Publications

May 2010
Article

Loan Syndication and Credit Cycles

By: Victoria Ivashina and David Scharfstein

Cyclicality in the supply of business credit has been the focus of a considerable amount of research. This cyclicality can stem from shocks to borrowers' collateral, which affect firms' ability to raise capital if agency and information problems are significant (Ben S.... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Capital; Credit; Banks and Banking; Financing and Loans; System Shocks; Financial Services Industry

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2020
Working Paper

Private Equity and COVID-19

By: Paul A. Gompers, Steven N. Kaplan and Vladimir Mukharlyamov

We survey more than 200 private equity (PE) managers from firms with $1.9 trillion of assets under management (AUM) about their portfolio performance, decisionmaking and activities during the Covid-19 pandemic. Given that PE managers have significant incentives to... View Details

Keywords: Health Pandemics; Private Equity; Management; Investment Portfolio; Performance; Decision Making; Value Creation

22 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

An Economic Principle For Us All: Comparative Advantage

The first edition of A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics, by David A. Moss was published in 2007—just as one of the world's great economic downturns was taking off. The second edition has just been published, which includes an epilogue on the crisis and the contrasting... View Details

Keywords: Re: David A. Moss

February 2011
Background Note

Corporate Reform Elements of the Dodd-Frank Act

By: Robert C. Pozen, Phillip Andrews and David Lane

This note summarizes the four major changes affecting corporate governance that were made by the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. These changes relate to: advisory notes by shareholders, refinements to board structure, non-disclosure on compensation and tightening up of certain... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Government Legislation; Executive Compensation; Business and Shareholder Relations; United States

17 May 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Turbulence, Firm Decentralization and Growth in Bad Times

Keywords: by Philippe Aghion, Nicholas Bloom, Brian Lucking, Raffaella Sadun, and John Van Reenen

September–October 2013
Article

Changes in Work, Changes in Self? Managing Our Work and Non-Work Identities in an Integrated World

By: Lakshmi Ramarajan and Erin M. Reid

Diverse workplaces are challenging the boundaries between workers' personal and professional lives, as workers today navigate employer pressures regarding who they are and who they can be outside of work. Lakshmi Ramarajan and Erin M. Reid consider how the attunement... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Identity; Boundaries; Power and Influence; Performance Effectiveness; Organizational Change and Adaptation

03 Apr 2009
What Do You Think?

How Much Obsolescence Can Business and Society Absorb?

exaggerated swings in attitudes and markets. How are new technologies affecting organizations? Are "tech cliques" forming around such media as Facebook, YouTube, and now Twitter? How does that View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Publishing; Journalism & News

December 2019
Case

The Business of Pain: Johnson & Johnson and the Promise of Opioids

By: Erik Snowberg, Trevor Fetter and Amy W. Schulman

This case is designed to provide an engrossing overview of stakeholder capitalism through a vigorous discussion of the conflicts that can arise when trying to serve multiple stakeholders. In 2007, Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) subsidiary Janssen has to decide whether or... View Details

Keywords: Opioids; Addiction; Stakeholder Capitalism; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Product Launch; Decision Making; Ethics; Social Issues; Pharmaceutical Industry

Research Summary

Marcelo Bucheli is currently studying the operations of Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) in Colombia and Mexico during the 1920s and 1930s. He is analyzing how the local political environment of each of these countries affected the company's international corporate... View Details

April 2001
Background Note

Exchange Rate Terminology and Analytics

An introduction to the concept of exchange rates, simple analytics regarding currency appreciation and devaluation, and real and nominal exchange rates. Concludes with a series of examples that illustrate how shifts in exchange rates and inflation can affect firms'... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Currency Exchange Rate; Inflation and Deflation

21 Apr 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Changing In-group Boundaries: The Role of New Immigrant Waves in the US

Keywords: by Vasiliki Fouka, Shom Mazumder, and Marco Tabellini

2010
Working Paper

The Insurance Industry in Brazil: A Long-term View

By: Marcelo de Paiva Abreu and Felipe Tamega Fernandes

This paper surveys the formation and development of insurance business in Brazil. It describes its origins, from the colonial times and imperial era to recent events. Particular attention is given to regulatory changes, showing how they evolved in response to... View Details

Keywords: History; Insurance; Insurance Industry; Brazil

04 Feb 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Markets with Price Coherence

Keywords: by Benjamin Edelman & Julian Wright

April 2011
Article

Ownership Structure and the Cost of Corporate Borrowing

By: Chen Lin, Yue Ma, Paul Malatesta and Yuhai Xuan

This article identifies an important channel through which excess control rights affect firm value. Using a new, hand-collected data set on corporate ownership and control of 3,468 firms in 22 countries during the 1996-2008 period, we find that the cost of debt... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Cash Flow; Cost; Financing and Loans; Governance Controls; Ownership Stake; Business and Shareholder Relations

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August 2006
Article

Investor Sentiment and the Cross Section of Stock Returns

By: Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler

We examine how investor sentiment affects the cross-section of stock returns. Theory predicts that a broad wave of sentiment will disproportionately affect stocks whose valuations are highly subjective and are difficult to arbitrage. We test this prediction by... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Finance; Stocks; Investment Return; Forecasting and Prediction; Motivation and Incentives; Risk and Uncertainty; Volatility

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11 Sep 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, September 11, 2018

and affect aggregate inflation dynamics. In particular, I show that in the past ten years online competition has raised both the frequency of price changes and the degree of uniform pricing across locations. These changes make retail... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

28 Jan 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Does Apple Anchor a Shopping Mall? The Effect of the Technology Stores on the Formation of Market Structure

Keywords: by Doug J. Chung, Kyoungwon Seo, and Reo Song; Retail; Real Estate

February 2004
Case

Bradman and Tendulkar, LLC

By: Ananth Raman and Vishal Gaur

An investment firm is trying to project inventory turns for Radio Shack, a chain of consumer electronics stores. The investment firm has access to public financial data but not to internal operational metrics. It needs to project inventory turns because inventory... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Cash Flow; Demand and Consumers; Distribution Channels; Mathematical Methods; Valuation

November 1999 (Revised June 2000)
Case

VerticalNet (www.verticalnet.com)

By: Das Narayandas

VerticalNet, a leading creator of targeted business-to-business vertical trade communities on the Internet, is trying to expand its model to facilitate e-commerce. Mark Walsh, the CEO of VerticalNet, has to decide how far he can extend the firm's business model without... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decisions; Digital Platforms; Expansion; Internet and the Web