Publications

May 2015
Teaching Note

The United Kingdom and the Means to Prosperity

By: Laura Alfaro, Lakshmi Iyer and Hilary White

After struggling through the country's longest recession since 2008, the U.K. was expected to grow faster than any other G7 nation in 2014. Analysts wondered whether the return to growth was because, or in spite of, Prime Minister David Cameron's controversial £113... View Details

August 2004
Article

Appearing and Disappearing Dividends: The Link to Catering Incentives

By: Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler

We document a close link between fluctuations in the propensity to pay dividends and catering incentives. First, we use the methodology of Fama and French (J. Finan. Econ. (2001)) to identify a total of four distinct trends in the propensity to pay dividends... View Details

Keywords: Dividends; Payout Policy; Catering; Dividend Premium; Investor Sentiment; Investment Return; Motivation and Incentives; Trends; Stocks; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

Read Now

November 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Case

Janet Yellen and the Bernanke Fed

By: Matthew Weinzierl and Katrina Flanagan

The unelected Federal Reserve Chairman exerts exceptional influence over the U.S., in fact global, economy. As Janet Yellen prepared to take over the position, she would look back on Chairman Bernanke's tenure during the Great Recession. During that time, Bernanke was... View Details

Keywords: Monetary Policy; Nominal Rigidity And Aggregate Demand/Aggregate Supply; Phillips Curve; Taylor Rule; Central Bank Independence; Central Banking; Money; Policy; Financial Crisis; Power and Influence; Banking Industry; Public Administration Industry; United States

2019
Book

Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream: How Technology Is Transforming Lending and Shaping a New Era of Small Business Opportunity

By: Karen G. Mills

Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream describes the needs of small businesses for capital and demonstrates how technology—novel data sources, artificial intelligence, machine learning—will transform the small business lending market. This market has been... View Details

Find at Harvard

2023
Working Paper

The Value of Professional Ties in B2B Markets

By: Navid Mojir and Sriya Anbil

We study how a particular form of social ties (i.e., professional ties proxied by past employment) aﬀects price and proﬁtability in business-to-business (B2B) markets. While most of the work on social ties focuses on information diﬀusion in business-to-consumer... View Details

Keywords: Professional Ties; Social Ties; Business-to-business Marketing; B2B Marketing; Repo; Individual Connections; B2B Pricing; Pricing; Decision-making In Financial Markets; Marketing; Relationships; Price; Financial Markets; Decision Making

SSRN

Read Now

November 2006 (Revised August 2012)
Background Note

A Strategic Perspective on Bankruptcy

By: Bill George, Jim Sharpe and Andrew N. McLean

An overview of bankruptcy procedures in U.S. courts, recent filing data and a framework for evaluating a reorganization with creditors or considering opening a court-supervised reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Financial Distress; Turnarounds; Legal Aspects Of Business; Liquidation; Boards Of Directors; Hedge Funds; Strategy; Law; Governing and Advisory Boards; Negotiation; Crisis Management; Policy; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Credit; Financial Crisis; United States

December 1981 (Revised September 1986)
Case

Marriott Corp.

By: Thomas R. Piper

Marriott is considering the repurchase of ten million shares. This is apparently at odds with the financial policies that the Board of Directors passed two years earlier. Students must discuss why the policies were passed and why changes are now necessary. Includes a... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Policy; Governing and Advisory Boards; Change; Financial Strategy; Valuation

Sage graduated from Covenant College in 2017, where she studied economics. Prior to graduate school, Sage worked as a research analyst at the Brookings Institution, conducting research on monetary policy and financial stability with Drs. Ben Bernanke, Nellie Liang, and... View Details

Samuel G. Hanson

Samuel G. Hanson is the William L. White Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a Faculty Affiliate of the Harvard Economics department. He teaches Finance 1... View Details

Keywords: financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services

Teaching Interest

Finance II (MBA Required Curriculum)

By: Benjamin C. Esty

This course builds on the foundation developed in Finance I, focusing on three sets of managerial decisions:

How to evaluate complex investments.
How to set and execute financial policies within a firm.
How to integrate... View Details

Keywords: Finance

13 Jan 2012
News

The Dollar Payoff from CSR and Sustainability

July 1995 (Revised October 1995)
Case

Superior Clamps, Inc.

By: David F. Hawkins

An investor must prepare pro forma financial statements as a basis for a third-party investment in his new company. The investor must make a number of accounting policy decisions. View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Investment; Policy; Financial Statements; Business Startups; Manufacturing Industry

August 1998
Case

General Motors Corporation (C), The : 1990-1992

By: Peter Tufano

The third in a four-part series, this case details the financial policies and practices at General Motors from 1990 to 1996. This part describes the firm's financial responses to the business stresses it faced in the 1992 time period. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Finance; Auto Industry; United States

1999
Chapter

The Pricing of US Catastrophe Reinsurance

By: K. Froot and P. O'Connell

Keywords: Financial Markets; Catastrophe Risk; Corporate Finance; Cost Of Capital; Banking And Insurance; Asset Pricing; Hedging; Banking; Insurance; Natural Disasters; Policy; Risk Management; Insurance Industry; United States

January 1994 (Revised April 1994)
Background Note

Intangible Assets Other Than Goodwill

By: David F. Hawkins

Discusses global accounting policies for intangible assets other than goodwill. How financial analysts deal with the diversity in these practices is also covered. View Details

Keywords: Assets

01 Nov 2019
HBS Seminar

Meijun Liu, Shuo Li Liu, The University of Hong Kong, Division of information and technology & Stanford University School of Engineering

December 2003 (Revised February 2005)
Case

HiJinx, Inc.

HiJinx is formulating its financial policy after a failed IPO. Options include landlord financing of its expansion, though with the knowledge that its real estate strategy may be compromised. View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Expansion; Valuation; Financial Strategy