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Show Results For
-
All HBS Web
(298)
- News (55)
- Research (183)
- Events (1)
- Multimedia (5)
- Faculty Publications (133)
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- October 2021 (Revised May 2023)
- Case
Engine No.1: An Impact Investing Firm Engages with ExxonMobil
By: Mark Kramer, Shawn Cole, Vikram S. Gandhi and T. Robert Zochowski
ExxonMobil, the world's fifth largest source of carbon emissions, remained committed to aggressively expanding its oil & gas business despite global warming. During the COVID pandemic this strategy resulted in massive losses as the price and demand for oil declined. ...
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Keywords:
Carbon Emissions;
Global Warming;
Impact Investment Funds;
Hedge Fund Activism;
Leadership Development;
Business Model;
Renewable Energy;
Resource Allocation;
Decision Choices and Conditions;
Governing and Advisory Boards
Kramer, Mark, Shawn Cole, Vikram S. Gandhi, and T. Robert Zochowski. "Engine No. 1: An Impact Investing Firm Engages with ExxonMobil." Harvard Business School Case 222-028, October 2021. (Revised May 2023.)
- February 2018 (Revised August 2018)
- Case
OpenInvest
By: Shawn Cole, Boris Vallée and Nicole Tempest Keller
Founded by a team of hedge fund and NGO alumni, OpenInvest launched its platform in 2015 to enable retail investors to tailor their portfolios to their personal values in an automated way, for instance by screening out weapons manufacturers stocks or overweighting...
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Keywords:
Fintech;
Impact Investing;
Investment Portfolio;
Customization and Personalization;
Technological Innovation;
Social Issues;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Business Model;
Financial Services Industry
Cole, Shawn, Boris Vallée, and Nicole Tempest Keller. "OpenInvest." Harvard Business School Case 218-064, February 2018. (Revised August 2018.)
- 2009
- Other Unpublished Work
The Pecora Hearings
By: David Moss, Cole Bolton and Eugene Kintgen
In 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression, the Senate Banking Committee began a much-publicized investigation of the nation's financial sector. The hearings, which came to be known as the Pecora hearings after the Banking Committee's lead counsel Ferdinand... View Details
- December 2010 (Revised June 2018)
- Case
The Pecora Hearings
By: David Moss, Cole Bolton and Eugene Kintgen
In 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression, the Senate Banking Committee began a much-publicized investigation of the nation's financial sector. The hearings, which came to be known as the Pecora hearings after the Banking Committee's lead counsel Ferdinand Pecora,...
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Keywords:
Financial Crisis;
Fairness;
Borrowing and Debt;
Financial Institutions;
Debt Securities;
Stocks;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Government Legislation;
History;
Financial Services Industry;
United States
Moss, David, Cole Bolton, and Eugene Kintgen. "The Pecora Hearings." Harvard Business School Case 711-046, December 2010. (Revised June 2018.)
- 2021
- Working Paper
The Project on Impact Investments' Impact Investment Database
By: M. Diane Burton, Shawn Cole, Abhishek Dev, Christina Jarymowycz, Leslie Jeng, Josh Lerner, Fanele Mashwama, Yue (Cynthia) Xu and T. Robert Zochowski
Impact investing has grown significantly over the past 15 years. From a niche investing segment with only $25 billion AUM in 2013 (WEF 2013), it experienced double-digit growth and developed into a market with an estimated $502 billion AUM (Mudaliapar and Dithrich...
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Burton, M. Diane, Shawn Cole, Abhishek Dev, Christina Jarymowycz, Leslie Jeng, Josh Lerner, Fanele Mashwama, Yue (Cynthia) Xu, and T. Robert Zochowski. "The Project on Impact Investments' Impact Investment Database." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-117, May 2020. (Revised August 2021.)
- 2008
- Working Paper
Fixing Market Failures or Fixing Elections? Agricultural Credit in India
By: Shawn A. Cole
This paper integrates theories of political budget cycles with theories of tactical electoral redistribution to test for political capture in a novel way. Studying banks in India, I find that government-owned bank lending tracks the electoral cycle, with agricultural...
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Keywords:
Agribusiness;
Banks and Banking;
Financing and Loans;
Political Elections;
State Ownership;
Banking Industry;
India
Cole, Shawn A. "Fixing Market Failures or Fixing Elections? Agricultural Credit in India." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 09-001, July 2008.
- Teaching Interest
Investing: Risk, Return and Impact (MBA)
By: Shawn A. Cole
This is an investing/finance course, designed to build on skills introduced in the RC finance course, but with an emphasis on how and whether investors should incorporate what have traditionally been considered “non-financial” criteria in their decisions: for... View Details
- August 2007
- Article
Remedying Education: Evidence from Two Randomized Experiments in India
By: A. Banerjee, Shawn A. Cole, E. Duflo and L. Linden
This paper presents the results of two randomized experiments conducted in schools in urban India. A remedial education program hired young women to teach students lagging behind in basic literacy and numeracy skills. It increased average test scores of all children in...
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Banerjee, A., Shawn A. Cole, E. Duflo, and L. Linden. "Remedying Education: Evidence from Two Randomized Experiments in India." Quarterly Journal of Economics 122, no. 3 (August 2007): 1235–1264.
- January 2021
- Article
'Mobile'izing Agricultural Advice: Technology Adoption, Diffusion and Sustainability
By: Shawn A. Cole and A. Nilesh Fernando
We examine the role of management in agricultural productivity by evaluating a mobile-phone based agricultural advice service provided to farmers in India. Demand for advice is high, and advice changes practices, increasing yields in cumin (28%) and cotton (8.6% for a...
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Keywords:
Agricultural Extension;
Informational Inefficiencies;
Technology Adoption;
Agribusiness;
Information;
Mobile Technology;
India
Cole, Shawn A., and A. Nilesh Fernando. "'Mobile'izing Agricultural Advice: Technology Adoption, Diffusion and Sustainability." Economic Journal 131, no. 633 (January 2021): 192–219.
- 2017
- Article
Agricultural Insurance and Economic Development
By: Shawn A. Cole and Wentao Xiong
This article provides a review of recent research on agricultural insurance (AI) in developing countries. Agricultural producers face a variety of significant risks; historically, only government-subsidized products have achieved widespread adoption. A recent...
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Keywords:
Agribusiness;
Insurance;
Developing Countries and Economies;
Adoption;
Risk Management;
Research;
Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry
Cole, Shawn A., and Wentao Xiong. "Agricultural Insurance and Economic Development." Annual Review of Economics 9 (2017): 235–262.
- 2009
- Other Unpublished Work
Danatbank
By: David Moss, Cole Bolton and Andrew Novo
In the summer of 1931, Germany was struggling with a deepening economic crisis. Production had fallen, unemployment was high, and bank deposits and gold were being withdrawn from the country at a rapid pace, threatening the value of the German mark. The country's third...
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- March 2010 (Revised December 2010)
- Case
Danatbank
By: David A. Moss, Cole Bolton and Andrew Novo
In the summer of 1931, Germany was struggling with a deepening economic crisis. Production had fallen, unemployment was high, and bank deposits and gold were being withdrawn from the country at a rapid pace, threatening the value of the German mark. The country's third...
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Keywords:
History;
Risk Management;
Business History;
Capital Markets;
Financial Crisis;
Banks and Banking;
Business and Government Relations;
Banking Industry;
Germany
Moss, David A., Cole Bolton, and Andrew Novo. "Danatbank." Harvard Business School Case 710-059, March 2010. (Revised December 2010.)
- April 2015
- Article
Incentivizing Calculated Risk-Taking: Evidence from an Experiment with Commercial Bank Loan Officers
By: Shawn Cole, Martin Kanz and Leora Klapper
This paper uses a series of experiments with commercial bank loan officers to test the effect of performance incentives on risk assessment and lending decisions. We first show that while high-powered incentives lead to greater screening effort and more profitable...
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Keywords:
Banking;
Management Processes;
Credit Products;
Experimental Economics;
Risk Management;
Motivation and Incentives;
Management Practices and Processes;
Financing and Loans;
Banking Industry
Cole, Shawn, Martin Kanz, and Leora Klapper. "Incentivizing Calculated Risk-Taking: Evidence from an Experiment with Commercial Bank Loan Officers." Journal of Finance 70, no. 2 (April 2015): 537–575.
- July 2014
- Article
Smart Money? The Effect of Education on Financial Outcomes
By: Shawn A. Cole, Anna Paulson and Gauri Kartini Shastry
Household financial decisions are important for household welfare, economic growth and financial stability. Yet, our understanding of the determinants of financial decision-making is limited. Exploiting exogenous variation in state compulsory schooling laws in both...
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Cole, Shawn A., Anna Paulson, and Gauri Kartini Shastry. "Smart Money? The Effect of Education on Financial Outcomes." Review of Financial Studies 27, no. 7 (July 2014): 2022–2051.
- 10 May 2016
- First Look
May 10, 2016
Agricultural Advice: Technology Adoption, Diffusion and Sustainability By: Cole, Shawn A., and A. Nilesh Fernando Abstract—We examine the role of management in agricultural productivity by evaluating a...
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Keywords:
Carmen Nobel
- November 2011 (Revised October 2014)
- Case
Attack of the Clones: Birchbox Defends Against Copycat Competitors
By: Peter A. Coles and Benjamin Edelman
Birchbox offers trial-sized beauty products delivered monthly by mail—attracting rave reviews. Seeing the success of this model, numerous "copycat" clones seek to offer the same service. Many of these copycats focus on non-U.S. countries, but others are challenging...
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Coles, Peter A., and Benjamin Edelman. "Attack of the Clones: Birchbox Defends Against Copycat Competitors." Harvard Business School Case 912-010, November 2011. (Revised October 2014.) (request a courtesy copy.)
- 2021
- Working Paper
Long-run Returns to Impact Investing in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies
By: Shawn Cole, Martin Melecky, Florian Mölders and Tristan Reed
There is growing interest in impact investing, the idea of deploying capital to obtain both financial and social or environmental returns. Examination of every equity investment made by the International Finance Corporation, one of the largest and longest-operating...
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Keywords:
Impact Investing;
Investment;
Emerging Markets;
Developing Countries and Economies;
Investment Return
Cole, Shawn, Martin Melecky, Florian Mölders, and Tristan Reed. "Long-Run Returns to Impact Investing in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 27870, September 2020. (Revised June 2021. Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-138, June 2021)
- 23 Aug 2011
- First Look
First Look: August 23
Course MaterialsBANEX and the ,,No Pago" Movement (A) Shawn Cole and Baily Blair KempnerHarvard Business School Case 211-092 This case examines Grassroots Capital's decision of whether or not to...
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Keywords:
Sean Silverthorne
- Article
Understanding the Advice of Commissions-Motivated Agents: Evidence from the Indian Life Insurance Market
By: Santosh Anagol, Shawn Cole and Shayak Sarkar
We conduct a series of field experiments to evaluate the quality of advice provided by life insurance agents in India. Agents overwhelmingly recommend unsuitable, strictly dominated products, which provide high commissions to the agent. Agents cater to the beliefs of...
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Keywords:
Advice;
Customers;
Insurance;
Service Operations;
Motivation and Incentives;
Ethics;
India
Anagol, Santosh, Shawn Cole, and Shayak Sarkar. "Understanding the Advice of Commissions-Motivated Agents: Evidence from the Indian Life Insurance Market." Review of Economics and Statistics 99, no. 1 (March 2017).
- March 2009 (Revised September 2011)
- Case
UBS and Auction Rate Securities (A)
By: Daniel Baird Bergstresser, Shawn A. Cole and Siddharth Bhaskar Shenai
UBS, a global financial services company, must decide whether to continue to support the market for Auction Rate Securities in the face of a growing financial crisis. These instruments, underwritten by UBS, were marketed to clients as highly liquid and safe...
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Keywords:
Cost vs Benefits;
Financial Crisis;
Asset Pricing;
Financial Liquidity;
Financial Instruments;
Government Legislation;
Risk and Uncertainty;
Financial Services Industry
Bergstresser, Daniel Baird, Shawn A. Cole, and Siddharth Bhaskar Shenai. "UBS and Auction Rate Securities (A)." Harvard Business School Case 209-119, March 2009. (Revised September 2011.)