Publications

06 Jul 2020
Blog Post

A Letter from the Women in Investing Club

to also play an active role in addressing them. We are calling on our sponsors and other buy-side firms to evaluate their hiring and retention practices for the investing team, to be thoughtful as they bring on board members and senior... View Details

Research Summary

Growth and the Quality of Foreign Direct Investment: Is All FDI Equal? (joint with Andrew Charlton)

By: Laura Alfaro

In this paper we distinguish different qualities of FDI to re-examine the relationship between FDI and growth. Establishing the quality of FDI, however, is a difficult concept. Quality, that is the effect of a unit of FDI on economic growth, is a combination and... View Details

May 2022
Case

TikTok and National Security: Investment in an Age of Data Sovereignty?

By: Jeremy Friedman, Sarah Bauerle Danzman and David Lane

This case covers TikTok’s purchase of Musical.ly and the reaction of the United States government, including the review of the purchase by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and the reaction of the presidential administration of Donald... View Details

Keywords: Data Security; Mergers and Acquisitions; Cybersecurity; Internet and the Web; International Relations; Laws and Statutes; Globalized Firms and Management

18 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

Big Deals: Financing Large-Scale Investments

Disney, and Iridium, and Boston's Central Artery Project (the "Big Dig") in the public sector, are examples of some recent efforts that went bankrupt or had to be restructured. The managerial challenge is to figure out how to make sure that $150 billion or so... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

Risks, Opportunities, And Investments In The Era Of Climate Change (ROICC)

The MBA course on "Risks, Opportunities, and Investments in an Era of Climate Change" is ideal for students who aspire to become entrepreneurs by starting their own company or joining a start-up that is driving innovation and solving challenges posed by climate change.... View Details

May 1974
Article

Fallacy of the Log-Normal Approximation to Optimal Portfolio Decision Making over Many Periods

By: Robert C. Merton and Paul A. Samuelson

Keywords: Investment; Decision Making

Find at Harvard

2005
Chapter

The New International Property Rights: Can the Foreign Investor Rely on Them?

By: L. T. Wells Jr.

Keywords: Property; Rights; Foreign Direct Investment; Trust

2013
Chapter

Growth and the Quality of Foreign Direct Investment: Is All FDI Equal?

By: Laura Alfaro and Andrew Charlton

In this paper we distinguish different "qualities" of FDI to re-examine the relationship between FDI and growth. We use "quality" to mean the effect of a unit of FDI on economic growth. However, this is difficult to establish because it is a function of many different... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Economic Growth; Foreign Direct Investment

Find at Harvard

September 2018 (Revised June 2019)
Case

THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS: Selecting Impact Funds

By: Vikram Gandhi, Caitlin Reimers Brumme and Nathaniel Schwalb

After much internal debate, THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS of Denmark have decided to allocate a small percentage of their investment portfolio to impact investments. Cambridge Associates, one of the leading investment advisory firms in the world, has been engaged to assist... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Mission-Related Investing; Foundations; Investment; Venture Capital; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Strategy; Investment Funds; Decision Making; Consulting Industry; Financial Services Industry; Denmark; Europe

Research Summary

The Real Effects of Capital Controls: Financial Constraints, Exporters, and Firm Investment

By: Laura Alfaro

In aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, emerging-market governments have increasingly restricted foreign capital inflows. The data show a statistically significant drop in cumulative abnormal returns for Brazilian firms following capital control... View Details

February 2013 (Revised June 2017)
Case

Project Sun Devil and Project Paris

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz

Tony Lee is preparing to present a project to the investment committee of Howard Street Capital. He will be recommending an investment in Project Sun Devil, a high-quality 225-unit student housing rental property near Tempe, Arizona. Tony Lee will compete for capital... View Details

Keywords: General Management; Financial Analysis; Return On Assets; Accounting; Performance Measurement; Financial Ratios; Return On Equity; Financial Statements; Profitability Analysis; Portfolio Investment; Portfolio Management; Real Estate; Property; Investment Portfolio; Investment Return; Real Estate Industry; United States

January 2006
Teaching Note

Foreign Exchange Hedging Strategies at General Motors: Transactional and Translational Exposures (TN)

By: Mihir A. Desai and Kathleen Luchs

Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate; Investment Funds; Auto Industry

September 2012
Teaching Note

Kaesong Industrial Complex (A) and (B) (TN)

By: Eric Werker and Dante Roscini

Keywords: Foreign Investment; Country Risk; Bilateral Trade; Special Economic Zones; Risk and Uncertainty; Trade; Foreign Direct Investment

2015
Working Paper

Replicating Private Equity with Value Investing, Homemade Leverage, and Hold-to-Maturity Accounting

By: Erik Stafford

Private equity funds tend to select relatively small firms with low EBITDA multiples. Publicly traded equities with these characteristics have high risk-adjusted returns after controlling for common factors typically associated with value stocks. Hold-to-maturity... View Details

Keywords: Value Investing; Endowments; Investment Management; Asset Pricing; Private Equity; Investment; Management; United States

SSRN

07 Nov 2014
News

Investing for the Long Term in Education

Kim Lew (MBA 1992) is chief investment officer of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, where she manages $3.2 billion in assets for the corporation. In this interview, Lew discusses how she works to keep close to the original mission of... View Details

Article

Investing in What You Know: The Case of Individual Investors and Local Stocks

By: Mark Seasholes and Ning Zhu

This paper tests the performance of individuals' equity investments. We study over 40,000 accounts and 950,000 trades from a large discount broker. Individuals invest heavily in local stocks and put 14% more into these stocks than a market-neutral portfolio... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Local Range; Investment; Equity

January 2021 (Revised August 2021)
Case

ByteDance: TikTok and the Trials of Going Viral

By: William C. Kirby and John P. McHugh

In 2020, TikTok became the most valuable start-up ever. The short-form, video-sharing social media platform emerged as the crown jewel of the Chinese technology firm ByteDance, realizing 850 million monthly users and an estimated worth of $180 billion. However, a... View Details