Publications

2023
Working Paper

Saving and Consumption Responses to Student Loan Forbearance

By: Justin Katz

How do households adjust savings and consumption in response to liquidity from debt relief? I study this question using policy variation induced by federal student loan forbearance in the 2020 CARES Act and an individual-level panel of daily financial transactions for... View Details

Keywords: Saving; Consumer Behavior; Borrowing and Debt; Interest Rates; Financial Liquidity; Personal Finance; Government Legislation

SSRN

February 2022 (Revised November 2022)
Case

Fondeadora

By: Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui and Mitchell Weiss

Norman Müller and René Serrano, cofounders of Fondeadora, a Mexican “neobank,” had lined up a $12.5 million in Series A funding round in 2020 only to run into a major obstacle: The lead investor was Gradient Ventures, a venture firm launched by Alphabet, Inc., and... View Details

Keywords: Fundraising; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Financial Institutions; Business Startups; Government Legislation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Mexico City; Latin America

01 Sep 2020
News

Reinvigorating Democracy: A Vote for Change

warn that the government’s ability to pass legislation to stabilize the economy reflects a familiar pattern where an emergency forces a temporary “semblance of bipartisanship” only to return to “business-as-usual political brinksmanship... View Details

Keywords: Young, Susan

June 2023
Case

The Business of Campaigns

By: Vincent Pons and Mel Martin

In 2022, the U.S. Congress examined the Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act, the latest in a long series of campaign finance reforms. According to its authors, the law would be the “most consequential overhaul of federal... View Details

Keywords: Political Elections; Government Legislation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Government Relations; United States

December 2007
Case

The Campaign for Bank Insurance in Antebellum New York

By: David A. Moss and Cole Bolton

The New York State Legislature had come to a standstill in 1829 as lawmakers refused to charter any new banks or recharter any existing banks. Four of New York's forty banks had failed since 1825, and many legislatures believed that a significant change in the banking... View Details

Keywords: History; Risk Management; Government Legislation; Insurance; Decision Choices and Conditions; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry

02 Jan 2020
Op-Ed

Medicare for All or Public Option: Can Either Heal Health Care?

insurers and increases taxpayers’ burden, while a public option would enliven private insurers, increase coverage, and control health care costs. However, it would require legislative discipline and independent oversight to assure that... View Details

Keywords: by Regina E. Herzlinger and James Wallace; Health; Public Administration

02 Dec 2013
Research & Ideas

Companies Choreograph Earnings Calls to Hide Bad News

quarter earlier.) Despite disclosure legislation such as Sarbanes-Oxley designed to ensure a transparent, level playing field, Cohen says that casting calls are a subtle but important way that companies influence the information they... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Financial Services

06 Dec 2004
What Do You Think?

Why Do Managers Fail to Act on Their Predictions?

stating company action taken to prepare for the expected events." The latter would certainly encourage, perhaps at a substantial cost, what Conway proposes, as we've seen with recent legislative and regulatory rulings on corporate... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

04 Oct 2004
What Do You Think?

Does Speed Trump Intellectual Property?

in the end by showing employees that it is okay to cheat." Sairam Inumella asserts, "New legislation is not a solution to this 'problem' ... . Maybe this copycat competition will help the networks move toward strategies that... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

16 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Surveying the VC Landscape

process? A: Sarbanes-Oxley is a complex piece of legislation, but it appears inevitable that the legislation will negatively affect the willingness of venture investors to remain on the boards of firms once they go public. (Of course,... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

August 2003 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Multinational Corporations in Apartheid-era South Africa: The Issue of Reparations

By: Geoffrey Jones and Cate Reavis

Considers the lawsuits filed on behalf of victims of apartheid against multinationals who operated in South Africa prior to 1994. Reviews the debates about divestment from and sanctions against South Africa from the 1950s. Includes case studies of companies that... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Multinational Firms and Management; Government Legislation; Lawsuits and Litigation; Business and Government Relations; Prejudice and Bias; South Africa

July–August 2014
Article

Obamacare Rules Pose Challenges for S Corp Owners

By: Josh Baron, Steve Salley and Judith L. Walsh

The article offers information financial impacts of tax by the U.S. Affordable Care Act (ACA) applied in January 2013 on family business shareholders and owners of S Corp. It discusses suggestions in tax planning to equalize tax burden including establishing family... View Details

Keywords: Ownership Type; Family Ownership; Compensation and Benefits; Taxation; Government Legislation

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Read Now

June 2007 (Revised January 2008)
Background Note

The U.S. Retirement Savings Market and the Pension Protection Act of 2006

By: Luis M. Viceira and Helen Tung

Provides an overview of the evolution of the private retirement savings market in the U.S. since 1990; the management and administration of defined-contribution (DC) plans; the existing evidence about the investment and savings decisions of participants in DC plans;... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Personal Finance; Saving; Government Legislation; Retirement; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry; United States

March 2004 (Revised July 2004)
Case

Sarbanes-Oxley Act, The

By: Lynn S. Paine and James Weber

Describes the evolution and passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 from the perspective of the senior counsel on capital markets for the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services. View Details

Keywords: Government Legislation; Corporate Accountability; Governance Controls; Capital Markets; Financial Reporting; Laws and Statutes; United States