Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(831)
- Faculty Publications (333)
- February 2006
- Article
'Plato o Plomo': Bribe and Punishment in a Theory of Political Influence
By: Rafael Di Tella, Ernesto Dal Bo and Pedro Dal Bo
- January 2006
- Case
Ron Perez (A)
By: Lynn S. Paine
The division human resources officer must decide whether to discipline a long-time employee for misusing company time and for improperly filling out time cards for his work on government contracts. Intended to focus on the various factors relevant to disciplining... View Details
- December 2005
- Article
Up to Code: Does Your Company's Conduct Meet World-Class Standards?
Codes of conduct have long been a feature of corporate life. Today, they are arguably a legal necessity—at least for public companies with a presence in the United States. But the issue goes beyond U.S. legal and regulatory requirements. Sparked by corruption and... View Details
- November 2005 (Revised July 2009)
- Case
Cutter & Buck (A)
By: William A. Sahlman and Victoria Winston
Only three short months into her new position as CEO of publicly traded golf apparel manufacturer Cutter & Buck, Fran Conley discovers accounting irregularities that call into question the reliability of this company's financial statements. Working closely with her... View Details
- 2005
- Working Paper
Letting Misconduct Slide: The Acceptability of Gradual Erosion in Others' Unethical Behavior
By: Francesca Gino and Max H. Bazerman
Four laboratory studies show that people are more likely to overlook others' unethical behavior when ethical degradation occurs slowly rather than in one abrupt shift. Participants served in the role of watchdogs charged with catching instances of cheating. The... View Details
- July 2005 (Revised August 2006)
- Background Note
Deception in Business: A Legal Perspective
By: Lynn S. Paine and Christopher Bruner
Discusses several of the most important prohibitions on deception found in U.S. law, starting with the basic elements of liability for fraud and moving to important antifraud provisions in federal statutes, restrictions on "misrepresentation" in consumer and contract... View Details
- July 2005 (Revised August 2008)
- Background Note
Attorney-Client Privilege
By: Lynn S. Paine and Christopher Bruner
Provides a brief summary of the requirements of the attorney-client privilege--an important mechanism for protecting client confidences under U.S. law. Discusses the application of the privilege in a corporate context. View Details
- July 2005 (Revised August 2006)
- Background Note
Bribery in Business: A Legal Perspective
By: Lynn S. Paine and Christopher Bruner
Provides a brief overview of the concept of bribery and the principal rationales prompting restrictions on such conduct. Also, reviews some of the most important U.S. and international laws prohibiting various forms of bribery. View Details
- July 2005
- Exercise
Insider Trading Quiz
By: Lynn S. Paine and Christopher Bruner
Designed to test understanding of basic theories of insider trading under U.S. law. Presents six scenarios based on actual situations in which insider trading was alleged to have violated U.S. law, as well as a seventh scenario that took place in Italy, permitting... View Details
- June 2005
- Teaching Note
Accounting Fraud at WorldCom (TN)
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Teaching Note to (9-104-071). View Details
- November 2004 (Revised February 2006)
- Background Note
Note on Insider Trading Liability
By: Lynn S. Paine and Christopher Bruner
Provides a general description and overview of U.S. law on insider trading, including the basic theories of liability, the responsibilities of securities firm managers to prevent and detect insider trading, and the potential penalties for insider trading. A rewritten... View Details
- November 2004 (Revised February 2009)
- Case
Salomon Brothers (A)
By: Lynn S. Paine
Describes Salomon Brothers' recovery from the August 1991 Treasury auction scandal. Details the impact of the firm's disclosure of bidding improprieties and describes how the new management team, led by Warren Buffett and Deryck Maughan, guided the company through the... View Details
- April 2004 (Revised September 2007)
- Case
Accounting Fraud at WorldCom
By: Robert S. Kaplan and David Kiron
The principal players in WorldCom's accounting fraud included CFO Scott Sullivan, the General Accounting and Internal Audit departments, external auditor Arthur Andersen, and the board of directors. The case provides sufficient detail to allow for a full discussion of... View Details
- March 2004
- Article
Do Police Reduce Crime? Estimates Using the Allocation of Police Forces after a Terrorist Attack
By: Rafael Di Tella and Ernesto Schargrodsky
An important challenge in the crime literature is to isolate causal effects of police on crime. Following a terrorist attack on the main Jewish center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in July 1994, all Jewish institutions received police protection. Thus, this hideous event... View Details
- March 2004
- Article
Inflation, Inflation Variability, and Corruption
By: Miguel Braun and Rafael Di Tella
We present a model where agents can inflate the cost of goods needed to start an investment project and inflation variability increases monitoring costs. We show that inflation variability can lead to higher corruption and lower investment. We document a positive... View Details
- January 2004 (Revised April 2004)
- Case
Crisis and Response: Sexual Abuse Allegations in the Boston Archdiocese (A)
By: Ashish Nanda
This case describes how the Boston archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church handled allegations of clergy sexual abuse during the 1990s. In 2002, the archdiocese was confronted by public revelations of how the allegations were handled. Professional organizations first... View Details
- January 2004 (Revised April 2004)
- Case
Crisis and Response: Sexual Abuse Allegations in the Boston Archdiocese (B)
By: Ashish Nanda
In 2002, the Boston archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church was confronted by public revelations of how allegations of clergy sexual abuse were handled by the archdiocese during the 1990s. This case describes how the Boston archdiocese addressed the issue over the... View Details
- November 2003 (Revised September 2021)
- Case
Ivar Kreuger and the Swedish Match Empire
By: Geoffrey Jones and Ingrid Vargas
Taught in Evolution of Global Business. Globalization and corporate fraud are the central themes of this case on the international growth of Swedish Match in the interwar years. Between 1913 and 1932, Ivar Kreuger, known as the "Swedish Match King," built a small,... View Details
- October 2003 (Revised January 2004)
- Case
The 2001 Crisis in Argentina: An IMF-Sponsored Default? (A)
By: Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel
At the end of 2001, Argentina's economy and society both appeared on the verge of collapse. Furious about controls imposed on the convertibility of their bank deposits into cash (the "corralito") and huge proposed government spending cuts amidst high unemployment and... View Details