Publications

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22 Jul 2014
News

Professor Mihir Desai goes to Capitol Hill

March 2012 (Revised August 2014)
Case

Fiji versus FIJI: Negotiating Over Water

By: Francesca Gino, Michael W. Toffel and Stephanie van Sice

This case examines negotiations between a company and government over natural resources. The Fijian government proposed a substantial increase in its water extraction tax that would only apply to large extractors, and thus to FIJI Water and not to its competitors. FIJI... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Business and Government Relations; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Distribution Industry; Fiji

05 Oct 2011
News

On Corporate Taxes, Put the Public in Publicly Traded: View

February 2014 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Should Corporate Profits Be Taxed? (A)

By: Matthew Weinzierl, Katrina Flanagan and Michael Cianellli

Taxing corporations is popular, but why? Corporations do not bear the burden of taxes, people do, and the incidence of the corporate income tax burden is likely to be far different from what many of its supporters assume.
Instructors may also obtain a Teaching... View Details

Keywords: Economic Versus Statutory Incidence; Basics Of Corporate Taxation; Business Ventures; Taxation; Profit

June 2013 (Revised July 2017)
Case

Angus Cartwright IV

By: Kenneth J. Hatten, William J. Poorvu, Howard H. Stevenson, Arthur I Segel and John H. Vogel, Jr.

Judy and John DeRight, looking to diversify their investment portfolios, have retained Angus Cartwright, Jr. to identify prospective real estate acquisitions. Mr. Cartwright has four potential properties that he feels merit an in-depth financial analysis. The case... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Cash Flow; Investment Return; Investment Portfolio; Taxation; Balanced Scorecard; Valuation

Research Summary

Overview

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl

My academic research centers on uncovering and closing gaps between the theory and reality of tax policy. My main contribution has been to identify and address a mismatch between the goals for taxation typically assumed in theory and the goals the public and... View Details

03 Mar 2017
News

Mayo, wings, butter: 'Fake milk' is the latest food fight

16 May 2018
HBS Seminar

Juan Carlos Suárez Serrato, Duke University, Economics

26 Jun 2012
First Look

First Look: June 26

facilitating social comparison among agents. Overall, the findings demonstrate the power of non-financial rewards to motivate agents in settings where there are limits to the use of financial incentives. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/12-008.pdf... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2010 (Revised May 2012)
Background Note

Note: Disclosure, Regulation, and Taxation of Hedge Funds versus Mutual Funds in the U.S.

By: Lena G. Goldberg, Robert C. Pozen and Melissa Anne Hammerle

This note provides students with an explanation of the regulatory and tax framework for hedge funds vs. mutual funds in the U.S. View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Corporate Disclosure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Taxation; Financial Services Industry; United States

Brian Baik is an assistant professor in the Accounting and Management Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches the Financial Reporting and Control course in the MBA required curriculum.

Professor Baik studies how information, financial reporting, and... View Details

Keywords: private equity (LBO funds); venture capital industry

March 2018
Article

Financing the African Colonial State: The Revenue Imperative and Forced Labor

By: Marlous van Waijenburg

Although recent studies on African colonial tax systems have deepened our understanding of early fiscal capacity building efforts in the region, they have largely ignored the contributions from a widely used but invisible source of state revenue: that of labor... View Details

Keywords: Colonial Institutions; Labor Coercion; Taxation; Africa

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18 Jun 2007
Op-Ed

Leveling the Executive Options Playing Field

examining the role of stock options in executive compensation; the incidence of stock option abuses; how stock option compensation is reported to stockholders under generally accepted accounting principles versus how the same compensation is reported to the IRS under... View Details

Keywords: by Mihir Desai

November 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Background Note

HR 3509

By: David F. Hawkins

HR 3509 ("2010 Health Reform Bill") imposition of a fee in pharmaceutical sales and an excise tax on medical device sales raises accounting issues. View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government Legislation; Taxation; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

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October 2014
Article

The Promise of Positive Optimal Taxation: Normative Diversity and a Role for Equal Sacrifice

By: Matthew Weinzierl

A prominent assumption in modern optimal tax research is that the objective of taxation is Utilitarian. I present new survey evidence that most people disagree with this assumption, preferring tax policies based at least in part on a classic alternative objective: the... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Theory

October 2011 (Revised July 2012)
Supplement

Mike Mayo Takes on Citigroup (B)

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Amy Kaser

Mike Mayo takes on Citigroup (B) is a supplementary exercise to go along with Mike Mayo takes on Citigroup (A) case and is designed to give students an opportunity to understand the creation of deferred tax liabilities (DTLs) and the life cycle of a DTL using an... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Accounting; Banking Industry

April 2019 (Revised April 2020)
Case

Reaganomics: Impact and Legacy

By: Tom Nicholas, John Masko and Matthew G. Preble

During the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan and his administration instituted several far-reaching economic policies that had both near- and long-term impacts on such aspects of the U.S. economy as monetary policy, inflation, the tax structure, and the role of... View Details

Keywords: Wealth and Poverty; Business and Government Relations; Leadership; Taxation; Government Administration; Government Legislation; Inflation and Deflation; Money; Economy; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Economic Growth; Equality and Inequality; United States