Primary Education in Pakistan: Show Me the Evidence

Publication Date: April 30, 2014

This case has two parts, a text-based case and a supplemental PowerPoint presentation. The case traces the evolution of an evidence-based research study on the education sector in Pakistan. In 2003, Atish (fictionalized character), a...

Role Responsibility, Official Disobedience, and the Supreme Court's Ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act

Publication Date: April 30, 2014

In June, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that the federal Defense of Marriage Act violated the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment protection of equal liberty, effectively overturning the law. Pennsylvania, however, banned same-sex...

Health Care Reform in Massachusetts: Impacts on Public Health

Publication Date: April 24, 2014

In 2006, with healthcare costs and the number of uninsured rising, Massachusetts passed landmark legislation that aimed to provide health insurance to everyone in the state. A product of bipartisan collaboration between a legislature dominated...

Knowledge Management at the World Bank: Part 2

Publication Date: March 13, 2014

This case is about how the World Bank, after determining that the creation and dissemination of knowledge to the international development community was one of their strategic roles and objectives, transitioned from being just a lending bank to...

Providing Pensions for the Poor: Targeting Cash Transfers for the Elderly in Mexico

Publication Date: March 05, 2014

When the Mexican Congress approved the country's 2007 budget, it included an appropriation of 8.5 billion pesos allocated to provide non-contributive pensions to senior citizens. President Felipe Calderon wanted to introduce eligibility criteria...

Target of Opportunity: South Africa's Western Cape Seeks a Role in the African Oil Boom

Publication Date: March 05, 2014

This strategy case describes an initiative in the Western Cape province of South Africa to capitalize on an oil boom off the western coast of Africa by cultivating an industrial cluster of complementary businesses with the capacity to service,...

Shaping the Future of Solar Power: Climate Change, Industrial Policy and Free Trade (B)

Publication Date: December 04, 2013

Shaping the Future of Solar Power: Climate Change, Industrial Policy and Free Trade (Part B), is the second of a two part case but may also be taught on its own. In May 2013, European Union Trade Commissioner, Karel De Gucht faced a...

The Geography of Poverty: Exploring the Role of Neighborhoods in the Lives of Urban, Adolescent Poor

Publication Date: December 02, 2013

In the American canon of anti-poverty programs, Moving to Opportunity (MTO)--a housing experiment conducted in the 1990s--stood out for its ambitious yet simple design. Under the experiment, more than 4,600 extremely poor families were randomly...

The Hormone Therapy Controversy: What Makes Reliable Evidence

Publication Date: November 13, 2013

For nearly two decades, the leading evidence on hormone therapy was based on findings from observational studies like the Nurses Health Study. In 1985, researchers at Nurses Health Study confirmed that postmenopausal women who took estrogen had...

Lesotho Hospital and Filter Clinics: A Public-Private Partnership

Publication Date: October 03, 2013

This case looks at a public-private partnership (PPP) between the Health Ministry for the government of Lesotho and a private consortium headed up by Netcare, a South African company, to build and operate a new referral hospital and four feeder...

City of Somerville: Using Activity-Based Budgeting to Improve Performance in the Somerville Traffic Unit

Publication Date: August 15, 2013

Since 2004, City of Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone has undertaken a series of fiscal reforms that have allowed the City to improve municipal services during financial hard times. A key reform has been the City's adoption of the budgeting...

Extending the Green Line to Somerville

Publication Date: July 18, 2013

In 2012 Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick presided over the groundbreaking for a 4.3 mile extension of the Green Line, a light rail transit line, into Somerville, a very dense, older inner suburb in the Boston metropolitan area. The Green...