Publications

May 2016 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Olivia Lum: Wanting to Save the World

By: Geoffrey Jones and Essie Alamsyah

This case considers the entrepreneurial career of Olivia Lum, who founded the Singaporean water company Hyflux in 1989. An orphan born in Malaysia, Lum provides a rare case of an entrepreneurial success in a country whose economic success has primarily rested on... View Details

2013
Working Paper

Bank Failures and Output During the Great Depression

By: Jeffrey Miron and Natalia Rigol

In response to the Financial Crisis of 2008, macroeconomic policymakers employed a range of tools designed to prevent failures of large, complex financial institutions (“banks”). The Treasury and the Fed justified these actions by arguing that bank failures exacerbate... View Details

Keywords: History; Policy; Financial Crisis; Financial Institutions; Failure

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May 2020
Case

Big Boom Beverages: Fight or Flight?

By: Stephen A. Greyser and William Ellet

Four college friends market a beverage that combines ingredients like those in a drink they consumed in college bars. It includes a caffeinated energy drink, malt liquor, and a soft drink flavoring. They launch the business, Big Boom Beverages (BBB), with their own... View Details

Keywords: Alcoholic Beverages; Energy Drinks; Regulation; Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Marketing Communications; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Reputation; Communication Strategy; Decision Making

08 Aug 2016
Working Paper Summaries

The Unintended Consequences of the Zero Lower Bound Policy

Keywords: by Marco Di Maggio and Marcin Kacperczyk; Banking

April 2022
Article

Predictable Financial Crises

By: Robin Greenwood, Samuel G. Hanson, Andrei Shleifer and Jakob Ahm Sørensen

Using historical data on post-war financial crises around the world, we show that crises are substantially predictable. The combination of rapid credit and asset price growth over the prior three years, whether in the nonfinancial business or the household sector, is... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Global Range; Forecasting and Prediction; Mathematical Methods

September 2010
Case

Angola and the Resource Curse

By: Aldo Musacchio, Eric D. Werker and Jonathan Schlefer

Since emerging from decades of conflict in 2002, Angola has been growing at a scorching double-digit rate, led by its oil industry. But the nation remains beset with seemingly intractable problems: immense inequality, low life expectancy, a non-diversified economy, and... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Developing Countries and Economies; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Institutions; Globalized Economies and Regions; Policy; Government Administration; Emerging Markets; Natural Environment; Angola

02 Oct 2008
What Do You Think?

Workout vs. Bailout: Should Government Take Advantage of the Buffett Effect?

Summing Up The depth of the global financial crisis is becoming clearer day by day. In the United States, it is being used as a reason to set aside ideology regarding government ownership of important financial institutions, possibly... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

2020
Working Paper

EMEs and COVID-19: Shutting Down in a World of Informal and Tiny Firms

By: Laura Alfaro, Oscar Becerra and Marcela Eslava

Emerging economies are characterized by an extremely high prevalence of informality, small-firm employment and jobs not fit for working from home. These features factor into how the COVID-19 crisis has affected the economy. We develop a framework that, based on... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Emerging Economies; Informality; Firm-size Distribution; Health Pandemics; Developing Countries and Economies; Economy; System Shocks; Latin America

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30 Nov 2011
Research & Ideas

Only Capitalists Can Save Capitalism

voiced by many. In all, 10 potential disruptors of the global market system were identified. "One of the things we were told even before the economic crisis was that the financial system had grown to such a... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

April 2010
Supplement

The Auction for Travelport (B)

By: Andrei Hagiu and Misha Sanwal

This short case presents the epilogue of The Auction for Travelport (A). Blackstone decided to bid on its own, acquired Travelport for $4.3 billion and subsequently went on to acquire another GDS, Travelspan, for $1.4 billion. It then merged the two GDSs and partially... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Value Creation; Private Equity; Mergers and Acquisitions; Industry Structures; Initial Public Offering; Capital Markets; Market Transactions; Change; Auctions; Travel Industry

30 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 30, 2019

for anyone seeking insights into financial markets, A Crisis of Beliefs shows how even the smartest market participants and regulators did not fully appreciate the extent of economic risk and offers a new... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

January 2009
Supplement

The Tip of the Iceberg: JP Morgan Chase and Bear Stearns (B2)

By: Clayton S. Rose, Daniel Baird Bergstresser and David Lane

Bear Stearns & Co burned through nearly all of its $18 billion in cash reserves during the week of March 10, 2008, and an unprecedented provision of liquidity support from the Federal Reserve on Friday March 13 was insufficient to reverse the decline in Bear's... View Details

Keywords: Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Capital; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Liquidity; Banks and Banking; Governance; Crisis Management; Goals and Objectives; System; Valuation; New York (state, US)

May 2018
Article

U.S. Treasury Premium

By: Wenxin Du, Joanne Im and Jesse Schreger

We quantify the difference in the convenience yield of U.S. Treasuries and government bonds of other developed countries by measuring the deviation from covered interest parity between government bond yields. We call this wedge the “U.S. Treasury Premium.” We document... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Investment Return; Interest Rates; Financial Crisis

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25 Mar 2013
Research & Ideas

How Chapter 11 Saved the US Economy

relatively short time, much of the corporate debt that defaulted during the financial crisis has been managed down, mass liquidations have been averted, and corporate profits, balance sheets, and values have rebounded with remarkable... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Financial Services

October 2002 (Revised November 2002)
Case

Welfare State and its Impact on Business Competitiveness, The: Sweden Inc. for Sale?

By: Huw Pill, Petter Johnsson, Ola Nordquist and Ingrid Vogel

The Swedish Model--sometimes presented as a third way between savage capitalism and unrealistic socialism--was much lauded in the 1960s. It was viewed as a strategy that addressed social concerns while supporting economic growth. However, the financial and currency... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Welfare; Government and Politics; Taxation; Competition; Public Administration Industry; Sweden

January 2009
Supplement

The Tip of the Iceberg: JP Morgan Chase and Bear Stearns (B1)

By: Clayton S. Rose, Daniel Baird Bergstresser and David Lane

Bear Stearns & Co burned through nearly all of its $18 billion in cash reserves during the week of March 10, 2008, and an unprecedented provision of liquidity support from the Federal Reserve on Friday March 13 was insufficient to reverse the decline in Bear's... View Details

Keywords: Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Capital; Financial Liquidity; Banks and Banking; Governance; Crisis Management; Failure; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Balance and Stability; Valuation; New York (state, US)

December 2007
Book Review

Review of Stig Tenold's Tankers in Trouble

By: Christian H.M. Ketels

In "Tankers in Trouble," Stig Tenold looks at the experience of the Norwegian shipping industry during the 1970s and 1980s, specifically of those companies active in the tanker business. The review discusses some complementary insights that can be gained from applying... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Framework; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Crisis Management; Perspective; Demand and Consumers; Industry Clusters; Shipping Industry; Norway

Find at Harvard

June 2013 (Revised March 2016)
Case

Estonia: Transition, EU Membership, and the Euro

By: Michael E. Porter, Christian Ketels and Örjan Sölvell

The case discusses the economic development of Estonia, covering specifically the period from regaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 until 2015. It tracks the process from the initial transition towards a market economy to becoming an EU member country,... View Details

Keywords: Economy; Macroeconomics; Microeconomics; Policy; Government and Politics; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy; Estonia