Publications

07 Mar 2016
News

The Trump-Obama Corporate Tax Reform Fail

2008
Working Paper

The Decentering of the Global Firm

By: Mihir A. Desai

This paper describes recent changes in the relationship between firms and nation states. Firms are typically linked to the nation in which they began and are considered to have fixed national identities. While firms have reallocated various activities around the world... View Details

Keywords: Business Headquarters; Geographic Location; Globalized Firms and Management; Policy; Business and Government Relations

Web

Alternative Investments Course | HBS Online

Certificate Leading with Finance Professor Mihir Desai Build an intuitive understanding of financial principles to better communicate with key stakeholders, drive business performance, and grow your career.... View Details

01 May 2017
News

The Debate on Corporate Tax Reform Just Started for Real

February 2011
Article

Dividend Taxes and International Portfolio Choice

By: Mihir Desai and Dhammika Dharmapala

This paper investigates how dividend taxes influence portfolio choices, using the response to the distinctive treatment of a subset of foreign dividends in the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (JGTRRA) of 2003. An open-economy after-tax capital asset... View Details

Keywords: Dividends; Portfolio Choice; Taxes; Tax Treaties; Foreign Portfolio Investment; Taxation; Lawfulness; Economy; Price; Equity; Stocks; Investment Portfolio; Opportunities; Behavior; United States

SSRN

Find at Harvard

29 May 2008
News

America the Difficult

March 2012
Article

The Incentive Bubble

By: Mihir Desai

The past three decades have seen American capitalism quietly transformed by a single, powerful idea—that financial markets are a suitable tool for measuring performance and structuring compensation. Stock instruments for managers, high-powered incentive contracts for... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Financial Markets; Executive Compensation; Motivation and Incentives; Corporate Governance; Equality and Inequality; Human Capital; United States

November 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Drilling South: Petrobras Evaluates Pecom

By: Mihir A. Desai and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

The Brazilian oil company, Petrobras, is evaluating the acquisition of an Argentine oil company, the Perez Companc Group (Pecom). The acquisition would increase Petrobras' oil reserves and expand its interests outside Brazil, a significant step for the largest company... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Crisis; Non-Renewable Energy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Corporate Governance; Risk Management; Emerging Markets; State Ownership; Performance Evaluation; Risk and Uncertainty; Valuation; Energy Industry; Argentina; Brazil

January 2023
Case

Thomas Buberl: Refounding AXA

By: Hubert Joly, Mihir Desai and Amram Migdal

In 2022, AXA and its CEO Thomas Buberl faced new types of challenges, including systemic risks such as climate change, geopolitical instability, public health crises, and social tensions caused by economic risks. AXA was one of the world’s largest insurers. Since... View Details

March 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Foreign Exchange Hedging Strategies at General Motors: Competitive Exposures

By: Mihir A. Desai and Mark Veblen

How can a multinational firm analyze and manage currency risks that arise from competitive exposures? General Motors has a substantial competitive exposure to the Japanese yen. Although the risks GM faces from the depreciating yen are widely acknowledged, the company's... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Currency Exchange Rate; Competition; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; International Finance; Financial Management; Investment Funds; Risk and Uncertainty; Auto Industry

19 Jun 2019
News

Faculty Books in Brief: Summer 2019

July–August 2012
Article

A Better Way to Tax U.S. Businesses

By: Mihir Desai

The article argues that U.S. taxation reform should reduce corporate taxes, incorporate an awareness of the global marketplace, and generate revenue-neutral incentives for innovation. According to the article, a reduction in corporate tax rates would be offset by a tax... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Taxation; Globalization; Labor; Innovation and Invention; United States

2011
Working Paper

Tax Policy and the Efficiency of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad

By: Mihir A. Desai, C. Fritz Foley and James R. Hines Jr.

Deferral of U.S. taxes on foreign source income is commonly characterized as a subsidy to foreign investment, as reflected in its inclusion among "tax expenditures" and occasional calls for its repeal. This paper analyzes the extent to which tax deferral and other... View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Investment Return; Foreign Direct Investment; Investment Funds; Policy; Taxation; United States

07 Jun 2007
News

The bad dream of options expensing lingers

Web

Faculty & Researchers - Managing the Future of Work

Joseph B. Fuller, James Palano, Allison Bailey, Nithya Vaduganathan, Elizabeth Kaufman, Renée Laverdière, and Sibley Lovett. A Recovery Squandered , Report, Harvard Business School Project on U.S. Competitiveness, 2019. With Michael E. Porter, Jan W. Rivkin, View Details

November 2003 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Dow Chemical's Bid for the Privatization of PBB in Argentina

By: Mihir A. Desai and Alexandra de Royere

What price should Dow Chemical bid for PBB, a petrochemical complex that is being privatized by the Argentine government? To answer this question, students are forced to consider the role of country risk, the underlying currency exposure of the business, and how to... View Details

Keywords: Bids and Bidding; Privatization; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Cash Flow; Emerging Markets; Valuation; Business and Government Relations; Multinational Firms and Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Energy Industry; Argentina