Publications

February 2008 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Lance Johnstone: Developing 3000 North Broad

The case focuses on Lance Johnstone, a former NFL player, who has dabbled in real estate development during his playing career, and now, as a retired player, is trying to pursue the development of a 10-unit rental apartment building in a depressed area of Philadelphia,... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Development Economics; Construction; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Investment Return; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; Philadelphia

Winter 2021
Article

Making Economics More Useful: How Technological Eclecticism Could Help

By: Amar Bhidé

Keynes thought it would be ‘splendid’ if economists became more like dentists. Disciplinary economics has instead become more like physics in focusing on concise, universal propositions verified through decisive tests. This focus, I argue, limits the practical... View Details

Keywords: Economic Methodology; Simulations; Banking; Regulation; Judgment; Economics; Banks and Banking

10 Dec 2013
First Look

First Look: December 10

given difficulties at the portfolio companies and disruptions in credit markets. The case takes the perspective of a private equity firm evaluating the deal to determine whether buying leveraged loans is a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2009
Article

Finding Missing Markets (and a Disturbing Epilogue): Evidence from an Export Crop Adoption and Marketing Intervention in Kenya

By: Nava Ashraf, Xavier Gine and Dean Karlan

Farmers may grow crops for local consumption despite more profitable export options. DrumNet, a Kenyan NGO that helps small farmers adopt and market export crops, conducted a randomized trial to evaluate its impact. DrumNet services increased production of export crops... View Details

Keywords: Export Crop; Field Experiment; Food Safety Standards; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Trade; Profit; Marketing; Standards; Failure; Non-Governmental Organizations; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Kenya; European Union

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2020
Article

Making Economics More Useful: How Technological Eclecticism Could Help

By: Amar Bhidé

Keynes thought it would be ‘splendid’ if economists became more like dentists. Disciplinary economics has instead become more like physics in focusing on concise, universal propositions verified through decisive tests. This focus, I argue, limits the practical utility... View Details

Keywords: Economic Methodology; Simulations; Banking; Regulation; Judgment; Economics; Policy

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November 2020
Article

Accelerator or Brake? Cash for Clunkers, Household Liquidity, and Aggregate Demand

By: Daniel Green, Brian Melzer, Jonathan Parker and Arcenis Rojas

This paper evaluates the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) by comparing the vehicle purchases and disposals of households with eligible "clunkers" to those of households with similar, but ineligible, vehicles. CARS caused roughly 500,000 purchases during the program... View Details

Keywords: Automobiles; Purchasing; Government Incentives; Household; Financial Liquidity; Income; Behavior

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December 2008 (Revised March 2009)
Case

Rosetree Mortgage Opportunity Fund

By: Victoria Ivashina and Andre F. Perold

In December 2008, in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Rosetree Capital Management was evaluating the purchase of a pool of U.S. residential mortgages. The firm had formed an investment vehicle to acquire troubled residential mortgages... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Mortgages; Investment; Housing; Valuation; United States

December 2024
Article

Public Attitudes on Performance for Algorithmic and Human Decision-Makers

By: Kirk Bansak and Elisabeth Paulson

This study explores public preferences for algorithmic and human decision-makers (DMs) in high-stakes contexts, how these preferences are shaped by performance metrics, and whether public evaluations of performance differ depending on the type of DM. Leveraging a... View Details

Keywords: Public Opinion; Prejudice and Bias; Decision Making

17 Jun 2008
First Look

First Look: June 17, 2008

loans to small firms and those with more "soft information"—particularly in states with weak legal enforcement of financial contracts. However, decentralized banks are also more responsive to the competitive environment when... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May 2018 (Revised February 2019)
Teaching Note

Greg Mazur and the Purchase of Great Eastern Premium Pet Foods

By: Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Ahron Rosenfeld

Teaching Note for HBS No. 211-085. Greg Mazur (HBS 1997) identified a small firm, Great Eastern Premium Pet Food, in December of 1998 that fit his search criteria and decided to offer the seller a cash price of $1.2 million plus an earn-out equal to 1% of revenue over... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Negotiation Deal; Strategic Planning; Valuation; Analysis

Article

Towards Robust and Reliable Algorithmic Recourse

By: Sohini Upadhyay, Shalmali Joshi and Himabindu Lakkaraju

As predictive models are increasingly being deployed in high-stakes decision making (e.g., loan approvals), there has been growing interest in post-hoc techniques which provide recourse to affected individuals. These techniques generate recourses under the assumption... View Details

Keywords: Machine Learning Models; Algorithmic Recourse; Decision Making; Forecasting and Prediction

2023
Working Paper

Judging Foreign Startups

By: Nataliya Langburd Wright, Rembrand Koning and Tarun Khanna

Can accelerators pick the most promising startup ideas no matter their provenance? Using unique data from a global accelerator where judges are randomly assigned to evaluate startups headquartered across the globe, we show that judges are less likely to recommend... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship And Strategy; Entrepreneurial Financing; Innovation; Bias; International; Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Global Strategy; Business Startups; Financing and Loans; Decision Making

SSRN

August 2016
Case

Collective Academy

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Christopher Payton

This case is about making the decision to become an entrepreneur and early challenges in setting up a business model and team. In 2015, Pato Bichara co-founded Collective Academy to create an affordable, three-year undergraduate experience to infuse innovation into... View Details

Keywords: Early Stage; Team Building; Business Startup; Trade-offs; Risk; Founders' Agreements; Education; Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Business Startups; Decision Making; Technology Industry; Mexico; Latin America; United States

May 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Teaching Note

Nashton Partners and Its Search Fund Process

By: Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Ahron Rosenfeld

Teaching Note for HBS No. 212-006. In 2008, Jay Davis (HBS’ 08) and Jason Pananos (HBS’ 08) formed Nashton Partners and raised $500,000 from investors to fund their search. After 30 months of searching, and exhausting the money they raised to fund their search, Davis... View Details

Keywords: Search Fund; Acquisition; Capital Structure; Financing and Loans; Investment Funds; Partners and Partnerships

11 Jun 2013
First Look

First Look: June 11

http://hbr.org/search/713073-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 413-073 First Green Bank: Bringing Bloom to Desert Landscapes First Green Bank is a bank start-up in the midst of the financial crisis that aims to promote sustainability while making money as a bank.... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

April 2001 (Revised April 2002)
Background Note

Note on Pre-Money and Post-Money Valuation (A &B), A

Provides a brief introduction to calculations inherent in pre-money and post-money evaluations at multiple stages of financing. Relies on three different examples to illustrate how valuations can be calculated depending on the information provided. View Details

Keywords: Information; Valuation; Financing and Loans