Publications

January 2008 (Revised July 2010)
Case

Wal-Mart's Use of Interest Rate Swaps

"Wal-Mart's Use of Interest Rate Swaps" recounts Wal-Mart's use of interest rate swaps to hedge the fair value of its fixed-rate debt against changing interest rates. This case provides students with a foundation for understanding the use of and accounting for more... View Details

Keywords: Fair Value Accounting; Financial Statements; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Financial Strategy; Interest Rates; Corporate Disclosure

April 2011
Teaching Note

Santander Consumer Finance (TN)

By: J. Gunnar Trumbull

Teaching Note for 711015. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Expansion; Decisions; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Credit; Growth and Development; Personal Finance; Management Practices and Processes; Banking Industry; Spain

30 Nov 2016
Op-Ed

Where Could More Regulation Help Small Businesses? Online Lending.

addressable market of $280 billion. That’s music to the ears of small businesses. Indeed, our research shows a sizeable credit gap exists for small businesses, particularly for loans under $100,000, which is the size that over 60 percent... View Details

Keywords: by Karen Mills and Brayden McCarthy; Financial Services

23 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

This Crisis Loan Program Preserved Jobs—and Made Money

Administration (pdf), Congress is set this week to replenish its Paycheck Protection Program with an additional $320 billion to supplement the federally guaranteed loan and credit program that began April 3, but was quickly used up. The... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

16 Oct 2007
First Look

First Look: October 16, 2007

encourage bankers to loot their banks at the expense of minority shareholders and depositors. We argue that neither looting nor credit misallocation are necessary outcomes of related lending. On the contrary, related lending often exists... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 1995
Case

Banc One Corporation (A)

As Banc One's use of derivatives had proliferated, investors and analysts had expressed increasing concern about the size of derivative portfolios, the potential sensitivity of their value to interest rate swings, and the lack of standardized reporting on their use.... View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Investment Banking; Financial Reporting; Annual Reports; Banking Industry

Find at Harvard

November 2006 (Revised August 2012)
Background Note

A Strategic Perspective on Bankruptcy

By: Bill George, Jim Sharpe and Andrew N. McLean

An overview of bankruptcy procedures in U.S. courts, recent filing data and a framework for evaluating a reorganization with creditors or considering opening a court-supervised reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Financial Distress; Turnarounds; Legal Aspects Of Business; Liquidation; Boards Of Directors; Hedge Funds; Strategy; Law; Governing and Advisory Boards; Negotiation; Crisis Management; Policy; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Credit; Financial Crisis; United States

11 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

Shrinking the Racial Wealth Gap, One Mortgage at a Time

the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, and Erik J. Mayer and Ruidi Huang of Southern Methodist University. Closing the gap between white and minority loan officers may help change that pattern, the researchers find. That has big implications for minority access to View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

22 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 22

PublicationsForward: The Future of Consumer Credit and Mortgage Finance Authors:Nicolas P. Retsinas and Eric Belsky, eds. Publication:Brookings Institution Press and Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, 2011 Abstract... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 6

requirements, reorienting the discussion around housing finance reform from keeping mortgage credit cheap to ensuring financial stability, and instituting measures that compel asset managers to compete on the true value of the services... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Aug 2007
First Look

First Look: August 14, 2007

learning. Contingent Claims Approach to Measuring and Managing Sovereign Credit Risk Authors:Dale F. Gray, Robert C. Merton, and Zvi Bodie Periodical:Journal of Investment Management (forthcoming) Abstract This paper proposes a new... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

22 Jul 2008
First Look

First Look: July 22, 2008

Working PapersFixing Market Failures or Fixing Elections? Agricultural Credit in India Authors:Shawn A. Cole Abstract This paper integrates theories of political budget cycles with theories of tactical electoral redistribution to test... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2025
Supplement

Negotiating a Legacy at Sustainable Harvest (B)

By: Jillian Jordan, Julian Zlatev, Alicia Dadlani and Martha Hostetter

The specialty coffee importer Sustainable Harvest was the first certified B Corp in the coffee industry due to its investments in building coffee farmers’ capacity and livelihood. But in 2022, after coffee prices plummeted and the company’s bank declined to extend its... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Trust; Ethics; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Volatility; Futures and Commodity Futures; Social Enterprise; Valuation; Business Model; Credit; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Europe

November 2003 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Dow Chemical's Bid for the Privatization of PBB in Argentina

By: Mihir A. Desai and Alexandra de Royere

What price should Dow Chemical bid for PBB, a petrochemical complex that is being privatized by the Argentine government? To answer this question, students are forced to consider the role of country risk, the underlying currency exposure of the business, and how to... View Details

Keywords: Bids and Bidding; Privatization; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Cash Flow; Emerging Markets; Valuation; Business and Government Relations; Multinational Firms and Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Energy Industry; Argentina

May 2005 (Revised January 2006)
Case

Ticonderoga: Inverse Floating Rate Bond

Presents a simple interest hedging exercise. A hedge fund is considering an investment in a structured fixed--income product: an inverse floating-rate bond, or inverse floater, designed by a U.S. investment bank. The hedge fund's normal policy is to hedge interest rate... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Bonds; Investment Funds; Interest Rates