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Article

Second Chance: Life with Less Student Debt

By: Marco Di Maggio, Ankit Kalda and Vincent Yao

This paper examines the effect of student debt relief on individual credit and labor market outcomes. We exploit an episode of plausibly random debt discharge due to the loss of paperwork for thousands of borrowers to examine the effects of private student debt relief... View Details

Keywords: Student Debt; Private Student Loans; Legal Settlement; Mobility; Debt Collection; Debt Relief; Personal Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Outcome or Result

SSRN

May 2009 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Depreciation at Delta Air Lines: The "Fresh Start"

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

In estimating depreciation for accounting purposes, Delta Air Lines has changed its assumptions about aircraft lifespan and residual values four times in the last thirty years or so. In the most recent changes, Delta adopted fair value accounting as part of its fresh... View Details

Keywords: Accounting Policies; Accounting Procedures; Depreciation; Bankruptcy; Cost Accounting; Financial Reporting; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Policy; Air Transportation Industry

Rising student debt is considered one of the creeping threats of our time. This paper examines the effect of student debt relief on individual credit and labor View Details

October 2011
Article

Fair Pricing

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

This paper explores the consequences of supposing that consumers see a firm as fair if they cannot reject the hypothesis that the firm is somewhat benevolent towards them. When consumers can reject this hypothesis, some become angry, which is costly to the firm. The... View Details

Keywords: Price; Income; Consumer Behavior; Fair Value Accounting; Outcome or Result

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10 Aug 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Unobserved State Fragility and the Political Transfer Problem

Keywords: by Faisal Z. Ahmed & Eric Werker

29 Jun 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Trade Credit and Taxes

Keywords: by Mihir A. Desai, C. Fritz Foley & James R. Hines

September 2010
Case

Aaron's: Household Goods for the U.S. Base of the Pyramid

By: Michael Chu and Charles Augustus Smithgall IV

With $2.5 billion system-wide revenues, Aaron's, a major rent-to-own supplier to the U.S. base of the pyramid, continues to grow in the recession, but CEO R.C. Loudermilk, Jr. wonders how long the company can sustain the fast growth rate of its past. Founded in 1955,... View Details

Keywords: Fairness; For-Profit Firms; Renting or Rental; Financial Crisis; Demand and Consumers; Social Enterprise; Income; Goods and Commodities; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; United States

24 Aug 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Equalizing Outcomes vs. Equalizing Opportunities: Optimal Taxation when Children’s Abilities Depend on Parents’ Resources

Keywords: by Alexander Gelber & Matthew Weinzierl

22 Feb 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Consumer Demand for Prize-Linked Savings: A Preliminary Analysis

Keywords: by Peter Tufano, Nick Maynard & Jan-Emmanuel De Neve; Financial Services

July–August 2014
Article

The Crisis in Retirement Planning

By: Robert C. Merton

Corporate America began to really take notice of the looming retirement crisis in the wake of the dot-com crash, when companies in major industries went bankrupt in large part because of their inability to meet their pension obligations. The result was an acceleration... View Details

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01 Jan 2024
Blog Post

Answers to Your Top Questions about Financial Aid at HBS

new scholarships to students from middle income backgrounds, building on the approximately 50% of students who already receive scholarships. 2. How much does an MBA cost? With an annual MBA financial aid budget exceeding $45M, HBS... View Details

26 Jun 2015
News

Get Rid of Unhealthy Competition on Your Team

31 Jul 2017
News

Isolationism is killing the American dream

December 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Strategy and CEO Succession at Starbucks

By: Krishna G. Palepu and David Lane

On August 13, 2024, Starbucks announced that Laxman Narasimhan who was appointed as the CEO only in September 2023, was stepping down as CEO and board director “with immediate effect.” Laxman would be replaced on September 9 by Brian Niccol, CEO since 2018 of Chipotle... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Corporate Governance; Leadership; Management Succession; Cost Management; Labor Unions; Working Conditions; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Service Operations; Investment Activism; Governing and Advisory Boards; Resignation and Termination; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

June 2024
Article

Inflation with COVID Consumption Baskets

By: Alberto Cavallo

The Covid-19 pandemic led to changes in expenditure patterns that introduced significant bias in the measurement of Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation. Using publicly-available data on card transactions, I updated the official CPI weights and re-calculated inflation... View Details

Keywords: COVID; Consumer Expenditures; CPI; Inflation; Consumer Behavior; Inflation and Deflation; Health Pandemics

February 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Mibanco: Meeting the Mainstreaming of Microfinance

By: Michael Chu and Gustavo A. Herrero

Mibanco, Peru's leading microfinance bank, faces intense competition as the banking industry rushes into low income segments. Companion video clips bring into the classroom the contemporary reality of a world-class microfinance institution, where the unpaved streets... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Profit; Business History; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Marketing Strategy; Service Operations; Performance; Competition; Banking Industry; Peru