article thumbnail

What an Economist Brings to a Business Strategy

Harvard Business Review

Ask them if they apply much else from else from economics in their actual business careers, and you’re likely to hear “not much.”. Economists and finance. They might be surprised at how certain economic notions have been directly applied in business, with largely positive results. Here a few notable examples.

article thumbnail

The Irish Banking Crisis: A Parable

Harvard Business Review

In slightly more formal terms, Id suggest that they were able to take on, at least in tiny part, five of Robert Merton and Zvi Bodies six standard functions of a financial system: settling payments, providing information, setting incentives, pooling resources, and transferring resources.

Banking 16