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- Faculty Publications (221)
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(605)
- People (1)
- News (123)
- Research (365)
- Events (1)
- Multimedia (6)
- Faculty Publications (221)
- April 2009
- Case
The First Global Financial Crisis of the 21st Century
By: Laura Alfaro and Renee Kim
The global economy was expected to suffer from negative growth for the full year in 2009, a phenomenon not seen since World War II. While the U.S. subprime mortgage disaster was blamed as the original instigator, it was noted that the "global imbalances" of the U.S.... View Details
Keywords: Financial Crisis; Mortgages; Globalized Economies and Regions; Policy; International Relations; Business and Government Relations; Conflict and Resolution
Alfaro, Laura, and Renee Kim. "The First Global Financial Crisis of the 21st Century." Harvard Business School Case 709-057, April 2009.
- Web
Organizational Behavior Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research
Outstanding Teaching. Tsedal Neeley : Selected by Business Insider as one of the 100 people transforming business in 2021. Tsedal Neeley : Winner of the 2021 Emerald Literati Outstanding Author Award. Tsedal Neeley : Received the... View Details
- 03 Aug 2010
- First Look
First Look: August 3
Bhaskar Chakravorti and Laura WinigHarvard Business School Case 810-079 When Jonathan Bush and his partner, Todd Park, realized that their revolutionary approach to delivering clinical care was being stymied View Details
Keywords: Martha Lagace
- 07 Dec 2010
- First Look
First Look: Dec. 7
Simons. By posing these provocative questions, you identify critical gaps in your strategy execution processes, focus on the most important choices you must make, and understand what's at stake in each one. In this concise guide, Simons... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
- Research Summary
Intra-Industry Foreign Direct Investment (joint with Andrew Charlton)
By: Laura Alfaro
We identify a new type of vertical foreign direct investment (FDI) made up of multinational subsidiaries producing intermediate inputs, which are of similar skill intensity to the final goods produced by their parents, and which are overwhelmingly located in high skill... View Details
- March 2006 (Revised November 2006)
- Case
China: To Float or Not To Float? (C)- Esquel Group and the Chinese Renminbi
By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel
In July 2005, China revalued its currency by 2.1% and adjusted its exchange rate regime toward a more market-based system. Esquel Group, a family-run, privately held textiles firm specializing in high-quality cotton shirts with its most significant manufacturing base... View Details
Keywords: Family Business; Currency Exchange Rate; Private Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Value Creation; China
Alfaro, Laura, Rafael M. Di Tella, and Ingrid Vogel. "China: To Float or Not To Float? (C)- Esquel Group and the Chinese Renminbi." Harvard Business School Case 706-023, March 2006. (Revised November 2006.)
- Research Summary
Nominal versus Indexed Debt: A Quantitative Horse Race (joint with Fabio Kanczuk)
By: Laura Alfaro
There are different arguments in favor and against nominal and indexed debt which broadly include the incentive to default through inflation versus hedging against unforeseen shocks. We model these arguments and calibrate the model to assess the quantitative importance... View Details
- 2009
- Other Paper
Trade Policy and Firm Boundaries
By: Laura Alfaro, Paola Conconi, Andrew F. Newman and Harald Fadinger
We examine how trade policy affects firms' organizational choices. We embed a model of firms' vertical integration decisions into a standard perfectly-competitive international trade framework. In the model, integration decisions are driven by a trade-off... View Details
Keywords: Trade; Policy; Ownership; Business and Government Relations; Vertical Integration; Boundaries
Alfaro, Laura, Paola Conconi, Andrew F. Newman, and Harald Fadinger. "Trade Policy and Firm Boundaries."
- September 28, 2023
- Article
A Perspective on the Great Reallocation of Global Supply Chains
By: Laura Alfaro and Davin Chor
Previous optimism that cross-border supply chains would improve efficiency for firms and open up growth opportunities for countries has been tempered by concerns that global value chains now expose firms and countries to the risk of disruptions. This column analyses... View Details
Alfaro, Laura, and Davin Chor. "A Perspective on the Great Reallocation of Global Supply Chains." Vox, CEPR Policy Portal (September 28, 2023).
- 2025
- Working Paper
Trade and Industrial Policy in Supply Chains: Directed Technological Change in Rare Earths
By: Laura Alfaro, Harald Fadinger, Jay Schymik and Gede Virananda
Trade and industrial policies, while primarily intended to support domestic industries, may unintentionally stimulate technological progress abroad. We document this mechanism in the case of rare earth elements (REEs)—critical inputs for manufacturing at the knowledge... View Details
Keywords: Industrial Policy; Global Value Chains; Directed Technological Change; Input-output Linkages; Innovation; Trade; Metals and Minerals; Technological Innovation; Supply Chain; Technology Industry
Alfaro, Laura, Harald Fadinger, Jay Schymik, and Gede Virananda. "Trade and Industrial Policy in Supply Chains: Directed Technological Change in Rare Earths." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 25-059, May 2025.
- June 2019
- Article
Debt Redemption and Reserve Accumulation
By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk
In the past decade, foreign participation in local-currency bond markets in emerging countries increased dramatically. We revisit sovereign debt sustainability under the assumptions that countries can accumulate reserves and borrow internationally using their own... View Details
Keywords: Sovereign Debt; Local-currency Bonds; Foreign Reserves; Sovereign Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Bonds; Financial Markets; Developing Countries and Economies
Alfaro, Laura, and Fabio Kanczuk. "Debt Redemption and Reserve Accumulation." IMF Economic Review 67, no. 2 (June 2019): 261–287. (Also NBER Working Paper No. 19098.)
- December 2009
- Article
Intra-Industry Foreign Direct Investment
By: Laura Alfaro and Andrew Charlton
We use a new firm-level dataset that establishes the location, ownership, and activity of 650,000 multinational subsidiaries. Using a combination of four-digit-level information and input-output tables, we find the share of vertical FDI (subsidiaries that provide... View Details
Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Competency and Skills; Foreign Direct Investment; Geographic Location; Multinational Firms and Management; Industry Structures; Production
Alfaro, Laura, and Andrew Charlton. "Intra-Industry Foreign Direct Investment." American Economic Review 99, no. 5 (December 2009): 2096–2119. (Also Harvard Business School Working Paper No. 08-018 and NBER Working Paper No. 13447.)
- 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
Alfaro, Laura, Alejandro Cuñat, Harald Fadinger, and Yanping Liu. "The Real Exchange Rate, Innovation and Productivity." Journal of the European Economic Association 21, no. 2 (April 2023): 637–689.
- Article
When Is Traditionalism an Asset and When Is It a Liability for Team Innovation? A Two-Study Empirical Examination
By: Laura Huang, Cristina B. Gibson, Bradley L. Kirkman and Debra L. Shapiro
Team innovation requires idea generating and idea implementing. In two studies, we examine how these team activities are affected by the extent to which members value traditionalism – that is, placing importance on preserving old ways of doing things over breaking... View Details
Keywords: Groups and Teams; Innovation and Invention; Diversity; Values and Beliefs; Performance Effectiveness
Huang, Laura, Cristina B. Gibson, Bradley L. Kirkman, and Debra L. Shapiro. "When Is Traditionalism an Asset and When Is It a Liability for Team Innovation? A Two-Study Empirical Examination." Journal of International Business Studies 48, no. 6 (August 2017): 693–715.
- 01 Jun 2004
- News
Books
Birth of a Salesman by Walter A. Friedman Clearing the Hurdles by Candida Brush, Nancy M. Carter, Elizabeth Gatewood, Patricia G. Greene, and Myra M. Hart Just Enough by View Details
- 13 Sep 2011
- First Look
First Look: September 13
W. Dunn, Dana R. Carney, and Dan Ariely Publication:Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes (forthcoming) Abstract We predicted that able-bodied individuals and white Americans would have a difficult time saying no to persuasive appeals offered View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
- 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.)
- 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.)
- 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.)