Publications

Read Now

October 2019
Article

Limited Investment Capital and Credit Spreads

By: Emil N. Siriwardane

Using proprietary credit default swap (CDS) data, I investigate how capital shocks at protection sellers impact pricing in the CDS market. Seller capital shocks—measured as CDS portfolio margin payments—account for 12% of the time-series variation in weekly spread... View Details

Keywords: Credit Risk; Derivatives; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Capital Markets; Credit; Financial Institutions

Read Now

12 Feb 2020
News

Michael Norton Explains 'Boaty McBoatface,’ And The Risks Of Consumer Voting

March 2004 (Revised October 2013)
Case

Innocents Abroad: Currencies and International Stock Returns

By: Mihir A. Desai, Kathleen Luchs, Elizabeth A. Meyer and Mark Veblen

What do international stocks contribute to the portfolio of a U.S. investor? How do currencies interact with stock price movements in determining the benefits of international diversification? This case helps students compare the risks and returns of foreign stock... View Details

Educators

November 2017 (Revised November 2017)
Teaching Note

Accounting for Political Risk at AES

By: Gerardo Pérez Cavazos and Suraj Srinivasan

Teaching Note for HBS Nos. 118-023 and 118-024. View Details

September 2005
Teaching Note

Hedging Currency Risks at AIFS (TN)

By: Mihir A. Desai and Kathleen Luchs

Keywords: Currency; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Services Industry

spring 1973
Article

Management of Commercial Bank Government Security Portfolios: An Optimization Approach Under Uncertainty

By: D. B. Crane and Stephen P. Bradley

Keywords: Management; Banks and Banking; Government and Politics; Investment; Risk and Uncertainty

02 Jun 2020
News

Risking Authenticity in the Digital Age

06 Aug 2016
News

Workers' exits risk loss of know-how

February 2025
Tutorial

Preparing Business Leaders for an Era of Climate Instability: Understanding and Managing Physical Climate Risk

By: Michael W. Toffel and Spencer Glendon

In this compelling video, Spencer Glendon, founder of Probable Futures and Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School, describes the profound implications of climate change for businesses, the economy, and societies around the world. Drawing from his background in... View Details

Keywords: Modeling; Climate Change; Adaptation; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Forecasting and Prediction

June 2005 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Equator Principles, The: An Industry Approach to Managing Environmental and Social Risks

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Aldo Sesia

In June 2003, 10 leading international banks adopted new voluntary guidelines, called the Equator Principles, to promote sustainable development in project finance. In recent years, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) had raised issues about the lenders'... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Competition; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Issues; Environmental Sustainability; Policy; Project Finance; Standards; Projects; Commercial Banking; Non-Governmental Organizations

Educators

Article

The Impact of Personal Genomics on Risk Perceptions and Medical Decision-Making

By: Joshua Lev Krieger, Fiona Murray, J. Scott Roberts and Robert C. Green

Keywords: Medicine; Psychology; Economics; Policy

Winter 2015
Article

When One Size Doesn't Fit All: Evolving Directions in the Research and Practice of Enterprise Risk Management

By: Anette Mikes and Robert S. Kaplan

Enterprise risk management (ERM) has become a crucial component of contemporary corporate governance reforms, with an abundance of principles, guidelines, and standards. This paper portrays ERM as an evolving discipline and presents empirical findings on its current... View Details

Keywords: Contingency Theory; Grounded Research; Risk Management; Customization and Personalization

winter 1997
Article

Risk and Reward in Private Equity Investments: The Challenge of Performance Assessment

By: Paul A. Gompers and J. Lerner

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Motivation and Incentives; For-Profit Firms; Equity; Investment; Problems and Challenges; Performance

August 2023
Article

Do Rating Agencies Behave Defensively for Higher Risk Issuers?

By: Samuel B. Bonsall IV, Kevin Koharki, Pepa Kraft, Karl A. Muller III and Anywhere Sikochi

We examine whether rating agencies act defensively toward issuers with a higher likelihood of default. We find that agencies' qualitative soft rating adjustments are more accurate as issuers' default risk grows, as evidenced by the adjustments leading to lower Type I... View Details

Keywords: Credit Rating Agencies; Soft Rating Adjustments; Default; Credit; Performance Evaluation; Measurement and Metrics; Financial Institutions; Risk Management

November – December 2008
Article

Chief Risk Officers at Crunch Time: Compliance Champions or Business Partners?

By: Anette Mikes

Risk management departments in financial institutions have been undergoing major transformations. New regulatory requirements have raised the bar on compliance, and expanded the remit of risk management significantly. The compliance imperative requires banks to... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Corporate Governance; Governance Compliance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Managerial Roles; Risk Management; Partners and Partnerships