Publications

2014
Article

The Growth and Limits of Arbitrage: Evidence from Short Interest

By: Samuel G. Hanson and Adi Sunderam

We develop a novel methodology to infer the amount of capital allocated to quantitative equity arbitrage strategies. Using this methodology, which exploits time-variation in the cross section of short interest, we document that the amount of capital devoted to value... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Financial Instruments; Capital Markets; Investment

January 2017
Case

Nashua River Capital Management

By: Samuel Hanson and Aldo Sesia

Investment manager Eliza Baena confronts an apparent convertible bond arbitrage opportunity when she notices a narrowing spread between two Boston Properties (BXP) bonds, one a convertible bond and the other a straight bond, in the wake of the 2008 Lehman bankruptcy.... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Bonds; Investment

May 2005 (Revised January 2006)
Background Note

Note on Forward Contracts and Swaps

Introduces forward contracts and derives graphically through basic arbitrage principles the spot-forward parity. Introduces swap contracts as simply a portfolio of forward contracts. Also covers briefly the mathematics behind swaps as an extension of spot-forward... View Details

Keywords: Financial Instruments

January 2009
Article

Multinationals as Arbitrageurs? The Effect of Stock Market Valuations on Foreign Direct Investment

By: Malcolm Baker, C. Fritz Foley and Jeffrey Wurgler

Empirical evidence of imperfect integration across world capital markets suggests a role for cross-border arbitrage by multinationals. Consistent with multinational arbitrage as a determinant of foreign direct investment (FDI) patterns, we find that FDI flows increase... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Financial Markets; Foreign Direct Investment; Valuation; Capital Markets; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Cost; Forecasting and Prediction; Capital; Stocks; Integration

01 Dec 2003
What Do You Think?

Is This the Twilight Era for the Managed Mutual Fund?

Summing Up What Will it Take to Save the Managed Mutual Fund? In this month's column, I purposely took what I assumed was an extreme position in asking if this was the twilight era for the managed mutual fund. The responses the column generated from individual... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

January – February 2011
Article

Benchmarks as Limits to Arbitrage: Understanding the Low-Volatility Anomaly

By: Malcolm Baker, Brendan Bradley and Jeffrey Wurgler

Contrary to basic finance principles, high-beta and high-volatility stocks have long underperformed low-beta and low-volatility stocks. This anomaly may be partly explained by the fact that the typical institutional investor's mandate to beat a fixed benchmark... View Details

Keywords: Volatility; Stocks; Investment Return; Investment Portfolio; Risk Management; Performance Expectations

2022
Chapter

CIP Deviations, the Dollar, and Frictions in International Capital Markets

By: Wenxin Du and Jesse Schreger

The covered interest rate parity (CIP) condition is a fundamental arbitrage relationship in international finance. In this chapter, we review its breakdown during the Global Financial Crisis and its continued failure in the subsequent decade. We review how to measure... View Details

Keywords: Interest Rates; International Finance; Financial Crisis; Currency

2016
Working Paper

Credit Migration and Covered Interest Rate Parity

By: Gordon Y Liao

I document economically large and persistent discrepancies in the pricing of credit risk between corporate bonds denominated in different currencies. The discrepancies amount to 50-100 basis points on trillions of dollars of debt notional. I relate this violation of... View Details

Keywords: Market Segmentation; Debt Issuance; Covered Interest Rate Parity; Cross-currency Basis; Credit Risk; Financial Markets; Credit

September 2012
Teaching Note

Vodafone Japan (A), (B) and (C) (TN)

By: Juan Alcacer

The series of three cases is used in Harvard Business School's (HBS) elective course "Competing Globally" as the second case in the first module (Why?: Strategies to create value globally) (See "Competing Globally: Course Note for Instructors", HBS 713-422). The module... View Details

Keywords: Telecommunications; Technological Innovation; Technology Strategy; Operations Strategy; Information Technology; Operations; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; Japan

March 2006
Case

Wells Fargo Convertible Bonds

By: Malcolm P. Baker and Elizabeth Kind

Howard Atkins, the chief financial officer of Wells Fargo, is considering issuing $3 billion in convertible debt. With an investment-grade credit rating, Wells Fargo is not the typical issuer of convertible securities, but the market conditions in 2003 are unusual.... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Financial Institutions; Banks and Banking; Debt Securities; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Strategy; Banking Industry

Article

The Re-Industrialization of the United States?

By: Willy C. Shih

Talk of "re-industrialization" in the United States has been supported by a seeming resurgence in manufacturing, but this is driven more by the end of labor arbitrage and increasing coordination costs of offshore manufacturing. Aggressive restructurings and significant... View Details

August 2001 (Revised April 2002)
Case

Strategic Capital Management, LLC (A)

By: Mark L. Mitchell, Erik Stafford and Todd Pulvino

Strategic Capital Management, LLC, is a hedge fund that is planning to make financial investments in Creative Computers and Ubid. Creative Computers recently sold approximately 20% of its Internet auction subsidiary, Ubid, to the public at $15 per share. Ubid's stock... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Business Subsidiaries; Internet and the Web; Investment Funds; Price; Performance Efficiency; Capital Markets; Auctions; Investment Return; Equity; Planning; Financial Services Industry

September 1986 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Eastern Electric Apparatus Repair Company (A)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and Harry Gruner

As principals engaged in structuring leveraged buyouts for a well-capitalized risk arbitrage firm, Bob Meehan and George Schwartz are preparing to bid for the business and assets of a Westinghouse subsidiary. The case focuses on the value of the opportunity, methods of... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Bids and Bidding; Opportunities; Business Subsidiaries; Strategy; Valuation; Equity; Electronics Industry

Forthcoming
Article

Passive Ownership and Price Informativeness

By: Marco Sammon

I show that passive ownership negatively affects the degree to which stock prices anticipate earnings announcements. Estimates across several research designs imply that the rise in passive ownership over the last 30 years has caused the amount of information... View Details

Keywords: Passive Ownership; ETFs; Market Efficiency; Price; Investment Funds; Stocks; Communication

June 1992 (Revised June 1995)
Case

RJR Nabisco Holdings Capital Corp.--1991

By: Peter Tufano

An investment manager notices a large apparent discrepancy in the prices of two nearly-identical bonds issued in conjunction with a major leveraged buyout. The manager must figure out whether the instruments are mispriced relative to one another, and if so, how to... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Financial Instruments

March 1996 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Global Equity Markets: The Case of Royal Dutch and Shell

By: Kenneth A. Froot and Andre F. Perold

Royal Dutch and Shell common stocks are securities with linked cash flow, so that the ratio of their stock prices should be fixed. In fact, the ratio is highly variable, moving with the markets where the securities are intensively traded. Royal Dutch trades more... View Details

Keywords: International Equity Markets; International Cost Of Capital; Cross-border Valuation; International Finance; Equity; Cost of Capital; Valuation; Cash Flow

June 2018
Article

Deviations from Covered Interest Rate Parity

By: Wenxin Du, Alexander Tepper and Adrien Verdelhan

We find that deviations from the covered interest rate parity (CIP) condition imply large, persistent, and systematic arbitrage opportunities in one of the largest asset markets in the world. Contrary to the common view, these deviations for major currencies are not... View Details

Keywords: Interest Rates; Financial Markets; Banks and Banking; Price

May 2012
Article

Global, Local, and Contagious Investor Sentiment

By: Malcolm Baker, Jeffrey Wurgler and Yu Yuan

We construct investor sentiment indices for six major stock markets and decompose them into one global and six local indices. In a validation test, we find that relative sentiment is correlated with the relative prices of dual-listed companies. Global sentiment is a... View Details

Keywords: Business and Shareholder Relations; Globalization; Stocks; Markets; Capital; Financial Services Industry