Business and entrepreneurship are powerful engines of opportunity—fueling wealth creation, job growth, and innovation for individuals, communities, and nations alike.
Yet access to capital, knowledge, and markets remains deeply unequal, especially for small firms and underrepresented groups. At CID, our research on business, firms & finance explores how more inclusive economic systems can unlock potential at every level.
Drawing on the expertise of faculty affiliates across Harvard University, we investigate how businesses operate, grow, and adapt—examining topics such as corporate strategy, investment behavior, financial markets, and organizational dynamics.
From evaluating interventions that support microenterprises to analyzing how finance and firm behavior shape development outcomes, CID researchers are generating insights to strengthen business ecosystems and advance inclusive, sustainable growth.
Harvard CID Faculty Affiliates Shaping the Future of Business, Firms, & Finance
Laura Alfaro
Warren Alpert Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Emily Breza
Frederic E. Abbe Professor of Economics, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Shawn Cole
John G. McLean Professor, Harvard Business School
Tarun Khanna
Max Miller
Benjamin Roth
CID Faculty Affiliates
Discover the other Harvard CID faculty driving cutting-edge research in business, firms, and finance.
CID Faculty Research Insights
Explore Harvard faculty research on development topics, distilled into actionable takeaways for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers.
Harvard CID Faculty Publications
Read the latest research from CID faculty affiliates examining how businesses, firms, and financial systems shape economic development. Topics include entrepreneurship, firm growth, access to capital, investment strategies, and financial inclusion. These data-driven publications offer critical insights to inform policy and promote inclusive, sustainable economic growth.
Sovereign vs. Corporate Debt and Default: More Similar Than You Think
Gita Gopinath, Carmen Reinhart
The international empirics of management
Raffaella Sadun
Private Credit: What Do We Know?
Victoria Ivashina
Measuring the Impact of Impact Measurement
Natalia Rigol, Benjamin Roth
Explore More Publications
Browse CID’s publication database for more research by CID faculty affiliates on how businesses, firms, and financial systems shape economic development.
