The research: Erik Meyersson, an assistant professor at Stockholm School of Economics, teamed up with Albrecht Glitz, an associate professor at Pompeu Fabra University, to study the archives of the East German Ministry for State Security (known as the Stasi). The two researchers analyzed 189,725 informant reports and cross-referenced them to industrial sector economic data for East and West Germany from 1969 to 1989. Their research paper found that East Germany enjoyed significant economic returns from its state-run industrial espionage operation. The spying narrowed the technology gaps between the two countries and was so successful that it drove down R&D efforts in the East.
A version of this article appeared in the November 2016 issue (pp.30–31) of Harvard Business Review.