Publications

April 2023
Article

The Real Exchange Rate, Innovation and Productivity

By: Laura Alfaro, Alejandro Cuñat, Harald Fadinger and Yanping Liu

We evaluate manufacturing firms' responses to changes in the real exchange rate (RER) using detailed firm-level data for a large set of countries for the period 2001-2010. We uncover the following stylized facts about regional variation of manufacturing firms'... View Details

Keywords: Real Exchange Rate; Firm Level Data; Innovation; Productivity; Exporting; Importing; Credit Constraints; Currency Exchange Rate; Innovation and Invention; Performance Productivity

12 May 2015
News

Educating a Nation

Keywords: education; philanthropy; textiles; Pakistan; emerging economies; literacy rates; Educational Services

2020
Working Paper

The Real Exchange Rate, Innovation and Productivity

By: Laura Alfaro, Alejandro Cuñat, Harald Fadinger and Yanping Liu

We evaluate manufacturing firms' responses to changes in the real exchange rate (RER) using detailed firm-level data for a large set of countries for the period 2001–2010. We uncover the following stylized facts about regional variation of manufacturing firms'... View Details

Keywords: Real Exchange Rate; Firm Level Data; Innovation; Productivity; Exporting; Importing; Credit Constraints; Currency Exchange Rate; Innovation and Invention; Performance Productivity

2020
Working Paper

Corporate Leadership and Creditor Recovery Rates: Evidence from Executive Gender

By: Clarissa Hauptmann, Syrena Shirley and Anywhere Sikochi

We examine the relationship between the gender of executives and corporate creditor recovery rates. Using 2,288 defaulted debt instruments, we find that female executives are associated with higher creditor recovery rates. Our findings are robust to tests that correct... View Details

Keywords: Executive Gender; Default; Recovery Rates; Debt; Corporate Bonds; Conservatism; Leadership; Gender; Borrowing and Debt; Bonds; Risk Management

March 2014 (Revised June 2015)
Case

Can Mexico Make Democracy Work?

By: Gunnar Trumbull and Jonathan Schlefer

Enrique Peña Nieto, the presidential candidate of the old Mexican ruling party elected in 2012, passed the most fundamental reforms in at least two decades. They included allowing private competition in the energy sector, including with the state-owned oil company,... View Details

Keywords: Democratization; Economic Development; Competition Policy; Exchange Rates; Comparative Advantage; Growth and Development; Government Legislation; Political Elections; Economic Growth; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Energy Industry; Communications Industry; Banking Industry; Latin America; Mexico

2021
Article

An Empirical Examination of Sell-Side Brokerage Analysts' Published Research, Concierge Services, and High-Touch Services

By: David A. Maber, Boris Groysberg and Paul M. Healy

This paper uses a proprietary panel dataset to categorize and quantify the activities that sell-side brokerage analysts use to build and sustain their network of buy-side client relations. We then examine the marginal impact of these activities on key analyst outcome... View Details

Keywords: Sell-side Analysts; Analyst Ratings; Brokerage Commissions; Earnings Forecasts

August 2016
Teaching Note

Songy 2011: Restructuring to Survive (Or, Surviving to Restructure?)

By: Charles F. Wu and Alexander W. Schultz

In 2011, Songy Partners, an Atlanta based real estate developer, was facing three distressed investments within their portfolio each with distinct sets of challenges. Having weathered a myriad of issues during the Global Financial Crisis which included operational... View Details

Keywords: Distressed Debt; Real Estate; Limited Partners; Cap Rates; Partners and Partnerships; Valuation; Investment; Property; Borrowing and Debt; Real Estate Industry; Atlanta

August 1995 (Revised October 1996)
Case

Futures on the Mexican Peso

By: Kenneth A. Froot, Matthew McBrady and Mark Seasholes

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange needs to decide how to design, and whether and when to introduce, a futures contract on the Mexican peso. View Details

Keywords: Exchange Rates; Money Markets; Futures Market; Country Analysis; International Finance; Financial Markets; Futures and Commodity Futures; Financial Services Industry; Chicago; Mexico

May–June 2021
Article

Getting Up to Speed in Your Sales Efforts

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Zoran Latinovic

In a study before the pandemic, Pricewaterhouse Coopers found that companies had made little progress in the previous decade in speeding up their cash-conversion cycle, as the cash crunch generated by the pandemic painfully demonstrated. In most firms, sales velocity... View Details

Keywords: Sales Velocity; Opportunity Selection; Deal Size; Win Rate; Sales; Management; Cash Flow

2021
Working Paper

Corporate Environmental Impact: Measurement, Data and Information

By: David Freiberg, DG Park, George Serafeim and T. Robert Zochowski

As an organization’s environmental impact has become a central societal consideration, thereby affecting industry and organizational competitiveness, interest in measuring and analyzing environmental impact has increased. We develop a methodology to derive comparable... View Details

Keywords: Environment; Impact; Measurement; Environmental Ratings; Corporate Valuation; Financial Materiality; Sustainability; Environmental Impact; Environmental Strategy; Impact-Weighted Accounts; IWAI; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Measurement and Metrics; Valuation

1992
Other Unpublished Work

Government Consumption and the Real Exchange Rate: The Empirical Evidence

By: K. A. Froot and K. Rogoff

Keywords: Public Sector; Currencies; Exchange Rates; Currency Union; Eurozone; The Euro; Currency Exchange Rate

Article

The Electrification Accelerator: Understanding the Implications of Autonomous Vehicles for Electric Utilities

By: Jurgen Weiss, Ryan Hledik, Roger Lueken, Tony Lee and Will Gorman

The intersection of autonomous vehicles, ride sharing and transportation electrification could have significant implications for electric utilities. This paper analyses how the development of shared autonomous electric vehicles may make electrified transportation more... View Details

Keywords: Electrification; Autonomous Vehicle; Electric Vehicle; Electric Utility; Rate Design; Regulation; Energy; Transportation; Energy Industry; Transportation Industry; Auto Industry

2023
Working Paper

ESG: From Process to Product

By: George Serafeim

ESG measurement, analysis, management, and communication is a process that the financial industry has turned into a product, resulting in many investment funds using the ESG label. This has caused confusion, generating demand for a framework that defines... View Details

Keywords: ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; ESG Ratings; ESG Reporting; Investment Fund; Investment; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Financial Services Industry

October 2012 (Revised April 2017)
Case

Brazil's Enigma: Sustaining Long-Term Growth

By: Laura Alfaro, Hilary White and Haviland Sheldahl-Thomason

Over the past decade, Brazil's future as a leading world economic power appeared certain. An expanding middle class and commodity boom had fueled economic growth, with GDP growth hitting a peak of 7.5% in 2010. However, the high cost of conducting business in Brazil,... View Details

Keywords: Capital Controls; Inflation; Exchange Rates; Stimulus; Competitiveness; Productivity Growth; Foreign Investment; Infrastructure; Inflation and Deflation; Currency Exchange Rate; Brazil

Article

The Cross Section of Expected Holding Period Returns and Their Dynamics: A Present Value Approach

By: Matthew R. Lyle and Charles C.Y. Wang

We provide a tractable model of firm-level expected holding period returns using two firm fundamentals—book-to-market ratio and ROE—and study the cross-sectional properties of the model-implied expected returns. We find that 1) firm-level expected returns and expected... View Details

Keywords: Expected Returns; Discount Rates; Holding Period Returns; Fundamental Valuation; Present Value; Valuation; Investment Return

March 2013
Case

Currency Wars

By: Laura Alfaro and Hilary White

In February 2013, the G-20 finance ministers met in Moscow, Russia to discuss the rising anxieties over a potential international currency war. It was speculated that certain countries were purposely devaluing their currencies in order to improve their competitiveness... View Details

Keywords: Currency; Competitiveness; Trade Policy; Devaluation; Exchange Rate; Monetary Policy; Quantitative Easing; Inflation Targeting; Capital Flows; Central Banking; Currency Exchange Rate; Competitive Strategy; Emerging Markets; Policy; Trade; Conflict and Resolution; Banking Industry; Public Administration Industry; Moscow

December 2021
Article

Trade Policy Uncertainty and Stock Returns

By: Marcelo Bianconi, Federico Esposito and Marco Sammon

A recent literature has documented large real effects of trade policy uncertainty (TPU) on trade, employment, and investment, but there is little evidence that investors are compensated for bearing such risk. To quantify the risk premium associated with TPU, we exploit... View Details

Keywords: Trade Policy; Uncertainty; Stock Returns; Risk Premium; Tariff Rates; Portfolio Analysis; Trade; Policy; Risk and Uncertainty; Stocks; Investment Return

Article

Do the Right Firms Survive Bankruptcy?

By: Samuel Antill

In U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, firms are either reorganized, acquired, or liquidated. I show that decisions to liquidate often reduce creditor recovery, costing creditors billions of dollars every year. I exploit the within-district random assignment of... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Bankruptcy Reorganization; Recovery Rate; Structural Estimation; Roy Model; 363 Sales; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

August 2020
Article

Financial Market Risk Perceptions and the Macroeconomy

By: Carolin E. Pflueger, Emil Siriwardane and Adi Sunderam

We propose a novel measure of risk perceptions: the price of volatile stocks (PVS), defined as the book-to-market ratio of low-volatility stocks minus the book-to-market ratio of high-volatility stocks. PVS is high when perceived risk directly measured from surveys and... View Details

Keywords: Risk-centric Business Cycles; Cross-section Of Equities; Real Risk-free Rate; Real Investment; Financial Markets; Risk and Uncertainty; Perception; Investment