Publications

Find at Harvard

June 2023 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Optimalen Capital

By: Malcolm Baker, Elisabeth Kempf and Jonathan Wallen

A new client portfolio manager at a quantitative investment management firm must explain why her firm, Optimalen Capital, has rebalanced a client portfolio with a set of trades that seem unintuitive. In particular, Optimalen has added to its position of Walmart (ticker... View Details

Keywords: Investments; CAPM; Capital Asset Pricing Model; Investment Portfolio; Asset Pricing; Stocks

Educators

March 2025
Article

Do Public Financial Statements Influence Private Equity and Venture Capital Financing?

By: Brian K. Baik, Natalie Berfeld and Rodrigo S. Verdi

We study whether private firm public financial statements influence the probability of raising venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) financing. In particular, we propose that private firms’ public financial statements can help the VC/PE search process by... View Details

Keywords: Business Economics; Search Costs; Accounting; Venture Capital; Governance; Private Equity; Financial Statements

SSRN

Research Summary

Managing Financial Reporting and the Effect on Firms' Costs of Capital

Amy P. Hutton's research investigates the impact of capital market forces and firm contracts on financial reporting and disclosure policies. Specifically, her research examines how managers use financial reporting to convey a firm's strategy, and the effect of... View Details

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

2022
Working Paper

Racial Diversity in Private Capital Fundraising

By: Johan Cassel, Josh Lerner and Emmanuel Yimfor

Black- and Hispanic-owned funds control a very modest share of assets in the private capital industry. We find that the sensitivity of follow-on fundraising to fund performance is greater for minority-owned groups, particularly for underperforming groups. We... View Details

Keywords: Buyouts; Capital Formation; Minorities; Venture Capital; Minority-owned Businesses; Race; Diversity; Investment Funds; Financial Services Industry

November 2010
Teaching Note

Citigroup 2007: Financial Reporting and Regulatory Capital (TN)

By: Edward J. Riedl, Suraj Srinivasan and Sharon Katz

Teaching Note for 111041. View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Capital; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Services Industry

March 2013 (Revised August 2014)
Case

Indonesia's OJK: Building Financial Stability

By: Lakshmi Iyer and David Lane

In 2013, a new financial services authority, the Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK), took over responsibility for regulating capital markets and non-bank financial institutions in Indonesia. OJK was scheduled to take over bank regulation and supervision from the central... View Details

Keywords: Monetary Policy; Bank Regulation; Financial Market Regulation; Corruption; Bureaucracy; Central Bank Independence; Indonesia; Crime and Corruption; Central Banking; Ethics; Emerging Markets; Financial Markets; Corporate Governance; Financial Crisis; Financial Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Indonesia

Educators

September 2019
Article

Household Matters: Revisiting the Returns to Capital Among Female Microentrepreneurs

By: Arielle Bernhardt, Erica Field, Rohini Pande and Natalia Rigol

Multiple field experiments report positive financial returns to capital shocks for male and not female microentrepreneurs. But these analyses overlook the fact that female entrepreneurs often reside with male entrepreneurs. Using data from experiments in India, Sri... View Details

Keywords: Capital Return; Entrepreneurship; Gender; Household; Capital

Find at Harvard

Article

Short-Termism and Capital Flows

By: Jesse M. Fried and Charles C.Y. Wang

During 2007–2016, S&P 500 firms distributed to shareholders $7 trillion via buybacks and dividends, over 96% of their aggregate net income, prompting claims that "short-termism" is impairing firms' ability to invest and innovate. We show that, when taking into account... View Details

Keywords: Short-termism; Quarterly Capitalism; Share Buybacks; Open Market Repurchases; Dividends; Equity Issuances; Seasoned Equity Offerings; Equity Compensastion; Acquisitions; Payout Policy; Capital Flows; Capital Distribution; Working Capital; Business and Shareholder Relations; Acquisition

May 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Lincoln Financial Meets the Financial Crisis

By: Robert C. Pozen and Peter Goodspeed Spring

In March of 2009, Lincoln Financial Group's CEO Dennis Glass was facing a difficult decision as to how he would replenish his company's capital, which could quickly fall to dangerously low levels as a result of the financial crisis. Though the cost of raising capital... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Financial Crisis; Capital; Private Equity; Crisis Management; Business and Government Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Insurance Industry

Educators

30 Sep 2014
Working Paper Summaries

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

Keywords: by Laura Alfaro, Anusha Chari & Fabio Kanczuk

Article

Does Financial Misconduct Affect the Future Compensation of Alumni Managers?

By: Boris Groysberg, Eric Lin and George Serafeim

We explore how an organization’s financial misconduct may affect pay for former employees not implicated in wrongdoing. Drawing on stigma theory we hypothesize that although such alumni did not participate in the financial misconduct, and they had left the organization... View Details

Keywords: Financial Misconduct; Stigma; Finance; Crime and Corruption; Executive Compensation; Employees; Compensation and Benefits

Research Summary

The Role of Financial and Information Intermediaries in the Capital Markets

Hutton's research investigates the role of financial analysts and short sellers in the pricing of equity securities. Recently, Hutton examines (with Patricia Dechow and Richard Sloan) the role of sell-side analysts' earnings forecasts in the pricing of common equity... View Details

1990
Chapter

Capital Market Theory and the Pricing of Financial Securities

By: Robert C. Merton

Keywords: Capital Markets; Financial Instruments; Asset Pricing; Mathematical Methods

June 1, 2021
Article

Capitalism Won't Thrive on Value Investing Alone

By: Amar Bhidé

Investors fall into two camps: value investors, who base decisions on a careful analysis of revenues and costs, looking for steady performance, and growth investors, who place bets on risky projects with very high potential payoffs. A capitalist economy needs both... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Investors; Economy; Investment