Publications

December 2007 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Wall Street's First Panic (A)

By: David A. Moss and Cole Bolton

In the early 1790s, a flood of newly issued public and private securities sparked an investment boom in the nascent United States. In New York, the bustling commercial district along Wall Street emerged as the center of the city's securities trade. One of the many... View Details

Keywords: History; Financial Instruments; Auctions; Financial Crisis; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry

March 2009 (Revised September 2011)
Case

UBS and Auction Rate Securities (A)

By: Daniel Baird Bergstresser, Shawn A. Cole and Siddharth Bhaskar Shenai

UBS, a global financial services company, must decide whether to continue to support the market for Auction Rate Securities in the face of a growing financial crisis. These instruments, underwritten by UBS, were marketed to clients as highly liquid and safe... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Financial Crisis; Asset Pricing; Financial Liquidity; Financial Instruments; Government Legislation; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Services Industry

2014
Article

Why Was Boston Strong?: Law Enforcement Lessons from the Boston Marathon Bombing

By: Dutch Leonard, Christine M. Cole and Arnold M. Howitt

On April 15, 2013, at 2:49 pm, an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Three people died, and more than 260 others needed hospital care, many having lost limbs or suffered horrific wounds. Those explosions began about... View Details

Keywords: Boston Marathon Bombing; Disaster Response; Emergency Management; Crisis Management; Law Enforcement

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Article

Marketing Complex Financial Products in Emerging Markets: Evidence from Rainfall Insurance in India

By: Sarthak Gaurav, Shawn A. Cole and Jeremy Tobacman

Recent financial liberalization in emerging economies has led to the rapid introduction of new financial products. Lack of experience with financial products, low levels of education, and low financial literacy may slow adoption of these products. This article reports... View Details

Keywords: Literacy; Insurance; Marketing; Decisions; Demand and Consumers; Financial Instruments; Emerging Markets; Education; Personal Finance; Agribusiness; Developing Countries and Economies; Innovation and Invention; Gujarat

June 2016
Article

Understanding Online Hotel Reviews Through Automated Text Analysis

By: Shawn Mankad, Hyunjeong "Spring" Han, Joel Goh and Srinagesh Gavirneni

Customer reviews submitted at Internet travel portals are an important yet underexplored new resource in obtaining feedback on customer experience for the hospitality industry. These data are often voluminous and unstructured, presenting analytical challenges for... View Details

Keywords: Hotel Reviews; Natural Language Processing; Information Technology; Service Operations; Accommodations Industry; Moscow

27 Oct 2009
First Look

First Look: October 27

Working Papers Money or Knowledge? What Drives Demand for Financial Services in Emerging Markets? (revised) Authors: Shawn Cole, Thomas Sampson, and Bilal Zia Abstract Why is demand for formal financial services low in emerging markets?... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 2013 (Revised October 2014)
Case

SaferTaxi: Connecting Taxis and Passengers in South America

By: Peter Coles and Benjamin Edelman

SaferTaxi, a taxi booking service in South America must develop its mobilization strategy; that is, it must attract enough passengers and drivers to make its service worthwhile for all. Drivers hesitate to pay for SaferTaxi's smartphones and service unless these will... View Details

Keywords: Taxi Booking; Smartphone; Transportation Networks; Network Effects; Laws and Statutes; South America; Argentina; Brazil; Chile

17 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: January 17

Birchbox Defends Against Copycat Competitors Peter A. Coles and Benjamin EdelmanHarvard Business School Case 912-010 Birchbox offers trial-sized beauty products delivered monthly by mail-attracting rave... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2009
Other Unpublished Work

Steering Monetary Policy Through Unprecedented Crises

By: David Moss and Cole Bolton

In early April 2008, economic conditions in Europe appeared to be deteriorating on almost all fronts: sales figures were falling, business and consumer confidence were slumping, forecasts for European growth were being revised downward, and inflation was rising. In... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Inflation and Deflation; Central Banking; Interest Rates; International Finance; Policy; Crisis Management; Europe

07 Feb 2012
First Look

First Look: February 7

to invest in social service provision. Purchase this case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/212055-PDF-ENG China Life: Micro Insurance for the Poor Shawn Cole and Lilei XuHarvard Business School Case... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2011
Case

Fighting a Dangerous Financial Fire: The Federal Response to the Crisis of 2007-2009

By: David Moss and Cole Bolton

By the summer of 2009, many observers concluded that a catastrophic financial collapse- which seemed all but imminent the previous fall and winter - had been averted. Although the recession had still yet to be declared over and the economy's footing remained far from... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Financial Crisis; Financial Institutions; Financial Markets; Financial Strategy; Policy; Knowledge Acquisition

30 Jan 2018
First Look

January 30, 2018

2017 Annual Review of Economics Agricultural Insurance and Economic Development By: Cole, Shawn A., and Wentao Xiong Abstract—This article provides a review of recent research on agricultural insurance (AI) in developing countries.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2011
Case

Steering Monetary Policy Through Unprecedented Crises

By: David Moss and Cole Bolton

In early April 2008, economic conditions in Europe appeared to be deteriorating on almost all fronts: sales figures were falling, business and consumer confidence were slumping, forecasts for European growth were being revised downward, and inflation was rising. In... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Financial Crisis; Inflation and Deflation; Financial Institutions; Interest Rates; Policy

11 Dec 2012
First Look

First Look: Dec. 11

Back, Moving Forward: A Review of Group and Team-Based Research, edited by Margaret A. Neale and Elizabeth A. Mannix, 359-381. Emerald Group Publishing, 2012 Abstract Purpose-We review how team members' identities and interests affect... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Feb 2012
First Look

First Look: Feb. 21

illustrates the choices faced by a prospective IPO firm that operates in a global setting. Purchase this case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/212051-PDF-ENG SKS and the AP Microfinance Crisis Shawn... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2013
Working Paper

How Does Risk Management Influence Production Decisions? Evidence from a Field Experiment

By: Shawn Cole, Xavier Gine and James Vickery

Weather is a key source of income risk, particularly in emerging market economies. This paper uses a randomized controlled trial involving a sample of Indian farmers to study how an innovative rainfall insurance product affects production decisions. We find that... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Production; Weather; Insurance; Emerging Markets; Agribusiness; Insurance Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; India

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2024
Working Paper

Long-run Returns to Impact Investing in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies

By: Shawn Cole, Martin Melecky, Florian Mölders and Tristan Reed

We provide the first evidence on the long-run returns to private equity in emerging and frontier markets using the cash flows from every equity investment made by the International Finance Corporation across 130 countries over 58 years. Risk-adjusted returns are... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Investment; Emerging Markets; Developing Countries and Economies; Investment Return

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13 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 13

W. Dunn, Dana R. Carney, and Dan Ariely Publication:Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes (forthcoming) Abstract We predicted that able-bodied individuals and white Americans would have a difficult time saying no to persuasive appeals offered View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2022
Article

Can Gambling Increase Savings? Empirical Evidence on Prize-Linked Savings Accounts

By: Shawn A. Cole, Benjamin Iverson and Peter Tufano

This paper studies the adoption and impact of prize-linked savings (PLS) accounts, which offer lottery-like payouts to individual account holders in lieu of interest. Using microlevel data from a bank in South Africa, we show that PLS is attractive to a broad group of... View Details

Keywords: Household Finance; Banking; Savings; Prize-linked Savings; Lottery; Household; Personal Finance; Saving; Banks and Banking