Filter Results:
(217)
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(327)
- News (60)
- Research (217)
- Multimedia (3)
- Faculty Publications (134)
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(327)
- News (60)
- Research (217)
- Multimedia (3)
- Faculty Publications (134)
Sort by
- 2020
- Chapter
Building Emergency Savings Through Employer-Sponsored Rainy-Day Savings Accounts
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, J. Mark Iwry, David C. John, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian
Roughly half of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. When financial shocks occur during their working life, many of these households tap into their retirement savings accounts. We explore the practical considerations and challenges associated with helping households... View Details
Beshears, John, James J. Choi, J. Mark Iwry, David C. John, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "Building Emergency Savings Through Employer-Sponsored Rainy-Day Savings Accounts." In Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 34, edited by Robert A. Moffitt, 43–90. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020.
- Article
Present Bias Causes and Then Dissipates Auto-enrollment Savings Effects
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Peter Maxted
Present bias causes procrastination, which leads households to stick with auto-enrollment defaults. However, present bias also engenders overconsumption. Separation from each employer generates a rollover of 401(k) balances to an individual retirement account (IRA)... View Details
Keywords: Present Bias; Procrastination; Personal Finance; Decision Making; Social Psychology; Retirement
Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Peter Maxted. "Present Bias Causes and Then Dissipates Auto-enrollment Savings Effects." AEA Papers and Proceedings 112 (May 2022): 136–141.
- 21 Nov 2022
- Research & Ideas
Buy Now, Pay Later: How Retail's Hot Feature Hurts Low-Income Shoppers
Online shopping features that let consumers pay for goods in interest-free installments exploded during the pandemic, but new research questions the riskiness of such services: Are people getting in over their heads? Buy now, pay later (BNPL) View Details
- September 2009
- Article
Spousal Control and Intra-Household Decision Making: An Experimental Study in the Philippines
By: Nava Ashraf
Using an experimental design I elicit causal effects of spousal observability and communication on financial choices of married individuals in the Philippines. Making choices public moves men from putting money into their own account to consumption; communication with... View Details
Keywords: Intra-household; Bargaining; Experiments; Economic Development; Saving; Governance Controls; Decision Choices and Conditions; Personal Finance; Family and Family Relationships; Household; Gender
Ashraf, Nava. "Spousal Control and Intra-Household Decision Making: An Experimental Study in the Philippines." American Economic Review 99, no. 4 (September 2009): 1245–1277. (Online Appendix.)
- Research Summary
Overview
Dr. Sheth's research focuses on Indian political economy and social history from the sixteenth century to the contemporary, concentrating on the relationship between business households, financial capital, landed rights, and the dissolution and formation of states.... View Details
- September 2023
- Article
Customer Churn and Intangible Capital
By: Scott R. Baker, Brian Baugh and Marco Sammon
Intangible capital is a crucial and growing piece of firms’ capital structure, but many of its distinct components are difficult to measure. We develop and make available several new firm-level metrics regarding a key component of intangible capital – firms’ customer... View Details
Keywords: Customer Base; Transaction Data; Customer Churn; Intangible Capital; Capital Structure; Measurement and Metrics; Customers
Baker, Scott R., Brian Baugh, and Marco Sammon. "Customer Churn and Intangible Capital." Journal of Political Economy Macroeconomics 1, no. 3 (September 2023): 447–505.
- December 2018 (Revised June 2021)
- Case
Bulb 2015: Foundation
By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock
In late August 2015, Amit Gudka and Hayden Wood, co-founders of Bulb, Ltd (Bulb), were ready to offer affordable renewable energy to the United Kingdom’s 27 million households. They hoped to capitalize on the hundreds of thousands of customers switching their energy... View Details
Keywords: Green Energy; Start-up; Launch; Customer Acquisition; Customer Churn; Customer Engagement; Electricity; Resources; Growth Strategy; B-Corp; Entrepreneurial Journey; Entrepreneurial Management; Start-ups; Renewable Energy; Business Startups; Business Plan; Business Model; Working Capital; Customers; Growth and Development Strategy; United Kingdom
Wells, John R., and Benjamin Weinstock. "Bulb 2015: Foundation." Harvard Business School Case 719-440, December 2018. (Revised June 2021.)
- May 2024
- Article
Financial Innovation in the 21st Century: Evidence from U.S. Patents
By: Josh Lerner, Amit Seru, Nick Short and Yuan Sun
We develop a unique dataset of 24 thousand U.S. finance patents granted over the last two decades to explore the evolution and production of financial innovation. We use machine learning to identify the financial patents and extensively audit the results to ensure... View Details
Keywords: Banking; Investment Banks; Information Technology; Regulation; Patents; Innovation and Invention; Trends
Lerner, Josh, Amit Seru, Nick Short, and Yuan Sun. "Financial Innovation in the 21st Century: Evidence from U.S. Patents." Journal of Political Economy 132, no. 5 (May 2024): 1391–1449.
- June 2006
- Case
Home Equity Protection
Nearly 70% of households in the United States own their own home and, yet, virtually no household is insured against a crash in housing values. Is there a market for an insurance product, home equity protection, that would provide this protection? Focuses on the... View Details
Goetzmann, William N., and Laura Winig. "Home Equity Protection." Harvard Business School Case 206-110, June 2006.
- 26 Feb 2008
- Working Paper Summaries
Long-Run Stockholder Consumption Risk and Asset Returns
- Article
The Effect of Dividends on Consumption
By: Malcolm Baker, Stefan Nagel and Jeffrey Wurgler
Classical models predict that the division of stock returns into dividends and capital appreciation does not affect investor consumption patterns, while mental accounting and other economic frictions predict that investors have a higher propensity to consume from... View Details
Keywords: Investment; Investment Return; Economics; Stocks; Capital; Business Earnings; Investment Portfolio; Investment Funds; Cost; Saving
Baker, Malcolm, Stefan Nagel, and Jeffrey Wurgler. "The Effect of Dividends on Consumption." Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, no. 1 (2007): 277–291.
- June 2019
- Article
Debt Traps? Market Vendors and Moneylender Debt in India and the Philippines
By: Dean Karlan, Sendhil Mullainathan and Benjamin Roth
A debt trap occurs when someone takes on a high-interest rate loan and is barely able to pay back the interest, and thus perpetually finds themselves in debt (often by refinancing). Studying such practices is important for understanding financial decision-making of... View Details
Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Household; Personal Finance; Decision Making; Behavior; India; Philippines
Karlan, Dean, Sendhil Mullainathan, and Benjamin Roth. "Debt Traps? Market Vendors and Moneylender Debt in India and the Philippines." American Economic Review: Insights 1, no. 1 (June 2019): 27–42.
- October 2008 (Revised September 2009)
- Case
Consumer Lending in Japan: Citi CFJ (A)
By: J. Gunnar Trumbull and Akiko Kanno
Despite a tradition of high household savings, Japan has supported a dynamic and technically sophisticated consumer-lending sector. The high profitability of the sector has periodically attracted interest from domestic banks as well as international investors. Most... View Details
Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Financing and Loans; Foreign Direct Investment; Personal Finance; Courts and Trials; Business and Government Relations; Banking Industry; Japan
Trumbull, J. Gunnar, and Akiko Kanno. "Consumer Lending in Japan: Citi CFJ (A)." Harvard Business School Case 709-017, October 2008. (Revised September 2009.)
- Fall 2024
- Article
The Problem of Good Conduct Among Financial Advisers
By: Mark Egan, Gregor Matvos and Amit Seru
Households in the United States often rely on financial advisers for investment and savings decisions, yet there is a widespread perception that many advisers are dishonest. This distrust is not unwarranted: approximately one in fifteen advisers has a history of... View Details
Egan, Mark, Gregor Matvos, and Amit Seru. "The Problem of Good Conduct Among Financial Advisers." Journal of Economic Perspectives 38, no. 4 (Fall 2024): 193–210.
- 02 Aug 2016
- First Look
August 2, 2016
instead for consumer attention. We model and characterize how households allocate their scarce attention in arguably the largest market for attention: the Internet. Our characterization of household... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
- Research Summary
Overview
Professor Begenau’s research agenda is directed at better understanding how financial markets work and how they affect the real economy. She uses quantitative analysis to build both prescriptive and descriptive models concerning financial risk in banking, and she also... View Details
- 2022
- Working Paper
ESG: Hyperboles and Reality
By: George Serafeim
ESG has rapidly become a household name leading to both confusion about what it means and creating unrealistic expectations about its effects. In this paper, I draw on more than a decade of research to dispel several myths about ESG and provide answers to important... View Details
Keywords: ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; ESG Disclosure; ESG Reporting; ESG Ratings; Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Performance; Corporate Disclosure; Reports
Serafeim, George. "ESG: Hyperboles and Reality." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 22-031, November 2021.
- May 14, 2024
- Article
One Way to Help Employees Build Emergency Savings
By: Timothy Flacke and Peter Tufano
Intentional cooperation between two organizations — BlackRock, a major asset management firm, and national non-profit, Commonwealth — created the conditions for the nation’s largest payroll processor, multiple U.S. employers, retirement record keepers, and others to... View Details
Keywords: Saving; Personal Finance; Income; Nonprofit Organizations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Partners and Partnerships
Flacke, Timothy, and Peter Tufano. "One Way to Help Employees Build Emergency Savings." Harvard Business Review (website) (May 14, 2024).
- December 2010
- Article
Can Higher Prices Stimulate Product Use? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Zambia
By: Nava Ashraf, James Berry and Jesse M. Shapiro
The controversy over how much to charge for health products in the developing world rests, in part, on whether higher prices can increase use, either by targeting distribution to high-use households (a screening effect), or by stimulating use psychologically through a... View Details
Ashraf, Nava, James Berry, and Jesse M. Shapiro. "Can Higher Prices Stimulate Product Use? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Zambia." American Economic Review 100, no. 5 (December 2010): 2383–2413. (Online Appendix.)
- 30 Oct 2014
- Working Paper Summaries