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Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(613)
- People (1)
- News (123)
- Research (364)
- Events (1)
- Multimedia (6)
- Faculty Publications (221)
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- 19 Jul 2011
- First Look
First Look: July 19
claims about the benefits of broader operational scope. The performance benefits of focus are typically attributed to reduced complexity, lower uncertainty, and the development of specialized expertise, while the benefits of greater breadth are linked to the economies... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
- March 2008 (Revised July 2009)
- Case
U.S. Subprime Mortgage Crisis: Policy Reactions (A)
By: Laura Alfaro and Renee Kim
By March 2008, the U.S. Government and the U.S. Federal Reserve Board had taken various policy measures over the last few months to tackle the subprime mortgage crisis that threatened to drag the economy into a recession. The Bush administration approved a fiscal... View Details
Keywords: Financial Crisis; Inflation and Deflation; Central Banking; Mortgages; Policy; Business and Government Relations; United States
Alfaro, Laura, and Renee Kim. "U.S. Subprime Mortgage Crisis: Policy Reactions (A)." Harvard Business School Case 708-036, March 2008. (Revised July 2009.)
- Article
Debt Maturity: Is Long-Term Debt Optimal?
By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk
We model and calibrate the arguments in favor and against short-term and long-term debt. These arguments broadly include: maturity premium, sustainability, and service smoothing. We use a dynamic equilibrium model with tax distortions and government... View Details
Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Investment Return; Development Economics; Taxation; Risk and Uncertainty; Cost; Interest Rates; Developing Countries and Economies; Welfare; United States; Brazil
Alfaro, Laura, and Fabio Kanczuk. "Debt Maturity: Is Long-Term Debt Optimal?" Review of International Economics 17, no. 5 (November 2009): 890–905. (Also Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 06-005 and NBER Working Paper No. 13119.)
- April 2002 (Revised September 2002)
- Background Note
Capital Controls
By: Rawi E. Abdelal and Laura Alfaro
Only in the waning years of the 20th century did international financial markets begin to enjoy the freedom from government regulation that they had experienced before the first world war. By 2002, international capital markets had grown to be enormous--$1.2 trillion... View Details
Keywords: History; Policy; Business and Government Relations; Change Management; Cost vs Benefits; Governance Controls; Governance Compliance; Emerging Markets; Financial Markets; Network Effects; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry
Abdelal, Rawi E., and Laura Alfaro. "Capital Controls." Harvard Business School Background Note 702-082, April 2002. (Revised September 2002.)
- 17 Nov 2015
- First Look
November 17, 2015
April 5–6, 2013 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In its call for the submission of theoretical and empirical papers for the symposium, the NBER noted that the global financial crisis of 2007–2008 and its aftermath have focused attention on the growing use of leverage View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
- 12 Mar 2019
- First Look
New Research and Ideas, March 12, 2019
emergent machine of the sovereign state. Yet such strategic interaction rarely yielded a decisive victory for either the secular state or for religion. By tracing how state-builders engaged religious institutions, elites, and attachments,... View Details
Keywords: Dina Gerdeman
- December 2009 (Revised March 2013)
- Case
Woolf Farming and Processing
By: David E. Bell, Laura Winig and Mary Louise Shelman
Woolf Farming Company, a privately owned family farming business in California's Central Valley, found its business threatened by a lack of water, brought on by a combination of drought, poor quality well water and unavailability of surface water due to federally... View Details
Keywords: Family Business; Resource Allocation; Quality; Business and Government Relations; Decision Choices and Conditions; Infrastructure; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; California
Bell, David E., Laura Winig, and Mary Louise Shelman. "Woolf Farming and Processing." Harvard Business School Case 510-033, December 2009. (Revised March 2013.)
- Research Summary
Selection and Market Reallocation: Productivity Gains from Multinational Production
By: Laura Alfaro
Assessing the productivity gains from multinational production has been a vital topic of economic research and policy debate. Positive aggregate productivity gains are often attributed to within-firm productivity improvement; however, an alternative, less emphasized... View Details
- 2005
- Working Paper
Nominal versus Indexed Debt: A Quantitative Horse Race
By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk
The main arguments in favor of and against nominal and indexed debt are the incentive to default through inflation versus hedging against unforeseen shocks. We model and calibrate these arguments to assess their quantitative importance. We use a dynamic equilibrium... View Details
Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Taxation; Risk and Uncertainty; Inflation and Deflation; System Shocks; Developing Countries and Economies; Mathematical Methods
Alfaro, Laura, and Fabio Kanczuk. "Nominal versus Indexed Debt: A Quantitative Horse Race." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 05-053, January 2005. (Revised March 2010. Also NBER Working Paper No. 13131.)
- August 2020 (Revised December 2020)
- Case
Latam Airlines and COVID-19: Seeking Bankruptcy Protection in the United States
By: Laura Alfaro, Mauricio Larrain, Carlos Vilches and Sarah Jeong
On May 26, 2020, Latam Airlines became the largest airline in the world to be driven to bankruptcy by COVID-19. With a complex debt structure and international investor composition, the company decided to file for bankruptcy protection in the United States, which... View Details
Keywords: Airlines; Pandemic; Coronavirus Pandemic; Health Pandemics; Air Transportation; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Capital Markets; Strategy; Latin America; Chile; United States
Alfaro, Laura, Mauricio Larrain, Carlos Vilches, and Sarah Jeong. "Latam Airlines and COVID-19: Seeking Bankruptcy Protection in the United States." Harvard Business School Case 321-027, August 2020. (Revised December 2020.)
- 06 Mar 2018
- First Look
First Look at Research and Ideas, March 6, 2018
provide insights into why and how investors use reported environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information. Relevance to investment performance is the most frequent motivation for use of ESG data followed by client demand and... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
- 2020
- Working Paper
Sticky Capital Controls
By: Miguel Acosta-Henao, Laura Alfaro and Andres Fernandez
There is much ongoing debate on the merits of capital controls as effective policy instruments. The differing perspectives are due in part to a lack of empirical studies that look at the intensive margin of controls, which in turn has prevented a quantitative... View Details
Keywords: Capital Controls; Macroprudential Policies; Stickiness; Intensive; (S, S) Costs; Capital; Management; Macroeconomics
Acosta-Henao, Miguel, Laura Alfaro, and Andres Fernandez. "Sticky Capital Controls." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 26997, April 2020.
- 2008
- Working Paper
International Financial Integration and Entrepreneurial Firm Activity
By: Laura Alfaro and Andrew Charlton
We explore the relation between international financial integration and the level of entrepreneurial activity in a country. We use a unique firm-level data set in a broad sample of developed and developing countries, which enables us to present both cross-country and... View Details
Keywords: International Financial Integration; Capital Mobility; Firm Entry; Capital Controls; Finance; Integration; Global Range; Capital; Entrepreneurship; Foreign Direct Investment; Developing Countries and Economies
Alfaro, Laura, and Andrew Charlton. "International Financial Integration and Entrepreneurial Firm Activity." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 07-012, August 2006. (Also NBER Working Paper No. 13118. NBER Working Paper Series, No. 13118, May 2007)
- July 2011 (Revised September 2011)
- Case
Game Time Decision for AppDirect
By: Andrei Hagiu, Laura Arjona and Emily Zhang
AppDirect is a start-up that offers small businesses software-as-a-service solutions through a business app marketplace and portal. Daniel Saks, co-founder and co-CEO, is faced with the key question of deciding distribution strategy: should AppDirect find channel... View Details
Keywords: Digital Platforms; Distribution; Applications and Software; Innovation Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Business Growth and Maturation; Competitive Strategy; Information Technology Industry; United States
Hagiu, Andrei, Laura Arjona, and Emily Zhang. "Game Time Decision for AppDirect." Harvard Business School Case 712-410, July 2011. (Revised September 2011.)
- Research Summary
Selection, Reallocation, and Spillover: Identifying the Sources of Gains from Multinational Production (with Maggie Chen)
By: Laura Alfaro
Quantifying the gains from multinational production has been a vital topic of economic research. Positive productivity gains are often attributed to knowledge spillover from multinational to domestic firms. An alternative, less stressed explanation is firm selection... View Details
- Article
Gains from Foreign Direct Investment: Macro and Micro Approaches
By: Laura Alfaro
This paper discussed the importance of an “integrated approach” to the study of the effects of FDI on host countries. Macro-level work that examines countries at different stages of development and institutional capacity is needed to surface the role of local... View Details
Alfaro, Laura. "Gains from Foreign Direct Investment: Macro and Micro Approaches." World Bank Economic Review 30, Suppl. 1 (March 2017): S2–S15. (World Bank’s ABCDE Conference Keynote Presentation. Published early online March 23, 2016.)
- January 2000
- Article
Intensive Care for Everyone's Least Favorite Oxymoron: Narrative in Business Ethics
By: Laura L. Nash
Nash, Laura L. "Intensive Care for Everyone's Least Favorite Oxymoron: Narrative in Business Ethics." Business Ethics Quarterly 10, no. 1 (January 2000): 277–289. (refereed.)
- September 2025
- Article
Sticky Capital Controls
By: Miguel Acosta-Henao, Laura Alfaro and Andrés Fernández
There is much ongoing debate on the merits of capital controls as effective policy instruments. The differing perspectives are due in part to a lack of empirical studies that look at the intensive margin of controls, which in turn has prevented a quantitative... View Details
Keywords: Capital Controls; Macroprudential Policies; Stickiness; Intensive; (S, S) Costs; Capital; Management; Macroeconomics; Governance Controls; Mathematical Methods
Acosta-Henao, Miguel, Laura Alfaro, and Andrés Fernández. "Sticky Capital Controls." Art. 104104. Journal of International Economics 157 (September 2025).
- March 2021
- Article
On the Direct and Indirect Real Effects of Credit Supply Shocks
By: Laura Alfaro, Manuel García-Santana and Enrique Moral-Benito
We explore the real effects of bank-lending shocks and how they permeate the economy through buyer-supplier linkages. We combine administrative data on all Spanish firms with a matched bank-firm-loan dataset of all corporate loans from 2003 to 2013 to estimate... View Details
Keywords: Credit Supply Shocks; Bank Lending Channel; Input-output Linkages; Output; Mechanisms; Trade Credits; Price Effects; Economics; Credit; System Shocks; Employment; Investment; Spain
Alfaro, Laura, Manuel García-Santana, and Enrique Moral-Benito. "On the Direct and Indirect Real Effects of Credit Supply Shocks." Journal of Financial Economics 139, no. 3 (March 2021): 895–921.
- January 2009
- Article
FDI, Productivity, and Financial Development
By: Laura Alfaro, Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan and Selin Sayek
This paper examines the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on growth by focusing on the complementarities between FDI inflows and financial markets. In our earlier work, we found that FDI is beneficial for growth only if the host country has well-developed... View Details
Keywords: Human Capital; Income; Performance Productivity; Financial Markets; Foreign Direct Investment; Financial Institutions; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues
Alfaro, Laura, Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan, and Selin Sayek. "FDI, Productivity, and Financial Development." Special Issue on Multinational Enterprises and Foreign Direct Investment. World Economy 32, no. 1 (January 2009): 111–135.