Publications

10 Apr 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research, April 10, 2018

the Spanish superstar for the 2018 tournament after all. What is the best course of action? Purchase this case: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/518041 Harvard Business School Case 218-033 Tesla Motors (A): Financing Growth The... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2021
Working Paper

No-fault Default, Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, and Financial Institutions

By: Robert C. Merton and Richard T. Thakor

This paper analyzes the costs and benefits of a no-fault-default debt structure as an alternative to the typical bankruptcy process. We show that the deadweight costs of bankruptcy can be avoided or substantially reduced through no-fault-default debt, which permits a... View Details

Keywords: No-fault Default; Chapter 11; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Borrowing and Debt; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Institutions; Contracts

January 2011 (Revised April 2011)
Case

CME Group

By: Forest L. Reinhardt and James Weber

The case describes CME Group, the world's largest commodities exchange, futures and options on futures contracts, history, regulation, and the strategic choices the company faced. CME Group was formed from the oldest and most well-known exchanges in the world. Traders... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Stocks; Goods and Commodities; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Risk Management; Market Participation; Market Transactions; Financial Services Industry; United States

November 2009
Article

Is it Fair to Blame Fair Value Accounting for the Financial Crisis?

By: Robert C. Pozen

When the credit markets seized up in 2008, many heaped blame on "mark to market" accounting rules, which require banks to write down their troubled assets to the prices they'd fetch if sold on the open market - at the time, next to nothing. Recording those assets below... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Fair Value Accounting; Financial Crisis; Assets; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Crisis Management; Standards; Banking Industry

Find at Harvard

2007
Chapter

Labor Market Regulations and European Venture Capital Investment

By: Ant Bozkaya and William R. Kerr

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment; Human Capital; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government and Politics; Business and Government Relations; Europe

2022
Working Paper

Distributional Consequences of Monetary Policy Across Races: Evidence from the U.S. Credit Register

By: Laura Alfaro, Ester Faia and Camelia Minoiu

We examine the consequences of monetary policy on racial disparities, focusing on the role of bank lending to firms through collateral and selection channels. Leveraging comprehensive loan-level data from the U.S. credit register (Y-14Q) of the Federal Reserve, we show... View Details

Keywords: Monetary Policy Transmission; Inequity; Credit Registry; Wealth; Collateral Channel; Selection; Racial Disparity; Racial Inequality; Equality and Inequality; Banks and Banking; Credit; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Banking Industry; United States

2009
Working Paper

Labor Regulations and European Private Equity

By: Ant Bozkaya and William R. Kerr

European nations substitute between employment protection regulations and labor market expenditures (e.g., unemployment insurance benefits) for providing worker insurance. Employment regulations more directly tax firms making frequent labor adjustments than other labor... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; Insurance; Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Taxation; Employment; Europe

May 2011
Article

Consequences and Institutional Determinants of Unregulated Corporate Financial Statements: Evidence from Embedded Value Reporting

By: George Serafeim

I analyze Embedded Value (EV) reporting by firms with life insurance operations to assess the impact of unregulated financial reporting on transparency and to examine the institutional characteristics that promote unregulated reporting. Under EV accounting the present... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Reporting; Cash Flow; Contracts; Equity; Profit; Value; Corporate Disclosure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business Earnings

Find at Harvard

21 Aug 2000
Research & Ideas

Faculty Research Looks to Latin America

FDI are raising concerns that there might be bidding wars: This means governments throwing a lot of money to foreign investors. This weakens corporate finances and can also start the reallocation of resources. "Is Brazil as a country... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

February 2016
Case

BancoSol and Microfinance in Bolivia

By: Rajiv Lal and Annelena Lobb

BancoSol, a microfinance bank headquartered in La Paz, Bolivia, was forced to adjust its lending strategy and business model because of a regulatory change—60% of the bank's lending portfolio would have to move to the productive sector of the Bolivian economy by 2018,... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Banks and Banking; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business Model; Strategy; South America; Bolivia

June 2025
Case

Assessing the Offers for Seven & i Holdings

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno

In the fall of 2024, the board of Seven and i Holdings Company (7&i, the parent company of 7-Eleven convenience stores in the US, Japan, and other countries) received multiple offers to buy the company. Two successive (and unsolicited) offers came from Alimentation... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Valuation; Value Creation; Bids and Bidding; Financial Strategy; Negotiation Offer; Mergers and Acquisitions; Corporate Finance; Business Conglomerates; Leveraged Buyouts; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Japan; Canada

23 Aug 2016
First Look

August 23, 2016

examine if it can be implemented in different contexts and across academic cultures, structures, and traditions. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51496 Spring 2016 Journal of Applied Corporate Finance ESG... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2020 (Revised February 2021)
Case

Accounting for Leases at American Airlines (A)

By: Jonas Heese, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos and Julia Kelley

In March 2020, as coronavirus reduced demand for air travel, an analyst was forecasting American Airlines’ (American’s) first quarter financial results. To develop a forecast, she needed to familiarize herself with Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2016-02, “Leases... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Finance; Governance; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Leasing; Accounting Industry; Air Transportation Industry; North and Central America; United States

June 2012 (Revised August 2012)
Case

MF Global: Where's the Money?

By: Clayton S. Rose, Pamela Chan and Raghav Chopra

When MF Global failed in October of 2011, it was discovered that $1.6 billion of segregated customer assets was missing. Safeguarding these assets was the firm's responsibility, and in the words of one SEC official, its "sacred obligation." What is known about the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Firms; Customer Obligations; Bankruptcy; Regulation; Financial Crisis; Brokerage; Asset Management; Ethics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Management; Crisis Management; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Services Industry

December 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Goldman Sachs: A Bank for All Seasons (A)

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Tiffany Lynne Obenchain

Facing the worldwide financial crisis, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein considered his options including whether his company could avoid a forced marriage and what steps Goldman Sachs should take to try to restore confidence in financial services companies. View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Commercial Banking; Investment Banking; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Crisis Management; Business Strategy; Banking Industry

2020
Working Paper

How Should U.S. Bank Regulators Respond to the COVID-19 Crisis?

By: Michael Blank, Samuel G. Hanson, Jeremy C. Stein and Adi Sunderam

Drawing on lessons from the 2007–2009 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and a simple conceptual framework, we examine the response of U.S. bank regulators to the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that the current regulatory strategy of “watchful waiting”—the same strategy that... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Bank Regulation; Recapitalization; Health Pandemics; Banks and Banking; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Strategy; Risk Management; United States

January 2011 (Revised July 2011)
Case

Accounting for Catastrophes: BP PLC and Union Carbide Corporation (A)

By: David F. Hawkins

The IASB and FASB propose new contingency loss recognition, measurement, and disclosure rules (A case). The B and C cases apply these proposals to British Petroleum's Mexican Gulf oil spill and Union Carbide's Bhophal gas discharge. View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; International Accounting; Trade; International Finance; Standards; Strength and Weakness; Natural Disasters; Crisis Management; Governance Controls; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Energy Industry; India