Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(2,177)
- Faculty Publications (561)
- 2009
- Book
Financial Economics
By: Zvi Bodie, Robert C. Merton and David L. Cleeton
This book seeks to explain finance through its functions rather than its institutions, concentrating on the three pillars of finance: optimization over time, asset valuation, and risk management. View Details
- 2009
- Working Paper
An Ounce of Prevention: The Power of Public Risk Management in Stabilizing the Financial System
By: David A. Moss
The magnitude of the current financial crisis reflects the failure of an economic and regulatory philosophy that had proved increasingly influential in policy circles over the past three decades.
This paper suggests (1) that contrary to the prevailing wisdom,... View Details
- May 2009
- Article
Asymmetric Information Effects on Loan Spreads
The paper estimates the cost arising from information asymmetry between the lead bank and members of the lending syndicate. In a lending syndicate, the lead bank retains only a fraction of the loan but acts as the intermediary between the borrower and the syndicate... View Details
- November 2008 (Revised November 2024)
- Case
The Fall of Enron
By: Paul Healy and Krishna Palepu
The case traces the rise of Enron, covering the company's business innovations, personnel management, and risk management processes. It then examines the company's dramatic fall including the extension of its trading model into questionable new businesses, the... View Details
- October 2008 (Revised September 2011)
- Supplement
PepsiCo's Bid for Quaker Oats (D)
Describes the final deal struck between PepsiCo and Quaker Oats, including the terms of collared consideration. Summarizes stock price announcement effects. View Details
- Article
MIT Roundtable on Corporate Risk Management
By: Robert C. Merton
Against the backdrop of financial crisis, a distinguished group of academics and practitioners discusses the contribution of financial management and innovation to corporate growth and value, along with the pitfalls and unintended consequences of such innovation.... View Details
- fall 2008
- Article
The Intermediation of Financial Risks: Evolution in the Catastrophe Reinsurance Market
By: Kenneth A. Froot
In this paper, I provide evidence concerning the imperfections in the reinsurance market. I try to get at some of the root causes of these imperfections, e.g., the behavior of ratings firms and the agency problems associated with the corporate form of ownership. I also... View Details
- August 2008 (Revised December 2009)
- Case
Absolute Return for Kids
By: Herman B. Leonard, Marc J. Epstein and Melissa Tritter
Absolute Return for Kids [ARK] is a charity with strong financial support-what are the constraints on its growth and impact? ARK seeks to transform the lives of children who are victims of abuse, disability, illness, and poverty. As one of the 50 largest fundraising... View Details
- 2008
- Working Paper
New Framework for Measuring and Managing Macrofinancial Risk and Financial Stability
By: Dale F. Gray, Robert C. Merton and Zvi Bodie
This paper proposes a new approach to improve the way central banks can analyze and manage the financial risks of a national economy. It is based on the modern theory and practice of contingent claims analysis (CCA), which is successfully used today at the level of... View Details
- June 2008 (Revised October 2008)
- Case
International Carbon Finance and EcoSecurities
By: Andre F. Perold, Forest L. Reinhardt and Mikell Hyman
In late 2007, EcoSecurities had to decide whether to undertake a new Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project in China. EcoSecurities was an aggregator of carbon credits and also invested directly in projects that produced carbon credits. Governments and firms... View Details
- March 2008 (Revised March 2010)
- Module Note
Global Capital and National Institutions: Crisis and Choice in the International Financial Architecture
By: Laura Alfaro
This module note presents a series of case studies taught in the Harvard Business School course Institutions, Macroeconomics, and the Global Economy (IMaGE). The course addresses the opportunities created by the emergence of a global economy and proposes strategies for... View Details
- January 2008
- Background Note
Convertible Arbitrage
By: Joshua Coval and Erik Stafford
The goal of this simulation is to understand how convertible bonds can be viewed as a portfolio of simpler securities and to introduce an over-the-counter market. The convertible bonds that are available during the simulation are at-the-money and in-the-money so that... View Details
- January 2008
- Background Note
Equity Derivatives
By: Joshua Coval and Erik Stafford
The goal of these simulations is to understand the dynamic replication technique behind the Black-Scholes/Merton options model. The simulations focus on a single stock and a risk-free discount bond, which are used to replicate a contingent payoff. The underlying stock... View Details
- January 2008
- Background Note
Index Options
By: Joshua Coval and Erik Stafford
The goal of this simulation is to understand the patterns in index option prices that are not predicted by the Black-Scholes model. In particular, the simulation focuses on two properties of options prices. First, at-the-money implied volatilities from index options... View Details
Keywords: Volatility; Stock Options; Investment; Price; Profit; Risk Management; Mathematical Methods
- January 2008
- Background Note
Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs)
By: Joshua Coval and Erik Stafford
This lesson integrated Merton's (1974) contingent claims model of debt and equity claims with the CAPM, which allows us to examine the risks and pricing of credit portfolios and the derivative claims issued against them. In particular, this model is used to make... View Details
- January 2008
- Teaching Note
Credit Risk: Valuing Risky Debt & CDOs (TN)
By: Joshua D. Coval and Erik Stafford
Teaching Note for [208111] and [208113]. View Details
- January 2008
- Background Note
Measuring Investment Performance
By: Andre F. Perold and Kenneth A. Froot
Examines various approaches to measuring investment performance. The approaches include the use of risk exposure and the Sharpe and Information Ratios. Applies the approaches to a variety of mutual funds to demonstrate the effect of using different metrics to measure... View Details
- January 2008
- Article
Do Well by Doing Good? Don't Count on It
By: Joshua D. Margolis, Hillary Anger Elfenbein and James P. Walsh
Research over 35 years shows only a weak link between socially responsible corporate behavior and good financial performance. However, there's no evidence of risk in doing good, only in being exposed for misdeeds. View Details
- January 2008
- Article
On the Pricing of Intermediated Risks: Theory and Application to Catastrophe Reinsurance
By: K. A. Froot and P. O'Connell
- December 2007
- Case
The Campaign for Bank Insurance in Antebellum New York
By: David A. Moss and Cole Bolton
The New York State Legislature had come to a standstill in 1829 as lawmakers refused to charter any new banks or recharter any existing banks. Four of New York's forty banks had failed since 1825, and many legislatures believed that a significant change in the banking... View Details