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...

The Consolidation of the Health Departments in Summit County, Ohio (Epilogue)

Publication Date: July 18, 2013

In late 2008, government officials in Summit County, Ohio began to discuss the possibility of combining the county's three public health districts. These early discussions set the stage for more than two years of negotiations that eventually led...

The Consolidation of the Health Departments in Summit County, Ohio

Publication Date: July 18, 2013

In late 2008, government officials in Summit County, Ohio began to discuss the possibility of combining the county's three public health districts. These early discussions set the stage for more than two years of negotiations that eventually led...

Cutting Costs in Financial Hard Times: Two Massachusetts Towns Consider a Police Merger

Publication Date: July 18, 2013

When local governments face budget pressures, one approach is to regionalize services--that is, to seek out greater economies of scale by consolidating service delivery with other municipalities. This case describes the effort of two small...

Women as Leaders: Lessons from Political Quotas in India

Publication Date: July 18, 2013

In 1993, the Indian government approved a constitutional amendment that would forever change the face of rural politics. The landmark legislation mandated that village councils--traditionally the bastion of higher caste males--hold regular...