Publications

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

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

26 Oct 2010
News

Sweeney, Retsinas Interview About U.S. Housing Market

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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October 2010 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Belco Global Foods

By: C. Fritz Foley and Matthew Johnson

This case introduces students to the fundamental issues that managers face when deciding what international trade finance terms to use when transacting with other firms. In late 2009, Pam Arnold, the head of global credit at Belco Global Foods, must decide which trade... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Credit; Financing and Loans; International Finance; Globalized Firms and Management; Food and Beverage Industry

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 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

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

19 Jun 2020
News

Pandemic Prises Open Inflation Information Gap

14 Aug 2011
News

Inside the Greek Volcano

11 Feb 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Gender Stereotypes in Deliberation and Team Decisions

Keywords: by Katherine B. Coffman, Clio Bryant Flikkema, and Olga Shurchkov

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