Publications

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May 2011
Article

Consequences and Institutional Determinants of Unregulated Corporate Financial Statements: Evidence from Embedded Value Reporting

By: George Serafeim

I analyze Embedded Value (EV) reporting by firms with life insurance operations to assess the impact of unregulated financial reporting on transparency and to examine the institutional characteristics that promote unregulated reporting. Under EV accounting the present... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Reporting; Cash Flow; Contracts; Equity; Profit; Value; Corporate Disclosure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business Earnings

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19 Nov 2019
Op-Ed

Gender Bias Complaints against Apple Card Signal a Dark Side to Fintech

customers be able to see what pieces of data may have led to a loan rejection or a lower credit limit? Should regulators have access to the algorithms and test them for the impact they have on underserved or protected classes? The Apple... View Details

Keywords: by Karen G. Mills; Financial Services

February 2022 (Revised November 2022)
Case

Fondeadora

By: Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui and Mitchell Weiss

Norman Müller and René Serrano, cofounders of Fondeadora, a Mexican “neobank,” had lined up a $12.5 million in Series A funding round in 2020 only to run into a major obstacle: The lead investor was Gradient Ventures, a venture firm launched by Alphabet, Inc., and... View Details

Keywords: Fundraising; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Financial Institutions; Business Startups; Government Legislation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Mexico City; Latin America

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August 2011
Article

Coming Clean and Cleaning Up: Does Voluntary Self-Reporting Indicate Effective Self-Policing

By: Michael W. Toffel and Jodi L. Short

Regulatory agencies are increasingly establishing voluntary self-reporting programs both as an investigative tool and to encourage regulated firms to commit to policing themselves. We investigate whether voluntary self-reporting can reliably indicate effective... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Programs; Governance Compliance; Corporate Disclosure; Law Enforcement

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February 2025
Article

Disclosure, Humanizing, and Contextual Vulnerability of Generative AI Chatbots

By: Julian De Freitas and I. Glenn Cohen

In the wake of recent advancements in generative AI, regulatory bodies are trying to keep pace. One key decision is whether to require app makers to disclose the use of generative AI-powered chatbots in their products. We suggest that some generative AI-based chatbots... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Applications and Software; Well-being

02 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 2, 2019

forthcoming Review of Accounting Studies The Effect of Enforcement Transparency: Evidence from SEC Comment-Letter Reviews By: Duro, Miguel, Jonas Heese, and Gaizka Ormazabal Abstract—This paper studies the effect of the public disclosure... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

October 2014 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Integrated Reporting at Aegon

By: Robert G. Eccles, George Serafeim, Sydney Ribot and Michael Krzus

In 2011, Aegon adopted integrated reporting—a corporate reporting approach that sought to present company performance in a holistic light by considering medium- to long-term issues, stakeholder opinions, and the relationship between material financial and nonfinancial... View Details

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06 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 6

dishonesty as morally acceptable and thus feel less guilty about benefiting from cheating. We discuss the implications of these results for collaborations in the social realm. License to Cheat: Voluntary Regulation and Ethical Behavior... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: January 4

Environmental, Social, and Governance [ESG]) information, including data produced by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), is growing. Using data from Bloomberg we analyze this interest from a variety of different perspectives, and in... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

26 Sep 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Playing Favorites: How Firms Prevent the Revelation of Bad News

Keywords: by Lauren Cohen, Dong Lou & Christopher Malloy; Financial Services

25 Oct 2016
First Look

October 25, 2016

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51775 Managers' Cultural Background and Disclosure Attributes By: Brochet, Francois, Gregory S. Miller, Patricia Naranjo, and Gwen Yu Abstract—We examine how a manager’s ethnic cultural... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 Jun 2009
Research & Ideas

“Too Big To Fail”: Reining In Large Financial Firms

system to an entirely new level," he warns. But Moss has a fix: The federal government should slap tough new regulations on all firms that pose "systemic risk" —the risk that a failure of one institution could wreak havoc across the... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Banking; Financial Services

18 Jul 2006
First Look

First Look: July 18, 2006

Principles of Business Conduct. Governance-Linked D&O Market-Based Governance: Leveraging D&O Insurance to Drive Corporate Governance Authors:Srikant M. Datar and J. H. Friedland Publisher:International Journal of Disclosure and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 20

their increased tendency to behave fairly. Read the paper: http://www.people.hbs.edu/mnorton/shaw et al.pdf Robust Enforcement Should Complement Voluntary Regulation Authors:Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel Publication:Georgetown... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 7

and the concentration of the certification industry. We also analyze the possibility that certifiers opt for a quick turnaround time at the expense of a lower accuracy. Finally, we investigate the opportunity of regulating transparency. ... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

11 Aug 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Rethinking Measurement of Pay Disparity and Its Relation to Firm Performance

Keywords: by Ethan Rouen

March 2025
Case

The Changing Climate on Wall Street

By: Clayton S. Rose, Maxim Pike Harrell and Michael Norris

Increasing and conflicting regulatory requirements and political pressures regarding climate change tested the leaders of U.S. financial institutions, as they struggled to determine how best to comply while managing their business and its risks. In October 2024,... View Details

January 2017 (Revised January 2019)
Case

The Rise and Fall of Lehman Brothers

By: Stuart C. Gilson, Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott

With nearly $700 billion in assets, Lehman was the largest U.S. bankruptcy in history. In 2007, Lehman achieved record earnings of over $4 billion on revenues of $60 billion. By September 2008 the fourth largest investment bank in the world was bankrupt. How had a... View Details