Publications

26 Jan 2021
Research & Ideas

A New Way to Cut Credit Card Debt: Pay Off One Purchase at a Time

Bush, senior manager at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia; and Zoë Chance, assistant professor of marketing at Yale School of Management. Putting ‘repayment-by-purchase’ to the test A field experiment conducted with the Commonwealth... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Financial Services

February 2007 (Revised October 2007)
Case

BASIX

By: Shawn A. Cole and Peter Tufano

BASIX, an Indian microfinance corporation, must decide whether to continue to sell weather insurance to its clients. A brand-new financial product, weather insurance pays if measured rainfall during the growing season falls below a pre-specified limit. Mr. Sattaiah,... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Microfinance; Insurance; Risk Management; Banking Industry; India

20 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 20

non-performing loans and an increase in interest rate spreads, suggesting that foreign concerns bought domestic banks that had been making loans with low interest rates to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Not Your Father’s State-Run Capitalism

different types of minority stakes, from partially privatized firms, to those with minority investments by state-holding companies, to those receiving favorable loans from state-owned banks What they found... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

12 Aug 2002
Op-Ed

Using Big Business to Fight Poverty

Bank loans and foreign aid to the government did not then and would not in the future reduce poverty, especially among the 80 percent of the population that lived in the countryside. Millions of rural... View Details

Keywords: by George C. Lodge

September 2012
Case

BASIX (Abridged)

By: Shawn Cole and Peter Tufano

BASIX, an Indian microfinance corporation, must decide whether to continue to sell weather insurance to its clients. A brand-new financial product, weather insurance pays if measured rainfall during the growing season falls below a pre-specified limit. Mr. Sattaiah,... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Microfinance; Household; Risk Management; Insurance; Banking Industry; India

05 Nov 2024
Book

Building the Road to 'Small Business Utopia' with AI and Fintech

But what if technology had the power to make a small business owner significantly wiser about their cash flow, and a lender wiser as well? What if new loan products and services made it easier to create what one investor calls a “truth... View Details

Keywords: by Karen G. Mills; Financial Services

02 Feb 2012
Op-Ed

Once a Castle, Home is Now a Debtors’ Prison

owner must pay the lender the difference. Owners will still need to find someplace else to live. An owner can walk away from the loan and join the "strategic defaulters," who defaulted not because they could not pay but because... View Details

Keywords: by Nicolas P. Retsinas; Financial Services; Construction; Real Estate

03 Jun 2008
First Look

First Look: June 3, 2008

costly. They are less likely to be repaid. Nor are they put to good use: election year credit booms do not measurably affect agricultural output. Finally, I measure whether the average agricultural loan was beneficial, using variation... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

18 Dec 2007
First Look

First Look: December 18, 2007

Banking, and Loan Repayment Authors:Martin Brown and Christian Zehnder Periodical:Journal of Money, Credit and Banking 38, no. 8 (December 2007) Abstract How does information sharing between lenders affect... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

31 May 2017
Sharpening Your Skills

10 Harvard Business School Research Stories That Will Make Your Mouth Water

quality with affordable prices. Gary Pisano and Oldani explain how. A Bank That Takes Parmesan Cheese as Collateral: The Cheese Stands a Loan Nikolaos Trichakis discusses the Italian regional View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Food & Beverage

20 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

How Small Businesses Can Survive the Coronavirus Outbreak

and Fundbox, which specialize in loans to small businesses, are also considering ways to support the sector. Renegotiate terms of contracts and debt. Owners should ask landlords for more time to pay their rent, for example. They should... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Service; Food & Beverage

January 1993 (Revised November 1997)
Case

BayBank Boston

In 1992, the Federal Reserve released a study of mortgage lending patterns in Boston. It concluded that even when credit factors were taken into account, black and Hispanic applicants experienced higher rejection rates. Richard Pollard, chairman of BayBank Boston, had... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Ethics; Race; Mortgages; Banking Industry; Boston

Find at Harvard

27 Oct 2009
First Look

First Look: October 27

crossed with small financial incentives (ranging from U.S. $3 to $14) to open bank savings accounts. We find that the financial literacy program has no effect on the likelihood of opening a bank savings... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

March 2006 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Banco Hipotecario S.A.

By: Daniel Baird Bergstresser, Arthur I Segel and Alexandra de Royere

In 2003, the chairwoman and controlling shareholder of Argentina's leading residential mortgage lender are considering how to bring the bank's restructuring to a successful conclusion as the country's economy continues to suffer from the impact of the 2001-2002... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Currency; Banks and Banking; Mortgages; Crisis Management; Competition; Argentina

07 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

How to Help Small Businesses Survive COVID's Next Phase

through a few months, when normalcy would resume. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)—government-funded forgivable loans designed to help businesses pay their employees—would help them weather the storm. Six months later, there’s still... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Food & Beverage; Service

2014
Discussion Paper

The Promise of Microfinance and Women's Empowerment: What Does the Evidence Say?

By: Dina D. Pomeranz

The microfinance revolution has transformed access to financial services for low-income populations worldwide. As a result, it has become one of the most talked-about innovations in global development in recent decades. However, its expansion has not been without... View Details

Read Now

February 2008 (Revised July 2008)
Case

Banco Compartamos: Life after the IPO

By: Michael Chu and Regina Garcia Cuellar

After an international IPO yielding extraordinary returns to original investors, Banco Compartamos, Mexico's leading microfinance institution, contemplates its future strategic and competing priorities: maintaining growth, defending industry, leadership, preserving... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Microfinance; Initial Public Offering; Non-Governmental Organizations; Competition; Value Creation; Banking Industry; Mexico