Publications

10 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: January 10

within markets: When sentiment is high, future returns are low on relatively difficult to arbitrage and difficult to value stocks. Private capital flows appear to be one mechanism by which sentiment spreads across markets and forms global... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2014
Working Paper

Corporate Financial Policies in Misvalued Credit Markets

By: Jarrad Harford, Marc Martos-Vila and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

We theoretically and empirically investigate the repercussions of credit market misvaluation for a firm's borrowing and investment decisions. Using an ex-post measure of the accuracy of credit ratings to capture debt market misvaluation, we find evidence that firms... View Details

Article

An Exploration of Optimal Stabilization Policy

By: N. Gregory Mankiw and Matthew C. Weinzierl

This paper examines the optimal response of monetary and fiscal policy to a decline in aggregate demand. The theoretical framework is a two-period general equilibrium model in which prices are sticky in the short-run and flexible in the long-run. Policy is evaluated by... View Details

Keywords: Fiscal Policy; Monetary Policy; Economic Models; Aggregate Demand; Demand and Consumers; Money; Mathematical Methods; Taxation; Spending; Policy; Welfare; Household; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation

October 2009
Case

Noble Group

By: C. Fritz Foley, Michael Shih-ta Chen, Matthew Johnson and Linnea Meyer

What role does trade finance play in facilitating global supply chain management? Richard S. Elman, founder and CEO of Noble Group Ltd., a global commodities trading company based in Hong Kong, must raise capital to support the firm's working capital and investment... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Capital; Financing and Loans; International Finance; Globalized Firms and Management; Risk Management; Supply Chain Management; Hong Kong

22 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 22

control over the use of remittances. In partnership with a Salvadoran bank, we offered U.S.-based migrants from El Salvador bank accounts in their home country into which they could send remittances. We randomly varied migrant control over El Salvador-based savings... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Article

Divide and Conquer: Competing with Free Technology under Network Effects

By: Deishin Lee and Haim Mendelson

We study how a commercial firm competes with a free open source product. The market consists of two customer segments with different preferences and is characterized by positive network effects. The commercial firm makes product and pricing decisions to maximize its... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Product Launch; Network Effects; Open Source Distribution; Adoption; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage

January 2009 (Revised October 2011)
Case

Barack Obama and the Bush Tax Cuts (A)

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl and Eric D. Werker

As his inauguration approached, President-elect Obama faced a financial sector meltdown, a costly bailout, and massive government deficits. With the economy in recession, interest rates near zero, and joblessness on the rise, Obama needed to decide whether, and how... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Management; Policy; Government Administration; Taxation; United States

October 2011
Article

Concentrating on Governance

By: Dalida Kadyrzhanova and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

This paper develops a novel trade-off view of corporate governance. Using a simple model that integrates agency costs and bargaining benefits of management friendly provisions, we identify the economic determinants of the resulting trade-offs for shareholder value.... View Details

Keywords: Market Participation; Corporate Governance; Business and Shareholder Relations

February 26, 2024
Article

Making Workplaces Safer Through Machine Learning

By: Matthew S. Johnson, David I. Levine and Michael W. Toffel

Machine learning algorithms can dramatically improve regulatory effectiveness. This short article describes the authors' scholarly work that shows how the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) could have reduced nearly twice as many occupational... View Details

Keywords: Government Experimentation; Auditing; Inspection; Evaluation; Process Improvement; Government Administration; AI and Machine Learning; Safety; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

Web

Power and Influence for Positive Impact | HBS Online

power really works and develop their own power to gain influence and make an impact—within their professional relationships, organizations, and society at large. Stay active by engaging in a new activity every three to five minutes,... View Details

March 2022 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Commercial Space Stations, Chickens and Eggs, and Demand for Activity in Low-Earth Orbit

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl and Brendan L. Rosseau

With the International Space Station set to retire in January 2031, NASA has made clear its desire to transition to commercially-led space stations in low-earth orbit (LEO). But the history of commercial station attempts has been fraught, characterized by a lack of... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Opportunities; Business Model; Travel Industry; Transportation Industry; Aerospace Industry

June 2002
Case

"One Country, Two Systems"? Italy and the Mezzogiorno (B)

By: Bruce R. Scott and Jamie Matthews

In 1992, a corruption investigation and two assassinations created a crisis that prompted the Italian government to dispatch 7,000 troops to Sicily to "retake the island" from the Mafia. This case examines the crisis and the efforts of both the Italian state and the... View Details

Keywords: History; National Security; Crime and Corruption; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Italy

January 2018 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Big Apple Circus: Time to Fold the Tent?

By: David G. Fubini and Matthew Wiger

By 2016, the Big Apple Circus has weathered many storms in its 38 seasons as one of the most well-known New York City nonprofits. Will Weiss, the executive director, has witnessed his share of chaos during four years at Big Apple. After a slight resurgence following... View Details

Keywords: Turnarounds; Bankruptcy; ＂Live Entertainment; Art; Crisis Management; Financial Crisis; Organizational Culture; Entertainment; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

2014
Working Paper

College Admissions as Non-Price Competition: The Case of South Korea

By: Christopher Avery, Alvin E. Roth and Soohyung Lee

This paper examines non-price competition among colleges to attract highly qualified students, exploiting the South Korean setting where the national government sets rules governing applications. We identify some basic facts about the behavior of colleges before and... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Higher Education; Policy; Government and Politics; Education Industry; South Korea

February 2009
Case

Avid Radiopharmaceuticals: The Venture Debt Question

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and Ann Leamon

The CEO of a promising biotech company must decide how to respond to the macro-economic slump of late 2008. He had planned to pursue an aggressive schedule, moving the firm's Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease imaging compounds through clinical trials and into the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Entrepreneurship; Borrowing and Debt; Venture Capital; Financial Management; Investment; Health Testing and Trials; Expansion; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

25 Nov 2014
First Look

First Look: November 25

Sweden, Canada, and the U.S. obtain the highest management scores closely followed by Germany, with a gap to Italy, Brazil, and then finally India. We also show that autonomous government schools (i.e., government funded but with... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

Web

Harvard Business School

Broadcast executive and businessman W. Don Cornwell was hired by Goldman Sachs in 1971 and later promoted to chief operating officer of the investment banking division's corporate finance department. In 1988, Cornwell left the securities... View Details

21 Nov 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, November 21, 2017

of recent large-scale asset purchases by central banks. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=53531 Governance Through Shame and Aspiration: Index Creation and Corporate Behavior By: Chattopadhyay, Akash, View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Summer 2019
Article

The Price Effects of Cross-Market Mergers: Theory and Evidence from the Hospital Industry

By: Leemore S. Dafny, Katherine Ho and Robin S. Lee

We consider the effect of mergers between firms whose products are not viewed as direct substitutes for the same good or service but are bundled by a common intermediary. Focusing on hospital mergers across distinct geographic markets, we show that such combinations... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Markets; Geographic Scope; Price; Outcome or Result; Insurance; Health Industry