Publications

Fall 2020
Article

Sizing Up Corporate Restructuring in the COVID Crisis

By: Robin Greenwood, Benjamin Iverson and David Thesmar

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the financial and legal system will need to deal with a surge of financial distress in the business sector. Some firms will be able to survive, while others will face bankruptcy and thus need to be liquidated or reorganized. Many... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Health Pandemics; Economy; System Shocks; Financial Crisis; Restructuring

08 Nov 2024
HBS Case

What Wartime Service Taught These Historic Leaders

favor. Eisenhower prepared to win, Simons says, but kept a second speech ready to deliver to his men if the gambit failed. The rest is history: Eisenhower went on to become president of the US, using the... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Entertainment & Recreation

2010
Working Paper

International Capital Allocation, Sovereign Borrowing, and Growth

By: Laura Alfaro, Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan and Vadym Volosovych

The key in the investigation of "where" and "why" capital flows, relative to the neoclassical benchmark, is how we measure these flows. The macro literature has been using three main yardsticks: the current account balance, returns to capital, and the volume of net... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Finance; Performance Productivity; Capital; Economics

Find at Harvard

2010
Working Paper

Crashes and Collateralized Lending

By: Jakub W. Jurek and Erik Stafford

This paper develops a parsimonious static model for characterizing financing terms in collateralized lending markets. We characterize the systematic risk exposures for a variety of securities and develop a simple indifference-pricing framework to value the systematic... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Cost of Capital; Credit; Financing and Loans; Interest Rates; Investment; Framework; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Services Industry

20 Jan 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Income Inequality and Social Preferences for Redistribution and Compensation Differentials

Keywords: by William R. Kerr

March 2003 (Revised April 2006)
Background Note

Scale and Scope in Professional Service Firms

By: Ashish Nanda

This case discusses why economies (and diseconomies) of scale and scope exist in professional service firms (PSFs) and how they influence the amount and range of services that PSFs offer. It is distributed with a case that focuses on determining the optimal scale/scope... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Operations; Microeconomics; Service Industry

01 Jun 2025
News

Navigating Uncertainty: Dean Datar on HBS’s Path Forward

With Harvard navigating an array of pressures, Jana Kierstead, Executive Director of the MBA and Doctoral Programs and External Relations, spoke with Dean Srikant Datar about how HBS is responding to new challenges while maintaining its focus on strategic priorities.... View Details

01 Sep 2007
News

Former French Finance Minister Joins HBS Faculty

Thierry Breton, former French finance minister, has joined the HBS faculty as a senior lecturer and will teach the first-year Leadership and Corporate Accountability course this fall. Breton is well-known in France as former chairman of... View Details

Keywords: finance minister; professorship; Administration of Economic Programs; Administration of Economic Programs; Administration of Economic Programs; Administration of Economic Programs

19 Mar 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Carry Trade and Exchange-Rate Regimes

Keywords: by Laura Alfaro & Fabio Kanczuk

August 2017 (Revised February 2024)
Teaching Note

Exotic Interest Rate Swaps: Snowballs in Portugal

By: Boris Vallee, Patrick Augustin and Philippe Rich

This case explores a complex swap transaction implemented by Metro do Porto in 2007. It represents an opportunity to study fixed income derivative instruments, such as plain-vanilla swaps and structured swaps, as well as understand the opportunities and challenges of... View Details

Keywords: Swaps; Public Finance; Structured Finance; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Public Sector; Transportation Industry; Rail Industry; Portugal

October 1990 (Revised May 1994)
Case

Confederated Pulp & Paper

By: David E. Bell

A rewritten version of an old case that updates the dates and prices and simplifies the economics. The issue is still one of determining a suitable inventory of wood for the mill to last through the winter. View Details

Keywords: History; Supply Chain Management; Spending; Forecasting and Prediction; Economic Growth; Information Management; Pulp and Paper Industry

18 Sep 2007
Panel Discussion

The Competitive Challenge For America in the 21st Century

By: Michael E. Porter

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce, The National Summit on American Competitiveness convened leaders of business, government, academia and the research community to address the core components of U.S. competitiveness. Michael Porter participated on the panel... View Details

Keywords: Economics; United States

20 Nov 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Impact Evaluation Methods in Public Economics: A Brief Introduction to Randomized Evaluations and Comparison with Other Methods

Keywords: by Dina Pomeranz; Public Administration

17 Dec 2015
News

Examining Global Workforce Management

As executives of an international company are considering workforce reductions in Europe and South America, they are providing layoff support to employees and working with communities to create incentives for new businesses to replace... View Details

January 2010 (Revised March 2010)
Background Note

A Note on Direct Selling in Developing Economies

By: Michael Chu and Joel Emilio Bregman Segre

Informal and formal direct selling play a particularly important role in developing countries characterized by markets with limited retail sectors. This note explores the practice of direct selling for the company, the sales person, and the consumer, as well as the... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Developing Countries and Economies; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Emerging Markets; Sales

September 2011
Case

AXA Private Equity: The Diana Investment

By: Michael J. Roberts and William A. Sahlman

The case focuses on an investment made by AXA Private Equity, a French manufacturer of food ingredients. The investment is made at the height of the financial markets, and financed with significant debt. Soon thereafter, the financial crisis impacted the company's... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Ethics; Investment; Financial Crisis

14 Aug 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Rainmakers: Why Bad Weather Means Good Productivity

Keywords: by Jooa Julia Lee, Francesca Gino & Bradley R. Staats

22 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Not Your Father’s State-Run Capitalism

managers. We haven't always understood these changes." Leviathan In Business In a new working paper, Leviathan in Business: Varieties of State Capitalism and Their Implications for Economic Performance,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

Article

Good Markets (Really Do) Make Good Neighbors

By: Scott Duke Kominers

This article gives a (very) brief exposition of what market design is, along with four examples of market design in action. Loosely themed after Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall,” the examples demonstrate ways in which market design can break barriers—physical,... View Details

Keywords: Market Design; Economics; Theory; Change; Society