Entrepreneurs may undertake bad projects because they unwittingly rely on defective or incomplete information to estimate the returns. Investors' concerns about such misjudgements are relatively low when the entrepreneurs' knowledge about their projects has been well calibrated. But if the...

Our case history describes the development of three generations of cephalosporins – antibiotics that have significantly reduced hospital infections. Specifically, we chronicle how: 1) Early (pre-cephalosporin) antibiotics were developed in the first half of the 20th century. 2) Drug companies...

This case history analyzes how the founders of McKinsey & Co. built one of the world's leading management consulting firms by developing a “system” of professional norms, approach to serving clients, personnel policies, organization, governance, and ownership. The history also shows that...

Estimates of total factor productivity are based on assumptions that preclude the decentralized, broad-based innovation that undergirds the dynamism of capitalist economies. Thus the decline in standard measures of productivity – which fly in the face of most everyday experience – is not a...

Housing finance, fair lending, and fair credit reporting rules the US induce widespread reliance on credit bureau scores by originators of residential mortgages and consumer loans. Reliance on scores that issuers cannot control -- but can disclose to investors -- has helped raise loans...

Keynes thought it would be “splendid” if economists became more like dentists. Disciplinary economics has instead become more like physics in focusing on concise, universal propositions verified through decisive tests. This focus, I argue, limits the practical utility of the discipline...

Frank Knight distinguished between 'uncertainty' and 'risk' to specify the true nature of 'profit’, but his specification never caught on and I do not see realistic possibilities for renewing research in this direction. Using uncertainty to analyze the organization and conduct of contemporary...

Our case history describes the development of Prozac, a blockbuster drug that transformed the treatment of depression – and became a cultural phenomenon in the United States. Specifically, we chronicle the: 1) prior treatments for depression and the research that provided a foundation for...

Our case history describes the development of tamoxifen, considered a “gold standard” treatment for millions of breast cancer patients. Specifically, we describe breast cancer treatments prior to tamoxifen’s development; the initial development of tamoxifen from 1960 to 1973; tamoxifen’s...

Frank Knight distinguished between 'uncertainty' and 'risk' to specify the true nature of 'profit’, but his specification never caught on and I do not see realistic possibilities for renewing research in this direction. Knight also used uncertainty to specify the distinctive role of the...