Publications

Educators

June 2009
Journal Article

Taxes, Institutions and Foreign Diversification Opportunities

By: Mihir Desai and Dhammika Dharmapala

Investors can access foreign diversification opportunities through either foreign portfolio investment (FPI) or foreign direct investment (FDI). The worldwide tax regime employed by the U.S. potentially distorts this choice by penalizing FDI, relative to FPI, in... View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Foreign Direct Investment; Investment Portfolio; Multinational Firms and Management; Taxation; Diversification; United States

SSRN

Find at Harvard

01 Jul 2010
News

Two cheers for Sarbanes-Oxley

14 Feb 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Laws vs. Contracts: Legal Origins, Shareholder Protections, and Ownership Concentration in Brazil, 1890-1950

Keywords: by Aldo Musacchio

21 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

The $15 Billion Question: Have Loot Boxes Turned Video Gaming into Gambling?

in-game-spending-obsessed customers, known in industry parlance as “whales,” who make up just a small percentage of players. Regulators’ and consumer protection groups’ concerns are justified for whales, for whom opening loot boxes is an... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis; Video Game; Media & Broadcasting

2021
Other Unpublished Work

Obsolescence of the Obsolescing Bargain: Why Governments Must Get Investor-State Contracts Right

By: Louis T. Wells and Karl P. Sauvant

Gone are the days when governments could easily renegotiate natural resource and other investment contracts if foreign investors, e.g., reaped bonanzas from rising resource prices, surprisingly rich discoveries, or terms that were too favorable. Today, international... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Investment; Contracts; Natural Resources; Negotiation; Global Range

SSRN

21 Feb 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Do Legal Origins Have Persistent Effects Over Time? A Look at Law and Finance around the World c. 1900

Keywords: by Aldo Musacchio; Legal Services

2007
Chapter

Legal Origin vs. the Politics of Creditor Rights: Bond Markets in Brazil, 1850-2002

By: Aldo Musacchio

This paper explores the question: Do institutions persist over time and determine current economic outcomes? Specifically, does the adoption or inheritance of a legal tradition in the past determine the subsequent course of institutional and financial development? This... View Details

Keywords: History; Rights; Common Law; Code Law; Financial Markets; Credit; Economy; Government and Politics; Financial Services Industry

19 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

Doomsday Coming for Catastrophic Risk Insurers?

level of risk sharing in many instances is very incomplete, very poor." Froot examines where insurance companies purchase protection asking, "Do they buy reinsurance contracts for small losses, for in-between losses, for big... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Financial Services

August 2008
Supplement

Iceland (B): Redefining Aaa-Rated Sovereigns

By: Aldo Musacchio

In May of 2008, a team of sovereign debt analysts at Moody's had to decide whether to downgrade the country's sovereign long-term debt from Aaa to Aa1 or lower. Investor sentiment toward Iceland had changed radically in March, and the Moody's team was fearful that the... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Finance; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Currency; Financial Condition; Decision Choices and Conditions; Iceland; European Union

August 2008 (Revised October 2010)
Case

Iceland (A)

By: Aldo Musacchio

In May of 2008, a team of sovereign debt analysts at Moody's had to decide whether to downgrade the country's sovereign long-term debt from Aaa to Aa1 or lower. Investor sentiment toward Iceland had changed radically in March, and the Moody's team was fearful that the... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Currency; Financial Condition; Sovereign Finance; European Union; Iceland

Educators

20 Oct 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Financing Risk and Bubbles of Innovation

Keywords: by Ramana Nanda & Matthew Rhodes-Kropf; Financial Services

Winter 2014
Article

Labor Regulations and European Venture Capital

By: Ant Bozkaya and William R. Kerr

European nations substitute between employment protection regulations and labor market expenditures (e.g., unemployment insurance benefits) for providing worker insurance. Employment regulations more directly tax firms making frequent labor adjustments than other labor... View Details

Keywords: Insurance; Labor; Europe

2008
Working Paper

Do Legal Origins Have Persistent Effects Over Time? A Look at Law and Finance around the World c. 1900

By: Aldo Musacchio

How persistent are the effects of legal institutions adopted or inherited in the distant past? A substantial literature argues that legal origins have persistent effects that explain clear differences in investor protections and financial development around the world... View Details

Keywords: History; Law; Development Economics; Investment; Corporate Governance; Finance; Business and Government Relations

2010
Working Paper

Law and Finance c. 1900

By: Aldo Musacchio

How persistent are the effects of legal institutions adopted or inherited in the distant past? A substantial literature argues that legal origins have persistent effects that explain clear differences in investor protections and financial development around the world... View Details

Keywords: Law; Finance; Corporate Governance; Practice; Growth and Development

2009
Working Paper

Labor Regulations and European Private Equity

By: Ant Bozkaya and William R. Kerr

European nations substitute between employment protection regulations and labor market expenditures (e.g., unemployment insurance benefits) for providing worker insurance. Employment regulations more directly tax firms making frequent labor adjustments than other labor... View Details

Keywords: Employment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Taxation; Insurance; Investment; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Europe

2009
Working Paper

Labor Regulations and European Private Equity

By: Ant Bozkaya and William R. Kerr

European nations substitute between employment protection regulations and labor market expenditures (e.g., unemployment insurance benefits) for providing worker insurance. Employment regulations more directly tax firms making frequent labor adjustments than other labor... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; Insurance; Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Taxation; Employment; Europe

June 2017 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Uber in 2017: One Bumpy Ride

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Jay W. Lorsch and Quinn Pitcher

Uber Technologies Inc., the popular ride-hailing company, entered 2017 having doubled its bookings in 2016 and achieving a valuation of nearly $70 billion, making it the largest venture capital-backed company in the world. Co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick embodied... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Information Technology; Transportation; Venture Capital; Organizational Culture; Technology Industry; Transportation Industry; United States

Educators

2008
Working Paper

Laws vs. Contracts: Legal Origins, Shareholder Protections, and Ownership Concentration in Brazil, 1890–1950

By: Aldo Musacchio

The early development of large multidivisional corporations in Latin America required much more than capable managers, new technologies, and large markets. Behind such corporations was a market for capital in which entrepreneurs had to attract investors to buy either... View Details

Keywords: Voting; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Governance Controls; Contracts; Laws and Statutes; Ownership Stake; Brazil