Publications

May 2022 (Revised June 2024)
Case

LOOP: Driving Change in Auto Insurance Pricing

By: Elie Ofek and Alicia Dadlani

John Henry and Carey Anne Nadeau, co-founders and co-CEOs of LOOP, an insurtech startup based in Austin, Texas, were on a mission to modernize the archaic $250 billion automobile insurance market. They sought to create equitably priced insurance by eliminating pricing... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Technological Innovation; Equality and Inequality; Prejudice and Bias; Growth and Development Strategy; Customer Relationship Management; Price; Insurance Industry; Financial Services Industry

17 Sep 2024
HBS Case

The Climate Targets Leaders Need to Know as Regulations Loom

As investor pressure mounts on companies to show their environmental impacts, leaders are encountering an unwieldy tangle of terms and approaches. Climate accounting basics and a dictionary of sorts can help demystify the calculations and voluntary targets that... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

05 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 5, 2010

Affect Credit Ratings? Authors:Bo Becker and Todd Milbourn Abstract The credit rating industry has historically been dominated by just two agencies, Moody's and S&P, leading to longstanding legislative... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Jul 2015
First Look

First Look: July 28, 2015

management literature. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=47633 Concentrated Capital Losses and the Pricing of Corporate Credit Risk By: Siriwardane, Emil N. Abstract—Using proprietary View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

09 Apr 2009
Working Paper Summaries

The Economics of Structured Finance

Keywords: by Joshua D. Coval, Jakub Jurek & Erik Stafford

September 2010 (Revised October 2010)
Background Note

Note on International Trade Finance

By: C. Fritz Foley, Matthew Johnson and David Lane

This note provides an introduction to the financing terms and payment arrangements that support international trade. It describes the principal instruments of trade finance, the limited evidence on their relative use, and the international trade dispute resolution... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Credit; Financial Instruments; Financing and Loans; International Finance; Conflict and Resolution

26 Jun 2012
First Look

First Look: June 26

facilitating social comparison among agents. Overall, the findings demonstrate the power of non-financial rewards to motivate agents in settings where there are limits to the use of financial incentives. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/12-008.pdf... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 Nov 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, November 20, 2018

that adjustments grow more stringent and accurate in the months leading up to default and better predict lender default recovery rates. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52018 Peer Influence on Trade View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

December 1980 (Revised January 1992)
Case

Savannah West

By: William J. Poorvu and John H. Vogel Jr.

Allison Porter, a loan officer for Chemical Bank, must decide whether to make a construction loan on a 216-unit apartment building to be built in Savannah, Georgia. In teaching this case, one begins by looking at the economics, marketing data, etc., of the proposed... View Details

Keywords: Credit; Property; Financing and Loans; Banks and Banking; Housing; Risk Management; Valuation; Real Estate Industry; Banking Industry; Georgia (state, US)

12 Oct 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Crashes and Collateralized Lending

Keywords: by Jakub W. Jurek & Erik Stafford; Banking; Financial Services

21 Jun 2011
First Look

First Look: June 21

does not deliver goods as specified in the contract. The empirical results indicate that transactions are more likely to occur on cash in advance or letter of credit terms when the importer is located in a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

25 Sep 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, September 25, 2018

for the company to initiate regular quarterly dividends, while some other hedge fund investors were eager to see more share repurchases. Other choices being advocated by various parties included reducing leverage to improve HCA's credit... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

05 Aug 2011
Working Paper Summaries

An Exploration of Optimal Stabilization Policy

Keywords: by N. Gregory Mankiw & Matthew C. Weinzierl

May 1991 (Revised December 1994)
Case

State of Connecticut Municipal Swap

By: Andre F. Perold

The state of Connecticut wants to raise $325 million of long-term fixed-rate debt. One alternative is to do this synthetically--issue long-term variable rate debt and enter into an interest rate swap. The case is a vehicle for analyzing various floating rate structures... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Interest Rates; Taxation; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Risk and Uncertainty; New England

29 Jan 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, January 29, 2019

endowments, mergers, and limited liability. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55499 January 2019 Health Affairs Decreases In Readmissions Credited to Medicare's Program to Reduce Hospital Readmissions Have... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

30 Oct 2007
First Look

First Look: October 30, 2007

cognitive processes through which a problem is interpreted associatively in terms of something that has been experienced in the past. Despite recognition's centrality to strategic choice, we have limited knowledge of its nature and its... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Pierre Foods Acquisition of Advance Foods (A)

By: Guhan Subramanian and Mike Harmon

This case (A), and its related cases (B-E), establish a setting to discuss an M&A transaction and some of the key legal contracts that are associated with it. In 2010, private equity backed food manufacturer Pierre Foods is contemplating the acquisition of a key... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Contracts; Agreements and Arrangements; Negotiation; Complexity