Summary
Aldo Musacchio has been in the faculty of HBS since 2004. He is currently an associate professor in the Business, Government, and International Economy Unit (BGIE) and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).
Professor Musacchio’s current research project with Professor Sergio Lazzarini, of Insper in Brazil, looks at the new ways in which states intervene in the economy. In particular, they examine the effects on firm performance of having the state as a minority shareholder ("the minority ownership model"). Additionally, they examine the effects on performance, when firms have access to cheap long-term loans from development banks
Finally, Professor Musacchio is also developing a series of cases and articles looking at best practices in state-owned enterprises. The objective of this research project is to provide lessons to improve the performance of large state-owned companies, especially in contexts where governments face political constraints to privatize such companies in full or in part, or where managers of state-owned enterprises cannot freely hire and fire workers or charge market rates for their services or products.
Aldo Musacchio has a B.A. in economics (with highest honors) from ITAM, in Mexico, and a Ph. D. in Economic History of Latin America from Stanford University. He is a faculty associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and a member of the Brazil Studies Committee and the Mexican Studies Committee, all at Harvard University. In 2007 he was selected as one of the “30 most promising professionals in their thirties (30 promesas en los treintas)” by Mexican business magazine Expansion. Musacchio is a member of the board of trustees of LASPAU: Academic and Professional Programs for the Americas, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing higher education in the Americas. Aldo Musacchio obtained a B.A. in Economics with highest honors from ITAM in Mexico City. He lives in the South End, Boston, Massachusetts.
| Current Institution | Harvard University |
| Current School | Harvard Business School |
| Department | Business Administration & International Economy |
| Disciplines | |
| Geographical Focus | |
| Address | Morgan Hall 279 Boston Massachusetts 02163 United States Phone: (617) 496-0995 |
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Stanford University
Ph.D.,
History of Latin America
(2005)
Stanford University
M.A.,
History of Latin America
(2001)
- Mellon Foundation (Stanford, CA), grant to finance summer research in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (2001)
- Ford‐Hewlett‐McArthur Foundations Fellowship, grant to support graduate school expenses. (1998 - 2000)
Publication Summary
Publications
Books
- Leviathan as a Manager: Lessons from State Capitalism in Brazil, 1970‐2009 (tentative title), work in progress.
- Experiments in Financial Democracy: Corporate Governance and Financial Development in Brazil, 1882–1950. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, September, 2009.
Articles
- “Drawing Links between Corporate Governance and Networks: Bankers in the Corporate Networks of Brazil, Mexico, and the United States circa 1910,” Enterprises et Histoire 54(April 2009): 16-36.
- "Laws versus Contracts: Legal Origins, Shareholder Protections, and Ownership Concentration in Brazil, 1890–1950," Business History Review 82‐3 (Autumn 2008): 445 -473.
- "Can Civil Law Countries Get Good Institutions? Lessons from the History of Creditor Rights and Bond Markets in Brazil." Journal of Economic History 68‐ 1 (March 2008): 80–108. (Winner of the Arthur H. Cole Prize for best paper in the Journal of Economic History between September 2007 and 2008)
- Dissertation summary: “Law and Finance in Historical Perspective: Politics, Bankruptcy Law, and Corporate Governance in Brazil, 1850‐2002” published in the Journal of Economic History 67-3 (June 2007): 502–506. (Finalist of the Alexander Gerschenkron Prize for the best dissertation in non‐North American economic history, 2006.)
- “Ordem (na corte) e Progresso: O Poder Judiciário e o mercado financeiro na transformação econômica republicana”(Trans. “Order (in the court) and Progress: Judiciary and Financial Markets in the republican economic ransformation”) in Acervo: Revista do Arquivo Nacional 15‐2 (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) (November 2002): 55–68.
- “La Reforma Monetaria de 1905: Un estudio de las condiciones internacionales que contribuyeron a la adopción del patrón oro en México,” (Transl.: “The Monetary Reform of 1905: A Study of the International Condition that led to the adoption of the Gold Standard in Mexico”) Revista Secuencia 52 (Mexico) (January‐April 2002): 64–98.
Book Chapters
- Musacchio, Aldo. "Legal Origin vs. the Politics of Creditor Rights: Bond Markets in Brazil, 1850-2002." Chap. 2 in The Politics of Financial Development, edited by Stephen Haber, Douglass C. North and Barry Weingast, 259-286. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2007.
- Frank, Zephyr and Aldo Musacchio. "The International Rubber Market, 1870-1930." Chap. 10 in From Silver to Cocaine: Latin American Commodity Chains and the Building of the World Economy, 1500-2000, edited by Steven Topik, Carlos Marichal and Zephyr Frank, 271-299. Durham: Duke University Press, 2006.
Other Papers
- Musacchio, Aldo, and Sergio G. Lazzarini. "Leviathan in Business: Varieties of State Capitalism and Their Implications for Economic Performance." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 12-108, June 2012.
- Musacchio, Aldo. "Mexico's financial crisis of 1994-1995." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 12-101, May 2012.
- Chaudhary, Latika, Aldo Musacchio, Steven Nafziger, and Se Yan. "Big BRICs, Weak Foundations: The Beginning of Public Elementary Education in Brazil, Russia, India, and China." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 17852, February 2012.
- Lazzarini, Sergio G., Aldo Musacchio, Rodrigo Bandeira-de-Mello, and Rosilene Marcon. "What Do Development Banks Do? Evidence from Brazil, 2002-2009." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 12-047, December 2011.
- Lazzarini, Sergio G., and Aldo Musacchio. "Leviathan as a Minority Shareholder: A Study of Equity Purchases by the Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES), 1995-2003." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 11-073, January 2011. ((**Winner of the Prize for the Best Paper Presented at the Strategic Management Society Special Conference, Rio de Janeiro, 2011).)
- Musacchio, Aldo. "Law and Finance c. 1900." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 16216, July 2010.
- Haber, Stephen, and Aldo Musacchio. "Foreign Entry and the Mexican Banking System, 1997–2007." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 10-114, June 2010.
- Martinez-Fritscher, Andre, Aldo Musacchio, and Martina Viarengo. "The Great Leap Forward: The Political Economy of Education in Brazil, 1889–1930." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 10-075, March 2010.
- Del Angel, Gustavo A., Stephen Haber, and Aldo Musacchio. "Bank Accounting Standards in Mexico. A Layman's Guide to Changes 10 Years after the 1995 Bank Crisis." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 08-090, April 2008.
- Musacchio, Aldo, Aurora Gomez-Galvarriato, and Rodrigo Parral. "Political Instability and Untimely Dissolution: Partnerships, Corporations, and the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1929." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 08-092, April 2008.
- Gómez-Galvarriato, Aurora, and Aldo Musacchio. "Organizational Choice in a French Civil Law Underdeveloped Economy: Partnerships, Corporations and the Chartering of Business in Mexico, 1886-1910." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 05-024, 2004.
Books
Other Publications

