Publications

2023
Working Paper

Complexity and Time

By: Benjamin Enke, Thomas Graeber and Ryan Oprea

We provide experimental evidence that core intertemporal choice anomalies -- including extreme short-run impatience, structural estimates of present bias, hyperbolicity and transitivity violations -- are driven by complexity rather than time or risk preferences. First,... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Motivation and Incentives

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June 2009
Case

Midland Energy Resources, Inc.: Cost of Capital

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Joel L. Heilprin

The senior vice president of project finance for a global oil and gas company must determine the weighted average cost of capital for the company as a whole and each of its divisions as part of the annual capital budgeting process. The case uses comparable companies to... View Details

Keywords: Risk Assessment; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Cost of Capital; Cash Flow; Capital Structure; Valuation; Capital Budgeting; Energy Industry

Jorge Tamayo is an assistant professor of business administration in the Strategy Unit. He teaches the Strategy course in the MBA required curriculum.

Professor Tamayo is an applied microeconomist primarily interested in industrial organization and... View Details

07 Jul 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Predictable Financial Crises

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

March 1988 (Revised June 1993)
Background Note

Leveraged Betas and the Cost of Equity

The objective is to delineate on methodology for measuring the risk associated with financial leverage and estimating its impact on the cost of equity capital. View Details

Keywords: Cost of Capital; Capital Structure; Equity

16 May 2019
News

To Improve Food Inspections, Change the Way They’re Scheduled

December 1997
Case

Fixed Income Valuation

By: W. Carl Kester

A collection of problems that introduces students to the use of discounted cash flow analysis in the valuation of fixed income securities. Students are required to estimate bond prices and yields to maturity, among other items. View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Cash Flow; Bonds

12 PM – 1 PM EST, 17 Nov 2016
Webinars: Trending@HBS

Global Family Offices: Trends & Opportunities

Over the last few years, substantial growth in family offices (FOs) has resulted in their emergence as a significant investor class. There are an estimated 2,500 FOs globally, controlling $7+ trillion in assets; approximately 300 of these FOs manage over $5 billion... View Details

24 Jun 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Accounting Data, Market Values, and the Cross Section of Expected Returns World

Keywords: by Charles C.Y. Wang; Accounting

October 2000
Case

Tree Values

By: Richard S. Ruback and Kathleen Luchs

Describes two alternative tree cutting strategies. The first is to cut all trees that are at least 12 inches in diameter at breast height. The second is to thin the forest by cutting less desirable trees immediately and harvesting the crop trees later. The case... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Decision Making; Cash Flow; Decision Choices and Conditions; Management Practices and Processes; Value Creation; Forestry Industry

News

Data Can Do for Change Management What It Did for Marketing

Article

How Did the Great Recession Affect Charitable Giving?

By: Arthur C. Brooks

A great deal of research has studied the effects of income and tax changes on charitable giving. However, little work has focused on how these relationships were affected by the Great Recession. This article estimates the tax and income effects using the 2009 Panel... View Details

Keywords: Charitable Giving; Great Recession; Philanthropy; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Financial Crisis; Taxation; Policy

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2016
Working Paper

Economic Transition and Private-Sector Labor Demand: Evidence from Urban China

By: Lakshmi Iyer, Xin Meng, Nancy Qian and Xiaoxue Zhao

This paper studies the policy determinants of economic transition and estimates the elasticity demand for labor in the infant private sector in urban China. We show that a reform that untied access to housing in urban areas from working for the state sector accounts... View Details

Keywords: Economic Transition; Structural Change; Labor Mobility; Transition; Human Capital; Private Sector; China

SSRN

2013
Working Paper

Return Predictability in the Treasury Market: Real Rates, Inflation, and Liquidity

By: Carolin E. Pflueger and Luis M. Viceira

Estimating the liquidity differential between inflation-indexed and nominal bond yields, we separately test for time-varying real rate risk premia, inflation risk premia, and liquidity premia in U.S. and U.K. bond markets. We find strong, model independent evidence... View Details

Keywords: Expectations Hypothesis; Term Structure; Real Interest Rate Risk; Inflation Risk; Inflation-Indexed Bonds; Financial Crisis; Inflation and Deflation; Financial Liquidity; Bonds; Investment Return; Risk and Uncertainty; United Kingdom; United States

SSRN

22 Mar 2021
Blog Post

3 Key Steps for Crafting Your Retirement with Intention: Advice from Career Coach, Lauren Murphy

You have been financially planning for retirement for years, consulting with advisors, estimating your expenses, and adjusting your portfolio. Now with retirement on the horizon another pressing question begins to rise to the forefront of... View Details

1980
Working Paper

Taxation and the Ex-dividend Day Behavior of Common Stock Prices

By: Jerry R. Green

The behavior of stock prices around ex-dividend days has been suggested as evidence for tax-induced clientele effects and as a means to estimate the average effective tax rate faced by investors. In this paper these possibilities are examined theoretically and... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Stocks; Price

August 2013 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Gordon Brothers: Collateralizing Corporate Loans by Brands

By: Paul Healy and Maria Loumioti

The case explores the collateralization of intellectual property in a loan agreement between a highly leveraged apparel company and a large US bank. Leveraging intangibles in the credit market is a new practice that has significantly grown over the past few years.... View Details

Keywords: Intangible Assets; Accounting; Valuation; Finance; Restructuring; United States