Publications

2008
Working Paper

A Darker Side to Decentralized Banks: Market Power and Credit Rationing in SME Lending

By: Rodrigo Canales and Ramana Nanda

We use loan-level data to study how the organizational structure of banks impacts small business lending. We find that decentralized banks—where branch managers have greater autonomy over lending decisions—give larger loans to small firms and those with "soft... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Financing and Loans; Industry Structures; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Mexico

07 May 2024
Blog Post

Opportunity to Offset Travel Emissions with Carbon Credits that Meet HBS Criteria

credits sold by projects that reduce GHG in the atmosphere and may also provide other societal benefits in areas such as equity and health. Not all carbon credits used for offsetting are created equal -... View Details

Article

Happiness on Tap: Piped Water Adoption in Urban Morocco

By: Florencia Devoto, Esther Duflo, Pascaline Dupas, William Pariente and Vincent Pons

Connecting private dwellings to the water main is expensive and typically cannot be publicly financed. We show that households' willingness to pay for a private connection is high when it can be purchased on credit, not because a connection improves health but because... View Details

Keywords: Water Supply; Urban Development; Household; Credit; Well-being; Morocco

February 2018
Article

Structural GARCH: The Volatility-Leverage Connection

By: Robert F. Engle and Emil N. Siriwardane

During the financial crisis, financial firm leverage and volatility both rose dramatically. Consequently, institutions are being asked to reduce leverage in order to reduce risk, though the effectiveness depends upon the role of capital structure in volatility. To... View Details

Keywords: Leverage; Credit Risk; Crisis Management; Equity; Volatility; Credit; Risk Management; Financial Crisis

2014
Discussion Paper

The Promise of Microfinance and Women's Empowerment: What Does the Evidence Say?

By: Dina D. Pomeranz

The microfinance revolution has transformed access to financial services for low-income populations worldwide. As a result, it has become one of the most talked-about innovations in global development in recent decades. However, its expansion has not been without... View Details

November 2023
Case

Gabon Special Economic Zone

By: John Macomber and Wale Lawal

Tropical rain forest covers about 80% of the West African nation of Gabon, part of the Congo Basin and the "lungs of the world." Gabon is one of the first nations to earn revenue from carbon sequestration...as long as the rain forest remains intact. There are... View Details

Keywords: Economic Development; Forestry; Wood; Carbon Credits; Supply Chain; Economic Growth; Developing Countries and Economies; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Government Administration; Business and Government Relations; Strategy; Forest Products Industry; Africa; Gabon

Educators

Purchase

Article

Capital Market-Driven Corporate Finance

By: Malcolm Baker

Much of empirical corporate finance focuses on sources of the demand for various forms of capital, not the supply. Recently, this has changed. Supply effects of equity and credit markets can arise from a combination of three ingredients: investor tastes, limited... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Finance; Limits To Arbitrage; Market Efficiency; Securities Issuance; Supply Effects; Corporate Finance; Investment; Price; Capital Markets; Equity; Financial Services Industry

February 2018
Article

Financial Repression in the European Sovereign Debt Crisis

By: Bo Becker and Victoria Ivashina

By the end of 2013, the share of government debt held by the domestic banking sectors of Eurozone countries was more than twice its 2007 level. We show that this type of increasing reliance on the domestic banking sector for absorbing government bonds generates a... View Details

Keywords: Credit Cycles; Sovereign Debt; Financial Repression; Sovereign Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Credit; Europe

SSRN

2014
Working Paper

Financial Repression in the European Sovereign Debt Crisis

By: Bo Becker and Victoria Ivashina

By the end of 2013, the share of government debt held by the domestic banking sectors of Eurozone countries was more than twice its 2007 level. We show that this type of increasing reliance on the domestic banking sector for absorbing government bonds generates a... View Details

Keywords: Credit Cycles; Sovereign Debt; Financial Repression; Sovereign Finance; Greece

SSRN

December 2023
Article

What Can Stockouts Tell Us About Inflation? Evidence from Online Micro Data

By: Alberto Cavallo and Oleksiy Kryvtsov

We use a detailed micro dataset on product availability and stockouts to construct a direct high-frequency measure of consumer product shortages during the 2020-2022 pandemic. We document a widespread multi-fold rise in stockouts in nearly all sectors early in the... View Details

Keywords: Prices; Stockouts; Inventories; Supply Disruptions; COVID-19 Pandemic; Supply Chain; Product; Demand and Consumers

2020
Working Paper

Currency Hedging in Emerging Markets: Managing Cash Flow Exposure

By: Laura Alfaro, Mauricio Calani and Liliana Varela

Foreign currency derivative markets are among the largest in the world, yet their role in emerging markets in particular, is relatively understudied. We study firms' currency risk exposure and their hedging choices by employing a unique dataset covering the universe of... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Currency Hedging; FX Derivatives; Foreign Currency Debt; Currency Mismatch; Trade Credit; Currency; Cash Flow; Emerging Markets

April 2024 (Revised October 2024)
Case

New Belgium Brewing and Climate Change

By: Michael W. Toffel, Kenneth P. Pucker and Michael Norris

In 2023, Colorado-based craft brewery New Belgium Brewing was considering how best to meet its emissions reduction targets. After decades of growth, the beermaker had grown to become one of the largest craft brewers in the U.S., and was purchased in 2019 by Japanese... View Details

Keywords: Beer; Carbon Accounting; Carbon Credits; Operation Management; Renewable Energy; Supply Chain; Environmental Sustainability; Climate Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Colorado