Publications

December 2020
Article

Monetary Policy and Global Banking

By: Falk Bräuning and Victoria Ivashina

When central banks adjust interest rates, the opportunity cost of lending in local currency changes, but—in absence of frictions—there is no spillover effect to lending in other currencies. However, when equity capital is limited, global banks must benchmark domestic... View Details

Keywords: Global Banks; Monetary Policy Transmission; Cross-border Lending; Banks and Banking; Financial Markets; Global Range

SSRN

2020
Working Paper

Mortgage Prepayment, Race, and Monetary Policy

By: Kristopher Gerardi, Paul Willen and David Hao Zhang

Over the period 2005 to 2015, Black borrowers paid more than 40 basis points higher mortgage interest rates than Non-Hispanic white borrowers. We show that the main reason is that Non-Hispanic white borrowers are much more likely to exploit periods of falling interest... View Details

Keywords: Mortgages; Consumer Behavior; Race; Ethnicity; Equality and Inequality; Policy; United States

Article

R&D: A Small Contribution to Productivity Growth

By: Diego Comin

In this paper I evaluate the contribution of R&D investments to productivity growth. The basis for the analysis are the free entry condition and the fact that most R&D innovations are embodied. Free entry yields a relationship between the resources devoted to R&D and... View Details

Keywords: Research and Development; Investment; Interest Rates; Performance Productivity; Technological Innovation; Perspective; United States

2016
Article

The Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet as a Financial-Stability Tool

By: Robin Greenwood, Samuel Gregory Hanson and Jeremy C. Stein

We argue that the Federal Reserve should use its balance sheet to help reduce a key threat to financial stability: the tendency for private-sector financial intermediaries to engage in excessive amounts of maturity transformation—i.e., to finance risky assets using... View Details

Keywords: Central Banking; Policy; Risk Management; Public Administration Industry; United States

June 2023
Article

Why Is Dollar Debt Cheaper? Evidence from Peru

By: Bryan Gutiérrez, Victoria Ivashina and Juliana Salomao

In emerging markets, a significant share of corporate loans are denominated in dollars. Using novel data that enables us to see currency and the cost of credit, in addition to several other transaction-level characteristics, we re-examine the reasons behind dollar... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Market Corporate Debt; Currency Mismatch; Liability Dollarization; Carry Trade; Currency; Emerging Markets; Borrowing and Debt; Interest Rates; Peru

SSRN

Research Summary

Does Banks' Corporate Control Benefit Firms?

In this paper we examine the importance of banks' corporate control by investigating the loan policy pricing effect of banks' voting stakes on their borrowers. A sample of loans taken out over the 2000-2003 time period shows that banks charge lower rates on... View Details

04 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

The Business of Global Poverty

Bank he founded in Bangladesh more than two decades ago. With interest rates ranging from zero to 20 percent, Grameen's average loan (no collateral required) is $200. Its... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

25 Jan 2010
Research & Ideas

A Macroeconomic View of the Current Economy

European Central Bank suddenly (and unexpectedly) raises its key short-term interest rate tomorrow, you're probably going to see the euro appreciate, almost immediately. If the central bank View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

02 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles of 2011

badly. Other apparent areas of interest in the last 12 months included corporate social responsibility, marketing techniques, and, of course, the ubiquitous Lady Gaga. Here are... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

July 2005 (Revised December 2006)
Case

Japan: Deficits, Demography, and Deflation

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

By 2005, Japan's debt had risen to 163% of GDP. For more than a decade, the government had run huge deficits, trying unsuccessfully to stimulate economic growth. Interest rates, meanwhile, had been zero for years. But with slow growth and banks in crisis, nothing had... View Details

Keywords: Economy; Economic Growth; Demographics; Financial Condition; Inflation and Deflation; Banks and Banking; Borrowing and Debt; Macroeconomics; Policy; Government and Politics; Welfare; Health Care and Treatment; Japan

Educators

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October 2013
Article

With a Little Help from My (Random) Friends: Success and Failure in Post-Business School Entrepreneurship

By: Josh Lerner and Ulrike Malmendier

To what extent do peers affect our occupational choices? This question has been of particular interest in the context of entrepreneurship and policies to create a favorable environment for entry. Such influences, however, are hard to identify empirically. We exploit... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Entrepreneurship; Attitudes; Relationships; Cognition and Thinking

04 Mar 2024
Research & Ideas

Want to Make Diversity Stick? Break the Cycle of Sameness

men to the bench. “There was plenty of evidence showing Trump wasn’t particularly pro-diversity,” says Chang, noting that Trump had issued a memo telling federal agencies to halt diversity trainings because they were “un-American.” “It... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

January 2013 (Revised October 2014)
Case

Barclays and the LIBOR Scandal

By: Clayton S. Rose and Aldo Sesia

In June of 2012, Barclays plc admitted that it had manipulated LIBOR—a benchmark interest rate that was fundamental to the operation of international financial markets and that was the basis for trillions of dollars of financial transactions. Between 2005 and 2009... View Details

Keywords: Financial Systems; Financial Services; Corruption; Regulation; General Management; Management; Leadership; Economic Systems; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Culture; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; United Kingdom

Educators

Purchase

14 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 14

money demand could explain up to approximately half the growth of ABCP in the mid-2000s. Publisher's link: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/money_20140929_6871f5d1-2375-4716-a7c5-8b94d7541b54.pdf Working Papers Government... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

U.S. Subprime Mortgage Crisis: Policy Reactions (B)

By: Laura Alfaro and Renee Kim

In March 2009, the U.S. economy was in a severe recession not seen since the Great Depression after the subprime mortgage crisis had spiraled out of control. The situation had dramatically changed in one year since the Federal Reserve Board had helped to bailout... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Central Banking; Mortgages; Globalized Economies and Regions; Policy; United States

Educators

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03 May 2010
Research & Ideas

What Is the Future of MBA Education?

including the yield rates at various schools; how many applicants they accept of those who apply; of those who accept, how many actually attend; and what is happening to the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Education

2023
Working Paper

Interest-Rate Risk and Household Portfolios

By: Sylvain Catherine, Max Miller, James Paron and Natasha Sarin

How are households exposed to interest-rate risk? When rates fall, households face lower future expected returns but those holding long-term assets—disproportionately the wealthy and middle-aged—experience capital gains. We study the hedging demand for long-term assets... View Details

Keywords: Portfolio Choice; Social Security; Interest Rates; Investment Portfolio; Equality and Inequality; Welfare

June 2018
Article

The Fed, the Bond Market, and Gradualism in Monetary Policy

By: Jeremy C. Stein and Adi Sunderam

We develop a model of monetary policy with two key features: (i) the central bank has some private information about its long-run target for the policy rate, and (ii) the central bank is averse to bond-market volatility. In this setting, discretionary monetary policy... View Details

Keywords: Central Banking; Interest Rates; Policy; Bonds; Financial Markets