Publications

September 1991 (Revised April 1994)
Case

First National Bank Corp. (A)

First National Bank Corp., a major regional bank in the Northeast, must decide how large a provision for credit losses to accrue in its 1990 financial statements. The recession in New England has caused serious problems in its loan portfolio. View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Financial Statements; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Northeastern United States

March 2022 (Revised February 2024)
Case

El Salvador: Launching Bitcoin as Legal Tender

By: Laura Alfaro, Carla Larangeira and Ruth Costas

In June 2021, Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s president, surprised the world with the announcement that the country would adopt bitcoin as legal tender, becoming the first nation to do so. Bitcoin was mostly used for trading and had one of the most volatile track records... View Details

Keywords: Bitcoin; Cryptocurrency; Currency; Financial Strategy; Economic Growth; Governance; Macroeconomics; Assets; Latin America; El Salvador

17 Dec 2015
News

Beware the rule-following co-worker, Harvard study warns

08 Aug 2014
News

Former SBA Chief Mills: Lending to Small Businesses Still Sluggish

March 2009 (Revised May 2011)
Case

Risk Management at Wellfleet Bank: Deciding about "Megadeals"

By: Anette Mikes

Inspired by one of the few banks that successfully weathered the 2007-2009 credit crisis, the case illustrates risk management in a corporate finance business. Chief executive Alastair Dowes has to decide if the risk governance process is adequate to uncover mega-risks... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Decision Making; Performance Evaluation; Credit; Balance and Stability; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Decision Choices and Conditions; Negotiation Offer; Performance Effectiveness; Corporate Finance; Banking Industry

19 Jun 2020
News

Pandemic Prises Open Inflation Information Gap

February 2022
Article

Borrowing to Save? The Impact of Automatic Enrollment on Debt

By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian and William L. Skimmyhorn

Does automatic enrollment into a retirement plan increase financial distress due to increased borrowing outside the plan? We study a natural experiment created when the U.S. Army began automatically enrolling newly hired civilian employees into the Thrift Savings Plan.... View Details

Keywords: Retirement Savings; Automatic Enrollment; Choice Architecture; Nudge; Financial Distress; Retirement; Saving; Borrowing and Debt; Behavior

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September 2008 (Revised April 2011)
Case

The American Express Card

By: John A. Quelch

Senior executives at American Express are reviewing the company's marketing strategy for charge and credit cards in the United States. A variety of growth options exists for students to consider, including further penetration of existing markets and the opening of new... View Details

Keywords: Credit; Credit Cards; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Financial Services Industry; United States

09 Mar 2021
Working Paper Summaries

Stock Price Reactions to ESG News: The Role of ESG Ratings and Disagreement

Keywords: by George Serafeim and Aaron Yoon; Financial Services

2015
Working Paper

Collateral Shortages and Intermediation Networks

By: Marco Di Maggio and Alireza Tahbaz-Salehi

This paper argues that in the presence of trading frictions and agency problems, the interbank market may be overly fragile, in the sense that small changes in the liquidity of assets used as collateral may lead to large swings in haircuts and a potential credit... View Details

Keywords: Financial Intermediation; Financial Networks; Secured Lending; Collateral; Repo Runs; ABCP Collapse; Networks; Negotiation; Financing and Loans; Financial Crisis

January 2008
Background Note

Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs)

By: Joshua Coval and Erik Stafford

This lesson integrated Merton's (1974) contingent claims model of debt and equity claims with the CAPM, which allows us to examine the risks and pricing of credit portfolios and the derivative claims issued against them. In particular, this model is used to make... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Borrowing and Debt; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Investment Portfolio; Risk Management

24 Mar 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Free Riding in Loan Approvals: Evidence From SME Lending in Peru

Keywords: by Irani Arraiz, Miriam Bruhn, Benjamin N. Roth, Claudia Ruiz-Ortega, and Rodolfo Stucchi

November 2001 (Revised July 2011)
Case

Grupo Elektra

By: David J. Arnold, Gustavo Herrero and Luiz Felipe Monteiro

Grupo Elektra is Latin America's largest consumer finance company based on credit sales in its hard goods retail outlets. It has started to internationalize in Latin America but now must to decide whether to enter the U.S. Hispanic market and which of its two core... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Emerging Markets; Global Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Retail Industry; Latin America; United States; Mexico

March 2005 (Revised December 2005)
Case

Morgan Stanley and TRAC-X: The Battle for the CDS Indexes Market

Morgan Stanley's credit derivatives business, specifically its collateralized debt obligation (CDO) business, has been hugely successful. One of its leading offerings is the TRAC-X product, jointly created and marketed by Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan. However, a new... View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Product; Competition; Capital Markets; Financial Services Industry