Publications

Luis M. Viceira is the George E. Bates Professor in the Finance Unit and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research, course development, and teaching focus on the areas of investment management... View Details

Keywords: banking; education industry; financial services; nonprofit industry; retail financial services

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

Keywords: Savings; Household; Saving

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

Keywords: Housing; Insurance; Product Design; Equity; Insurance Industry

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

July 2014
Article

Smart Money? The Effect of Education on Financial Outcomes

By: Shawn A. Cole, Anna Paulson and Gauri Kartini Shastry

Household financial decisions are important for household welfare, economic growth and financial stability. Yet, our understanding of the determinants of financial decision-making is limited. Exploiting exogenous variation in state compulsory schooling laws in both... View Details

Keywords: Personal Finance; Investment; Decisions; Behavior; Financial Condition

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

Purchase

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

26 Feb 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Long-Run Stockholder Consumption Risk and Asset Returns

Keywords: by Christopher J. Malloy, Tobias J. Moskowitz & Annette Vissing-Jørgensen; Financial Services

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

08 Feb 2016
News

The costs of inequality: Increasingly, it’s the rich and the rest

28 Jun 2020
News

Prices are rising faster than official figures suggest

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

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

SSRN

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

Keywords: Personal Finance; Behavioral Finance; Trust; Financial Services Industry

18 Oct 2017
News

White House Push to Help Workers Through Corporate Tax Cut Draws Skepticism

02 Mar 2017
News

Short Termism: Steady On Now

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

June 2022 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Dollar Tree: Breaking the Buck

By: Jill Avery and Marco Bertini

For thirty-five years, Dollar Tree, a discount retail chain selling general merchandise, had held its fixed price point steady, pricing all of its household items, food, stationery, books, seasonal items, gifts, toys, and clothing that made up its diverse and... View Details

Keywords: Retailing; Pricing; Pricing Strategy; Discount Retailing; Discount Store; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Price; Inflation and Deflation; Consumer Behavior; Retail Industry; United States

Educators

Purchase

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