Publications

28 Sep 2016
News

Can Washington control high-tech lending?

16 Aug 2010
News

Commercial paper market rates at record lows

Research Summary

Nominal versus Indexed Debt: A Quantitative Horse Race (joint with Fabio Kanczuk)

By: Laura Alfaro

There are different arguments in favor and against nominal and indexed debt which broadly include the incentive to default through inflation versus hedging against unforeseen shocks. We model these arguments and calibrate the model to assess the quantitative importance... View Details

July 1994 (Revised October 1995)
Case

Coca-Cola Harmless Warrants

By: Scott P. Mason and Mihir A. Desai

Underscores the arbitrage implicit in the pricing of a complex unit of debt and warrants issued by the Coca-Cola Co. View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Price; Innovation and Invention; Food and Beverage Industry

15 Dec 2015
News

Don’t Turn Your Sales Team Loose Without a Strategy

September 2008
Case

Samoa Tala

By: Joshua D. Coval, Bhagwan Chowdhry and Konark Saxena

This case examines currency risks faced by Microfinance Institutions, and evaluates strategies to hedge them in countries with pegged currency regimes and no derivatives markets. An MFI based in Western Samoa borrows in different currencies like the US dollar and the... View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Currency Exchange Rate; Microfinance; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Services Industry; Samoa

Research Summary

Current Research Projects

1. Freedom and Openness in Scientific Research

This is a joint project with Philippe Aghion, Scott Stern, and Fiona Murray. It analyzes the effects of shifts in the availability of genetically modified mice for follow-on research. ... View Details

August 2012 (Revised March 2013)
Supplement

Preem (B)

Preem's creditors and owners made a deal with an 18 month extension of debt maturities and a minor equity injection in 2009. Now, in 2010, the new maturity is approaching, and refinancing is again unlikely. This time, all the firm's debt is coming due. What went wrong... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Equity; Problems and Challenges; Mining Industry; Energy Industry; Europe

25 Jul 2015
News

Small businesses turning to online lenders

December 1989
Article

Organizational Changes and Value Creation in Leveraged Buyouts: The Case of O.M. Scott & Sons Company

By: George P. Baker and Karen Wruck

Keywords: Change; Value; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Instruments; Leveraged Buyouts

Find at Harvard

23 Apr 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate Financial Policies in Misvalued Credit Markets

Keywords: by Jarrad Harford, Marc Martos-Vila & Matthew Rhodes-Kropf; Financial Services; Banking

06 Dec 2011
Op-Ed

Greater Fiscal Integration Best Solution for Euro Crisis

unelected, "technocratic" national emergency governments. If after Greece, Portugal and Ireland, Italy were to fall into the debt spiral, it might be the domino piece that could bring down the... View Details

Keywords: by Dante Roscini

November 1981 (Revised June 1998)
Case

A Keynesian Cure for the Depression

Keynes, in excerpts from a 1933 pamphlet, outlines his recommendations for recovery from the Depression. He emphasizes the need for public works expenditures financed by government borrowing and discusses the "multiplier" effect of deficit spending on gross national... View Details

Keywords: History; Business Cycles; Theory; Microeconomics; Government Administration

August 2011 (Revised November 2018)
Case

Lind Equipment

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Lind Equipment failed to meet its loan covenants with its senior bank lender in the summer of 2008, just six months after it was acquired. While the senior bank debt comprised only 6% of the capital used in the acquisition and was fully secured, it exercised its right... View Details

Keywords: Financial Condition; Borrowing and Debt; Capital; Revenue; Financing and Loans; Financial Strategy; Financial Management; Acquisition; Financial Crisis; Currency Exchange Rate; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Manufacturing Industry; Industrial Products Industry

14 Nov 2012
News

Wonks dust off radical revenue-raising ideas

21 Aug 2015
Blog Post

My Fear of Student Debt: Funding the HBS/HKS Joint Degree

How do you decide whether taking on student debt outweighs the professional and personal benefits of graduate school? This decision was hard for me. I spent four years after my undergraduate studies working... View Details

October 2023 (Revised December 2023)
Case

Compound: Lending on the Blockchain

By: Marco Di Maggio, George Gonzalez and Richard Dulude

This case critically examines Compound, an innovative decentralized finance (DeFi) platform. Focusing on Compound’s blockchain-based borrowing and lending protocol, the case explores its automated, intermediary-free system using Ethereum smart contracts. This system... View Details

Keywords: Blockchain; Cryptocurrency; Disruptive Innovation; Borrowing and Debt; Financing and Loans; Organizational Design; Technological Innovation

October 2013
Module Note

Note on LBO Capital Structure

By: Victoria Ivashina, Paul A. Gompers, Paul A. Gompers, Victoria Ivashina, Joris Van Gool and Joris Van Gool

This note discusses the capital structure often found in LBO transactions. Although the specifics of each capital structure vary case by case, in any given year, there is a great deal of similarity in the capital structure of these buyouts. These similarities exist... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Capital Structure

March 2009 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Zopa: The Power of Peer-to-Peer Lending

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Isabel Fernandez-Mateo and David Chen

Zopa, a U.K.-based peer-to-peer lending company, connected individual lenders and borrowers via an online interface. The company charged a small fee for completed loan transactions but has not turned a profit. Zopa offered two platforms, Markets and Listings. Markets... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Personal Finance; Market Participation; Digital Platforms; Social and Collaborative Networks; Financial Services Industry; United Kingdom