Publications

September 1982 (Revised July 2007)
Background Note

Gift and Estate Taxes

By: Henry B. Reiling and Timothy O'Brien

Identifies and discusses the major features of the federal gift and estate tax, plus major nontax implications. View Details

Keywords: Finance; Taxation; Business and Government Relations; Public Administration Industry

February 2019
Article

Does It Matter If Your Health Insurer Is For Profit? Effects of Ownership on Premiums, Insurance Coverage, and Medical Spending

By: Leemore S. Dafny

There is limited empirical evidence about the impact of for-profit health insurers on various outcomes. I study the effects of conversions to for-profit status by Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) affiliates in 11 states, spanning 28 geographic markets. I find both the... View Details

Keywords: Health Insurance; Medical Loss Ratio; Blue Cross; Corporate Governance; Health; Insurance; For-Profit Firms; Insurance Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

2013
Other Unpublished Work

How ISS Dictates Equity Plan Design

By: David F. Larcker, Ian D. Gow, Allan McCall and Brian Tayan

Proxy advisory firms have long been known to influence the voting decisions of institutional investors. Now, a growing body of evidence suggests that they also influence company decisions in equity plan design. Should shareholders and the SEC be concerned? View Details

Keywords: Voting; Institutional Investing; Corporate Governance

2022
Working Paper

Distributional Consequences of Monetary Policy Across Races: Evidence from the U.S. Credit Register

By: Laura Alfaro, Ester Faia and Camelia Minoiu

We examine the consequences of monetary policy on racial disparities, focusing on the role of bank lending to firms through collateral and selection channels. Leveraging comprehensive loan-level data from the U.S. credit register (Y-14Q) of the Federal Reserve, we show... View Details

Keywords: Monetary Policy Transmission; Inequity; Credit Registry; Wealth; Collateral Channel; Selection; Racial Disparity; Racial Inequality; Equality and Inequality; Banks and Banking; Credit; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Banking Industry; United States

04 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Is Health Care Making You Better—or Dead?

regulated the way insurers are regulated. Those words, insurance regulation, that's like striking a knife into the heart of an entrepreneur. It means you need a huge finance department to fill out forms, and so they hired a lobbyist just... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Health

January 2023 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Peloton Interactive (A)

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Lynn S. Paine and David Lane

Early in February 2022, the board of Peloton Interactive faced some knotty challenges. Immense pandemic demand for its stationary exercise bicycles and treadmills had prompted the firm to scale up production rapidly. But as gyms reopened and the virulence of the virus... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Growth Management; Investment Activism; Leadership; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Sports Industry; United States

December 2019
Case

WeWork Files for an IPO

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

For the board of The We Company—better known as WeWork—August 14, 2019, promised to be a pivotal day. It was then that WeWork’s IPO prospectus, known as an S-1 filing, would be made public, giving potential investors, the media, and the general public a window into the... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Going Public; Leadership; Management; Private Equity; Valuation; Venture Capital; Real Estate Industry; Technology Industry; United States

June 2012 (Revised August 2012)
Case

MF Global: Where's the Money?

By: Clayton S. Rose, Pamela Chan and Raghav Chopra

When MF Global failed in October of 2011, it was discovered that $1.6 billion of segregated customer assets was missing. Safeguarding these assets was the firm's responsibility, and in the words of one SEC official, its "sacred obligation." What is known about the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Firms; Customer Obligations; Bankruptcy; Regulation; Financial Crisis; Brokerage; Asset Management; Ethics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Management; Crisis Management; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Services Industry

February 2023
Supplement

Peloton Interactive (B)

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Lynn S. Paine and David Lane

Supplements “Peloton Interactive (A)” (HBS No. 323-005), describing company restructuring and changes to management and the board of directors between February 8 and early October 2022. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Growth Management; Investment Activism; Leadership; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Sports Industry; United States

04 Apr 2018
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Why Private Investors Must Fund 'New Nuclear' Power Right Now

Drbouz In June 2016, I gave a TED Talk called We Need Nuclear Power to Solve Climate Change. The talk discussed the world’s realistic options for reducing fossil CO2 emissions soon enough to contain climate change’s more severe effects. To my surprise, that talk has... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Lassiter; Energy; Green Technology

June 2011
Teaching Note

Freddie Mac: Managing in Conservatorship (TN)

By: Robert Steven Kaplan

Teaching Note for 411048. View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Leadership; Operations; Housing; Price; Ownership Stake; Framework; Mortgages; Organizational Culture; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Services Industry; United States

02 Jan 2001
Research & Ideas

Can Japan Compete? [Part One]

the authors came to believe, government had inflicted detrimental effects not only on industry but also on the Japanese economy as a whole. Their new book Can Japan Compete? is the result of years of research by Porter, the author of... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace & Hilah Geer

22 Apr 2014
News

Being 'helpful' has mutual benefits

Catherine Bouvier d'Yvoire (MBA 1982), director of the Global Strategy Advisory of Citi, sees her role is being "helpful" to the governments and societies in which she works. (Published April 2014) View Details

16 Jul 2024
Blog Post

Advancing Health Equity: Social Enterprise Summer Fellow Simona Stancov (MBA 2025)

The HBS Summer Fellows Program enables students to apply their classroom training as they explore career opportunities in roles or regions where compensation is generally lower than the traditional MBA level. This summer, we are connecting with some of our 70 Social... View Details

Article

Regulating Hospital Prices Based on Market Concentration Is Likely to Leave High-Price Hospitals Unaffected

By: Maximilian J. Pany, Michael E. Chernew and Leemore S. Dafny

Concern about high hospital prices for commercially insured patients has motivated several proposals to regulate these prices. Such proposals often limit regulations to highly concentrated hospital markets. Using a large sample of 2017 US commercial insurance claims,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care Providers; Hospitals; Insurance Market Regulation; Price Regulation; Markets; Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Quality; Insurance; Price; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

Find at Harvard

August 2009 (Revised January 2012)
Supplement

Pandora: Royalties Kill the Web Radio Star? (B)

By: Robert C. Pozen and Alex Curtis Rosenfeld

Keywords: Cost; Government Legislation; Strategy; Telecommunications Industry