Publications

October 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Case

The Financial Crisis: Hank Paulson in 2008

By: Adi Sunderam, Robin Greenwood, Sam Hanson and David Scharfstein

On the afternoon of Monday October 13, 2008, Hank Paulson Jr., the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, walked into the large conference room across the hall from his office in the Treasury Department. Joining him were Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke,... View Details

Keywords: Bailout; Regulation; Financial Crisis; History; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Decision Making; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; United States

Editorial

Greece Bailout Includes a €50 Billion Asset Fund. Here's How to Avoid Wasting It

By: George Serafeim

Keywords: Europe; Eurozone; Investing; Governance; Privatization; Investment; Corporate Governance; European Union; Europe

Read Now

October 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Case

The Financial Crisis: Timothy Geithner and the Stress Tests

By: Samuel G. Hanson, Robin Greenwood, David Scharfstein and Adi Sunderam

In February and March 2009, the U.S. economy was in the midst of a terrifying financial and economic crisis. Between the beginning of 2008 and early 2009, four of the 25 largest U.S. financial institutions had failed, and nine of these 25 institutions had taken... View Details

Keywords: Bailout; Regulation; Stress Test; Financial Crisis; History; Economy; Policy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Decision Making; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; United States

September 2018 (Revised January 2022)
Teaching Note

Hank and Nancy: The Subprime Crisis, the Run on Lehman and the Shadow Banks, and the Decision to Bailout Wall Street

By: Alberto Cavallo and Rafael Di Tella

Teaching Note for HBS No. 718-022. View Details

July 2009 (Revised August 2011)
Case

What Happened at Citigroup? (A)

By: Clayton S. Rose and Aldo Sesia

What went wrong at Citigroup? In 1998, the Travelers Group and Citicorp merged to create Citigroup Inc., considered the first true global "financial supermarket" and a business model to be envied, feared, and emulated. By year-end 2006 the firm had a market... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Globalized Firms and Management; Leadership; Risk Management; Failure; Financial Services Industry

February 2008 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Chronology of the Asian Financial Crisis

By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael Di Tella and Renee Kim

In July 1997, Thailand became the first Asian "tiger" economy to abandon its fixed exchange rate system in response to speculative attacks on its currency. Investors started to flee Asia, and the crisis rapidly spread to other countries. Central banks spent billions of... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Currency Exchange Rate; Central Banking; Policy; Crisis Management; Asia; Thailand

November 2012 (Revised July 2013)
Case

Gerry Pasciucco at AIG Financial Products

By: Gautam Mukunda and Thomas J. DeLong

Gerry Pasciucco was appointed to lead American International Group's Financial Products (AIGFP) group after the government bailout of AIG in 2008 and charged with the task of shutting down the division while minimizing the government's losses. AIGFP's failed trades had... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Accountability; Ethics; Crisis Management; Financial Crisis; Management Teams; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry; United States

February 2018
Article

Financial Repression in the European Sovereign Debt Crisis

By: Bo Becker and Victoria Ivashina

By the end of 2013, the share of government debt held by the domestic banking sectors of Eurozone countries was more than twice its 2007 level. We show that this type of increasing reliance on the domestic banking sector for absorbing government bonds generates a... View Details

Keywords: Credit Cycles; Sovereign Debt; Financial Repression; Sovereign Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Credit; Europe

SSRN

Find at Harvard

2014
Working Paper

Financial Repression in the European Sovereign Debt Crisis

By: Bo Becker and Victoria Ivashina

By the end of 2013, the share of government debt held by the domestic banking sectors of Eurozone countries was more than twice its 2007 level. We show that this type of increasing reliance on the domestic banking sector for absorbing government bonds generates a... View Details

Keywords: Credit Cycles; Sovereign Debt; Financial Repression; Sovereign Finance; Greece

SSRN

Read Now

21 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Good Banks, Bad Banks, and Government’s Role as Fixer

the failure of many other large institutions. Most of the 600 institutions recapitalized by the federal government over the last year do not satisfy either criterion. A lot of bailout decisions were made ad hoc without a clear rationale.... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Banking; Financial Services

April 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

U.S. Subprime Mortgage Crisis: Policy Reactions (B)

By: Laura Alfaro and Renee Kim

In March 2009, the U.S. economy was in a severe recession not seen since the Great Depression after the subprime mortgage crisis had spiraled out of control. The situation had dramatically changed in one year since the Federal Reserve Board had helped to bailout... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Central Banking; Mortgages; Globalized Economies and Regions; Policy; United States

2012
Working Paper

Mexico's Financial Crisis of 1994-1995

By: Aldo Musacchio

This paper explains the causes leading to the Mexican crisis of 1994-1995 (known as "The Tequila Crisis"), and its short- and long-term consequences. It argues that excessive enthusiasm on the part of foreign investors, not based on Mexico's fundamentals, and weak... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Foreign Direct Investment; Banks and Banking; Government and Politics; Currency Exchange Rate; Banking Industry; Mexico

May 2024
Article

Selfish Corporations

By: Emanuele Colonnelli, Niels Gormsen and Timothy McQuade

We study how perceptions of corporate responsibility influence policy preferences and the effectiveness of corporate communication when agents have imperfect memory recall. Using a new large-scale survey of U.S. citizens on their support for corporate bailouts, we... View Details

Keywords: Public Opinion; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Policy

Find at Harvard

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

22 Jun 2009
Research & Ideas

“Too Big To Fail”: Reining In Large Financial Firms

financial institutions deemed too big to fail already have a huge marketplace advantage - hundreds of billions of federal bailout funds unavailable to smaller firms in financial trouble, says Moss. "That gives big, complex firms a... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Banking; Financial Services

2020
Book

Dealmaking: The New Strategy of Negotiauctions

By: Guhan Subramanian

Based on broad research and detailed case studies, Dealmaking provides the jargon-free, empirically sound advice you need to close the deal.
Leading dealmaking scholar Guhan Subramanian specializes in understanding how deals work. As a Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Auctions; Strategy; Competition; Markets; Negotiation Deal