Publications

January 1993 (Revised July 2003)
Case

Texas High-Speed Rail Corporation

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

The finance director of the Texas High-Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) is considering modifications to the financing program designed to support the development, construction, and operations of THSRC's planned high-speed rail system. The current plan achieves many objectives,... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; Financial Strategy; Financing and Loans; Taxation; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Strategic Planning; Valuation; Rail Industry; Texas

02 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 2

investments in green building expertise by local suppliers. These findings suggest that government procurement policies can accelerate the diffusion of new environmental standards, which require coordinated complementary investments by... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Oct 2016
News

Harvard Historian Explains Clinton's Abe Lincoln Moment

10 Oct 2016
News

Why Lincoln Hid His Strongest Feelings from the Public

March 2018
Supplement

China Vanke: Battle for Control (D)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Charles C.Y. Wang, Dawn H. Lau and Anthony K. Woo

In the battle for control over China Vanke, the Chinese securities regulator steps in to censure Vanke and Baoneng for acting against the interests of the market and minority shareholders. The Chinese insurance regulator also finds Baoneng to be in violation of... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business and Shareholder Relations; Conflict and Resolution; Real Estate Industry; China

May 2022
Article

Complex Disclosure

By: Ginger Zhe Jin, Michael Luca and Daniel Martin

We present evidence that unnecessarily complex disclosure can result from strategic incentives to shroud information. In our lab experiment, senders are required to report their private information truthfully, but can choose how complex to make their reports. We find... View Details

Keywords: Disclosure; Experiments; Naiveté; Overconfidence; Corporate Disclosure; Policy; Information; Complexity; Strategy; Consumer Behavior

22 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Forgiving Student Loan Debt Leads to Better Jobs, Stronger Consumers

student loans cancelled. National Collegiate, which holds 800,000 private student loans totaling $12 billion, had more than $5 billion of these loans in default as of 2018, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In the... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

Research Summary

The role of the manager in cross-sector interactions

My second stream of research takes the individual manager as the unit of analysis in examining cross-sector interactions. Two papers explore processes and mechanisms that allow managers to cross sectoral boundaries more effectively.

The first paper... View Details

11 Mar 2015
HBS Seminar

Ernest Wilson, University of Southern California, Annenberg School

18 May 2009
Research & Ideas

The Unseen Link Between Savings and National Growth

implication is that policies that foster domestic savings are important in developing countries because private savings is an important input in attracting foreign investment in frontier technology that raises the country's TFP. If View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

2022
Chapter

Lessons Learned from Support to Business during COVID-19

By: Gabriel Chodorow-Reich, Benjamin Iverson and Adi Sunderam

The authors survey the new federal subsidies and loans provided to businesses in the first year of the pandemic—including the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, and aid targeted at specific industries such as airlines... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Small Business; Government Legislation; Policy

Read Now

March 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Case

The Market for Prisoners: Business, Crime and Punishment in the "American Dream"

By: Rafael M. Di Tella and Laura Winig

In 2010, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest private prison operator in the U.S., was considering expansion options. The company's largest customers, federal and state governments, were under economic pressure to reduce the incarceration rate and... View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Crime and Corruption; Profit; Law Enforcement; Growth and Development Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Business and Government Relations; Competitive Strategy; Expansion; United States

November 2005 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Brazil Sugar and the WTO: Agricultural Reform in the European Union

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Kerry Herman and Irina Tarsis

Pedro de Camargo Neto, Brazil's secretary of trade and production for the Ministry of Agriculture, has won a WTO sugar decision for Brazil against the EU sugar policies. This case analyzes what this decision will mean to world food policies, especially those of the EU... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Trade; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Policy; Government and Politics; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; United States; Brazil

February 2015 (Revised December 2016)
Case

Poseidon Carlsbad: Desalination and the San Diego County Water Authority

By: John Macomber

Extreme drought conditions in California have significant impacts on the ability of the San Diego County Water Authority to provide adequate water for current users. Water shortfalls also could curtail the economic development of one of the fastest growing regions in... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Partners and Partnerships; Resource Allocation; Public Sector; Private Sector; Environmental Sustainability; Policy; Infrastructure; Green Technology Industry; Utilities Industry; California

April 2007 (Revised August 2014)
Case

Foreign Direct Investment and South Africa (A)

By: Eric Werker

Incoming and outgoing foreign direct investment in an environment of politics, geography, globalization, and history. Since the end of apartheid, South Africa had undertaken substantial economic reforms in order to attract more foreign direct investment, but it was... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Macroeconomics; Foreign Direct Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Government Relations; Africa; South Africa

15 Jan 2013
First Look

First Look: January 15

paper: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2190963 Which Does More to Determine the Quality of Corporate Governance in Emerging Economies, Firms or Countries? Authors:Hugill, Andrea, and Jordan Siegel Abstract Scholars of corporate View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2020
Case

TowerBrook: ESG in Action (A)

By: Victoria Ivashina, Brian Trelstad and Meaghan Conway

This case is the first of a two-part series that follows Ramez Sousou and his team at TowerBrook Capital Partners as they face a challenging investment decision in February of 2013. Since its founding, TowerBrook has prided itself on its purpose-driven investing... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Finance; Private Equity; Corporate Governance; Value Creation; Investment; Decision Making

March 2008 (Revised May 2008)
Case

The Blackstone Group's IPO

By: Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Steven Schwarzman, Chairman of the Blackstone Group, has just learned that an investment group associated with the government of China wants to buy the majority of Blackstone's leveraged IPO. As he considers how to respond to this offer, Schwarzman reviews the firm's... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Financial Liquidity; Initial Public Offering; Investment; Ownership Stake; Business and Stakeholder Relations