine, which was purchased in 1998 by the state-owned China Non-Ferrous Metals Mining Corporation, to illustrate China's growing interest and involvement in the African continent. While many in Africa welcome the substantial Chinese investment, resentment over labor abuses, low pay, and substandard working conditions at some Chinese-owned enterprises fuels anti-China sentiment. At Chambishi copper mine, a 2005 explosion, caused by management's shoddy adherence to safety standards, killed nearly 50 miners and sparked outrage among Zambians. The explosion marked the first in a long series of protests and safety violations that would unfold at Chambishi over the next ten years.
Israel enjoyed the highest concentration of technology start-ups in the world per capita. Despite regional instability, the country maintained strong economic growth and was considered a high-tech powerhouse. But not all Israelis benefited. Between the 1980s and 2010s, income distribution had widened. By 2015, 20 business groups -- nearly all family-owned -- controlled one in four listed companies through corporate pyramids. Public anger over the high cost of living, which many believed was due to a lack of competition, led to a series of protests. Some academics and members of the Knesset (Parliament) called for reforms to limit the activities of corporate pyramids.
Xi Jinping assumed his position as head of China's fifth generation of leaders in 2012. Xi was head of both the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party, which had ruled China since 1949. Xi inherited a country far more unequal than the one that Mao Zedong, Communist China's first leader, had left behind in 1978. The growth of markets had made China much wealthier, but also generated many social problems, including inequality, corruption, and social protests. This case discusses China's political and economic development in the 20th century to situate Xi's-and China's-contemporary challenges.
The case describes Argentina's struggle to establish a credible monetary system under populist pressures and the recurrent use of exchange rate stabilization plans. It focuses on two episodes where there was "too little money" in the economy: during the hyperinflation episodes during the late 1980's-when money demand collapsed and the early 2000's when the supply of money collapsed under a hard currency peg.
In the fall of 2013, the people of Ukraine disagreed passionately whether their country should intensify ties with the European Union or Russia. After President Yanukovych rejected the free trade agreement with the EU in November, thousands of Ukrainians peacefully protested. But the protest movement morphed into a violent, deadly confrontation in January, culminating in February in mass slaughter, an overthrow of government, foreign invasion, and international crisis. The four months that shook Ukraine is a case study on the interrelated problems of geopolitical struggle, politics of economic pacts and clash of regional economic blocks, post-imperial disintegration and trade, and identity and interdependence.
In late October 2011, after losing 1 billion of dollar reserves in one month, the Argentine government began imposing a series of currency controls, limiting the ability to buy foreign currency. As of October 2011, Argentina's tax collection agency AFIP had been granted the power to approve or reject all requests to buy dollars with pesos in Argentina's banking system. By June 2012, AFIP had removed ""saving"" as a legitimate explanation. While the official exchange rate was approaching six pesos to the dollar, the black market was demanding almost ten pesos to the dollar-a nearly 65% difference. These were not the first currency restrictions that Argentina had imposed on its citizens.
This case narrates the development of the Republic of Korea from 1960 to 1990. The case discusses three broad issues. First, the case provides a discussion of industrial policy in Korea. Second, the case explains the relationship between industrialization and inequality and how Korea developed without increasing inequality. Finally the case has a brief discussion of the role of education in industrialization and development.