Publications

April 2007 (Revised June 2007)
Case

Aid, Debt Relief, and Trade: An Agenda for Fighting World Poverty (A)

By: Laura Alfaro, Eric D. Werker and Renee Kim

At the 2005 Group of Eight summit, world leaders agreed to relieve the world's poorest countries' debt burdens and double aid to Africa by 2010. The announcement raised questions whether debt relief would really help the poor. By examining past aid trends and policies... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Borrowing and Debt; Capital; International Relations; Nonprofit Organizations; Poverty; Welfare; Africa

March 2022
Article

Loan Types and the Bank Lending Channel

By: Victoria Ivashina, Luc Laeven and Enrique Moral-Benito

Using credit-registry data for Spain and Peru, we document that four main types of commercial credit—asset-based loans, cash flow loans, trade finance and leasing—are easily identifiable and represent the bulk of corporate credit. We show that credit growth dynamics... View Details

Keywords: Bank Credit; Loan Types; Bank Lending Channel; Credit Registry; Banks and Banking; Credit; Financing and Loans

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01 Apr 2019
What Do You Think?

Does Our Bias Against Federal Deficits Need Rethinking?

Wildebeest added: “There is a good case to be made that deficits from loose monetary policy are the actual cause of the ever-widening income disparity in the US and nearly every major economy.”... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

February 2011 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Brazil: Leading the BRICs?

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich and Aldo Musacchio

Brazil's new president, Dilma Rousseff, had announced plans to sustain GDP growth above 5% annually and continue the country's leadership role among emerging economies. Between 2003 and 2010, Brazil benefited from strong economic growth and stable policies under the... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Intellectual Property; Infrastructure; Economic Growth; Trade; International Relations; Economic Systems; Globalization; Corporate Strategy; Brazil; Russia; India; China; United States

July 2010 (Revised March 2012)
Case

China 'Unbalanced'

By: Diego A. Comin and Richard H.K. Vietor

In 2010, Wen Jiabao looked back at the financial crisis with some satisfaction. Using aggressive fiscal and monetary policy, China had weathered the crisis successfully, growing 8.7% annually in 2010. Most of the unemployed workers had returned to work, often... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Financial Crisis; Trade; Currency Exchange Rate; Investment; Local Range; Growth and Development Strategy; Demand and Consumers; China

December 2023
Article

Intermediary Balance Sheets and the Treasury Yield Curve

By: Wenxin Du, Benjamin Hebert and Wenhao Li

We document a regime change in the Treasury market post-Global Financial Crisis (GFC): dealers switched from net short to net long Treasury bonds. We construct “net-long” and “net-short” curves that account for balance sheet and financing costs, and show that actual... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Financial Markets; Financial Crisis; Asset Pricing

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13 Jan 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Forward Guidance in the Yield Curve: Short Rates versus Bond Supply

Keywords: by Robin Greenwood, Samuel G. Hanson, and Dimitri Vayanos; Financial Services

December 2005 (Revised July 2006)
Case

What Should the Federal Reserve Do? Thoughts of Greenspan and Bernanke

By: Lakshmi Iyer and Noel Maurer

Presents remarks by Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke on monetary policy, explicit inflation targets, and the relative merits of asset price targeting. View Details

Keywords: Inflation and Deflation; Asset Pricing; Central Banking; Financial Strategy; Policy; Banking Industry

Elisabeth Kempf is an Associate Professor in the Finance Unit, teaching Finance 1 to MBA students. She is also a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and a Research Affiliate at the Centre for Economic Policy and Research... View Details

2016
Article

The Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet as a Financial-Stability Tool

By: Robin Greenwood, Samuel Gregory Hanson and Jeremy C. Stein

We argue that the Federal Reserve should use its balance sheet to help reduce a key threat to financial stability: the tendency for private-sector financial intermediaries to engage in excessive amounts of maturity transformation—i.e., to finance risky assets using... View Details

Keywords: Central Banking; Policy; Risk Management; Public Administration Industry; United States

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Matt Weinzierl is Senior Associate Dean and Chair of the MBA Program at Harvard Business School, where he is the Joseph and Jacqueline Elbling Professor of Business Administration in the Business, Government, and the International Economy Unit, and a Research... View Details

Keywords: aerospace

25 Aug 2018
News

Growth of online retail is changing inflation

April 2011 (Revised February 2016)
Case

Jamaica's Anemic Growth: The IMF, China and the Debt(th) Trap

By: Rafael Di Tella and Natalie Kindred

This case describes the economic development problems faced by the small Caribbean-island country of Jamaica over most of the past half-century. The Jamaican economy showed relatively strong growth in the 1960s but stagnated in the 1970s. By the end of that decade,... View Details

Keywords: Government Administration; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; International Finance; Crime and Corruption; Poverty; Private Sector; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Economy; Developing Countries and Economies; Borrowing and Debt; Jamaica

The co-movement of Treasury bonds and stocks is an important indicator for both policy makers and for long-term investors. A positive co-movement between nominal Treasury bonds and stocks, as in the 1980s, means that nominal bonds amplify the volatility of stock... View Details

October 2008
Case

Financial Crisis in Asia: 1997-1998 (Abridged)

By: Huw Pill, Rafael M. Di Tella and Jonathan Schlefer

What caused the 1997-98 Asia Crisis: Asian nations' poor economic management, international financial contagion, close "crony" relations between local politicians and capitalists? This case examines how the crisis erupted in Thailand and spread in a chain of events... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Financial Crisis; Ethics; Financial Institutions; Financial Management; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Government Relations; Asia

October 2007 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Transforming Korea Inc: Financial Crisis and Institutional Reform

By: Laura Alfaro and Renee Kim

South Korea, as one of the Asian "tiger" economies, transformed itself into the world's 11th largest economy and major exporter by 1996, emerging from being one of the lowest income countries in the region back in the 1960s. Yet one year later in 1997, Korea was swept... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Financial Crisis; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Government Relations; South Korea

May 2004 (Revised June 2005)
Background Note

Exchange Rate Regimes

By: Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel

There are many options for a country in the management of monetary policy. At the most basic level is the decision of whether to adopt a fixed or a floating exchange rate. Introduces the economics behind exchange rates and the debate between fixed vs. floating regimes. View Details

Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate; Policy; Macroeconomics; Country

01 Feb 2021
What Do You Think?

Has the New Economy Finally Arrived?

for revising or proving shortcomings in the model. Nevertheless, it continues to influence fiscal and monetary policy across the globe from time to time. "Did the economic experiment in the United States... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

January 2020
Teaching Note

Chile: Unrest in the Copper Nation

By: Laura Alfaro and Sarah Jeong

For decades, Chile enjoyed the stability of being the world’s largest producer of copper. Keynes would have advised that this period of growth would have been the time for the government to save, that “the boom, not the slump, is the right time for austerity at the... View Details

Keywords: Copper Production; Protests; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Metals and Minerals; Production; Economy; Emerging Markets; Chile