Publications

1987
Working Paper

Tests of Excess Forecast Volatility in the Foreign Exchange and Stock Markets

By: K. A. Froot

Simple regression tests that have power against the alternatives that asset prices and expected future asset returns are excessively volatile are developed and performed for the foreign exchange and stock markets. These tests have a number of advantages over... View Details

Keywords: Risk Aversion; Risk; International Investing; International Finance; Risk and Uncertainty; Asset Pricing; Financial Markets; Investment; Behavioral Finance; Volatility

August 2017 (Revised February 2024)
Teaching Note

Exotic Interest Rate Swaps: Snowballs in Portugal

By: Boris Vallee, Patrick Augustin and Philippe Rich

This case explores a complex swap transaction implemented by Metro do Porto in 2007. It represents an opportunity to study fixed income derivative instruments, such as plain-vanilla swaps and structured swaps, as well as understand the opportunities and challenges of... View Details

Keywords: Swaps; Public Finance; Structured Finance; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Public Sector; Transportation Industry; Rail Industry; Portugal

31 Aug 2009
Research & Ideas

Why Competition May Not Improve Credit Rating Agencies

investors to collect, analyze, and verify on their own, broadly. Having this type of standardized information freely available to all investors is invaluable for fixed income markets. Q: As you note, there are three parties involved in... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

06 Jan 2012
Op-Ed

Where Green Corporate Ratings Fail

radio or PBS television, 87 percent). Companies that undertake the difficult and costly task of policy advocacy should receive credit for their hard work, while corporations that "game the system" should be penalized. In order to View Details

Keywords: by Michael Toffel & Auden Schendler; Information; Publishing

October 2013
Teaching Note

Switzerland: Foreign Pressure and Direct Democracy

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

Keywords: Foreign Exchange Intervention; Exchange Rates; European Union; Exchange Rate Management; Bank Secrecy; Corporate Governance; International Relations; Corporate Accountability; Switzerland; Europe

08 Nov 2010
Research & Ideas

How to Fix a Broken Marketplace

An economic handyman of sorts, Alvin E. Roth fixes broken markets. As a Nobel Prize-winning pioneer in the field of market design, the Harvard Business School professor cofounded a kidney donation matching system for New England,... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

08 Jun 2011
News

Fixing America's Economy: Nine Ideas from Around the World

January – March 2012
Article

Bond Risk, Bond Return Volatility, and the Term Structure of Interest Rates

By: Luis M. Viceira

This paper explores time variation in bond risk, as measured by the covariation of bond returns with stock returns and with consumption growth, and in the volatility of bond returns. A robust stylized fact in empirical finance is that the spread between the yield on... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Volatility; Forecasting and Prediction; Interest Rates; Inflation and Deflation; Investment Return; Risk and Uncertainty; Currency Exchange Rate; Cash Flow; Stocks

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August 1995 (Revised October 1996)
Case

Futures on the Mexican Peso

By: Kenneth A. Froot, Matthew McBrady and Mark Seasholes

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange needs to decide how to design, and whether and when to introduce, a futures contract on the Mexican peso. View Details

Keywords: Exchange Rates; Money Markets; Futures Market; Country Analysis; International Finance; Financial Markets; Futures and Commodity Futures; Financial Services Industry; Chicago; Mexico

March 2005 (Revised January 2006)
Case

Foreign Exchange Hedging Strategies at General Motors: Transactional and Translational Exposures

By: Mihir A. Desai and Mark Veblen

How should a multinational firm manage foreign exchange exposures? Examines transactional and translational exposures and alternative responses to these exposures by analyzing two specific hedging decisions by General Motors. Describes General Motors' corporate hedging... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Currency Exchange Rate; Expansion; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Financial Management; Investment Funds; Risk and Uncertainty; International Finance; Auto Industry

April 2010
Case

Groupe Ariel S.A.: Parity Conditions and Cross-Border Valuation

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and James Quinn

Groupe Ariel evaluates a proposal from its Mexican subsidiary to purchase and install cost-saving equipment at a manufacturing facility in Monterrey. The improvements will allow the plant to automate recycling and remanufacturing of toner and printer cartridges, an... View Details

Keywords: Exchange Rates; Securities Analysis; Project Evaluation; International Finance; Debt Securities; Currency Exchange Rate; Cash Flow; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Capital Budgeting; Europe; Mexico

January 1996 (Revised December 1999)
Case

1994-95 Mexican Peso Crisis, The

By: Kenneth A. Froot and Matthew McBrady

Explores the peso crisis of 1994-95 and why it occurred. Students must examine Mexico's policies, the capital market's reactions, and the implications of devaluation for future capital flows and growth. View Details

Keywords: Exchange Rates; International Capital Markets; Devaluation; Currency Exchange Rate; Financial Markets; International Finance; Capital; Mexico

March 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Foreign Exchange Hedging Strategies at General Motors: Competitive Exposures

By: Mihir A. Desai and Mark Veblen

How can a multinational firm analyze and manage currency risks that arise from competitive exposures? General Motors has a substantial competitive exposure to the Japanese yen. Although the risks GM faces from the depreciating yen are widely acknowledged, the company's... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Currency Exchange Rate; Competition; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; International Finance; Financial Management; Investment Funds; Risk and Uncertainty; Auto Industry

1993
Working Paper

Currency Hedging Over Long Horizons

By: K. A. Froot

This paper reexamines the widely-held wisdom that the currency exposure of international investments should be entirely hedged. It finds that the previously documented ability of hedges to reduce portfolio return variance holds at short horizons, but not at long... View Details

Keywords: Currency; Hedging; Transaction Costs; Exchange Rates; International Markets; Real Exchange Rate; Purchasing Power Parity; International Finance; Currency Exchange Rate; Asset Pricing; Investment; Globalized Markets and Industries

September 1998
Book Review

Review of 'Financial Markets and European Monetary Cooperation: The Lessons of the 1992-93 Exchange Rate Mechanism Crisis' by W.H. Buiter, G. Corsetti and P.A. Pesenti

By: Huw Pill

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April 2010
Teaching Note

Groupe Ariel S.A.: Parity Conditions and Cross-Border Valuation (Brief Case)

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and James Quinn

Teaching Note for 4194 View Details

Keywords: Exchange Rates; Securities Analysis; Project Evaluation; Debt Securities; Analysis; Currency Exchange Rate; Performance Evaluation; Projects; Capital Budgeting