Publications

SSRN

Article

Variance-Minimizing Monetary Policies with Lagged Price Adjustment and Rational Expectations

By: Jerry R. Green and Seppo Honkapohja

This paper considers a macroeconomic model with rational expectations in which prices are incompletely flexible. Markets therefore fail to clear. In such a model monetary policy is not neutral. The variance of real and nominal quantities and interest rates is sensitive... View Details

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

February 1994 (Revised July 2008)
Case

Banc One Corporation: Asset and Liability Management

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Peter Tufano and Jon Headley

Banc One's share price has been falling recently due to analyst and investor concern over the bank's heavy use of interest rate derivatives. Dick Lodge, chief investment officer in charge of the bank's investment and derivative portfolio, must recommend to the CEO a... View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Financial Management; Interest Rates; Investment Portfolio; Governance Controls; Risk Management; Banking Industry

16 May 2023
In Practice

After Silicon Valley Bank's Flameout, What's Next for Entrepreneurs?

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in March left the startup world reeling. The biggest lender to fail since the 2008 financial crisis, SVB had become the preferred funder of the startup, tech, and venture capital worlds. Its quick and sudden fall, as higher... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Technology; Financial Services

May 2020
Article

How Quantitative Easing Works: Evidence on the Refinancing Channel

By: Marco Di Maggio, Amir Kermani and Christopher Palmer

We document the transmission of large-scale asset purchases by the Federal Reserve to the real economy using rich borrower-linked mortgage-market data and an identification strategy based on mortgage market segmentation. We find that central bank QE1 MBS purchases... View Details

Keywords: Monetary Policy; MBS; Quantitative Easing; LSAP; Refinancing; Deleveraging; HARP; GSE; Central Banking; Global Range; Financing and Loans; Credit; United States

SSRN

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2008
Working Paper

Financial Development, Bank Ownership, and Growth. Or, Does Quantity Imply Quality?

By: Shawn A. Cole

In 1980, India nationalized its large private banks. This induced different bank ownership patterns across different towns, allowing credible identification of the effects of bank ownership on financial development, lending rates, and the quality of intermediation, as... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Credit; Banks and Banking; Interest Rates; State Ownership; Private Ownership; Banking Industry; India

August 1989 (Revised May 1991)
Case

Grosvenor Park

By: William J. Poorvu and Katherine Sweetman

Dick Dublin believes he has designed a townhouse development which will appeal to mobile young professionals. Dublin has removed some market risk by locking in a forward commitment for low interest rate loans for future purchasers at Grosvenor Park. The pricing... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Projects; Financing and Loans; Property; Financial Strategy; Price; Strategic Planning; Business and Government Relations; Real Estate Industry; Maryland

2024
Working Paper

Changing Perceptions and Post-Pandemic Monetary Policy

By: Michael D. Bauer, Carolin Pflueger and Adi Sunderam

We document that the Fed’s perceived monetary policy response to inflation shifted materially over the post-pandemic period. In forward-looking policy rules estimated from surveys of macroeconomic forecasters, the inflation coefficient rose significantly after liftoff... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Inflation and Deflation; Interest Rates; Perception; Government Administration

2010
Chapter

The Euro as a Reserve Currency for Global Investors

By: Luis M. Viceira and Ricardo Gimeno

This article explores the demand for the euro for risk management purposes and the evidence of stock market integration in the euro area. We define a reserve currency as one that investors demand either because it helps them hedge real interest risk and inflation risk,... View Details

Keywords: Volatility; Inflation and Deflation; Capital Markets; Currency; Stocks; Financial Markets; Financing and Loans; Investment Return; Investment Portfolio; Risk Management

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Research Summary

Overview

Having grown up in a developing country, Professor Sikochi’s research focus is driven by a desire to understand how capital flows to firms and entrepreneurs with the ultimate goal to help build capital markets in the developing economies. To this end, he conducts... View Details

Article

The Economic Consequences of Bankruptcy Reform

By: Tal Gross, Raymond Kluender, Feng Liu, Matthew J. Notowidigdo and Jialan Wang

A more generous consumer bankruptcy system provides greater insurance against financial risks but may also raise the cost of credit. We study this trade-off using the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA), which increased the costs of... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention And Consumer Protection Act; Borrowing and Debt; Credit

June 2021
Case

Modern Endowment Management: Paula Volent and the Bowdoin Endowment

By: Luis M. Viceira, Emily R. McComb and Dean Xu

This case examines modern endowment investment management through the lens of a leadership transition between Chief Investment Officers (CIOs). In March 2021, Paula Volent is about to step down as the CIO of the endowment of Bowdoin College after twenty-one years, and... View Details

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Investment Banking; Growth Management; Investment Return; Capital Markets; Interest Rates; Competition; Cost Management; Risk Management; Financial Liquidity; Performance Evaluation

Research Summary

The Politics of Consumer Credit

By: Gunnar Trumbull

A combination of factors has dramatically increased consumer access to and reliance upon credit across the OECD. These factors include financial liberalization and deregulation, improvements in consumer credit information and its analysis, and a growth in debt... View Details

22 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

When Will the Hot Housing Market Finally Start to Cool?

Harvard Gazette spoke with Nori Gerardo Lietz, a senior lecturer who teaches real estate private equity at Harvard Business School, about what’s going on and whether rising interest View Details

Keywords: by Christine Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette

14 Oct 2011
Working Paper Summaries

The Cost of Capital for Alternative Investments

Keywords: by Jakub W. Jurek & Erik Stafford

April 2006
Background Note

Understanding Corporate-Value-at-Risk through a Comprehensive and Simple Example

By: Marc L. Bertoneche and Frantz Maurer

Using a comprehensive and simple example of a firm exposed to foreign exchange risk, interest rate risk, and commodity price risk, shows how to use corporate-value-at-risk to measure and manage a firm's global exposure to risk. View Details

Keywords: Financial Markets; Interest Rates; International Finance; Globalization; Risk Management; Measurement and Metrics; Value

February 2006 (Revised August 2006)
Case

Auctioning Morningstar

By: Malcolm P. Baker and James Quinn

Morningstar, a publisher of data and ratings for mutual fund investors, is considering an auction-based approach to the company's upcoming IPO, with management weighing the risks and benefits of the auction approach vs. a traditional underwritten offering. View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Initial Public Offering; Stock Shares; Cost vs Benefits; Strategy; Auctions; Business or Company Management; Conflict of Interests; Publishing Industry

January 2011 (Revised June 2011)
Supplement

Fixed Income Arbitrage in a Financial Crisis (C): TED Spread and Swap Spread in November 2008

Investment manager Albert Mills confronts an apparent arbitrage opportunity during the global financial crisis of 2008 when he notices an unusually low-- and briefly negative-- thirty-year U.S. dollar fixed-floating swap spread. Mills must decide if there is an... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Financial Management; Investment Return; Financial Crisis; Financial Services Industry; United States

March 1986 (Revised July 1986)
Case

Applications for Financial Futures

Consists of a series of four brief descriptions of the use of financial futures as hedging vehicles: a savings and loan hedging the rollover of three-month money market certificates with T-bill futures, a corporate debt issuer hedging the cost of a future debt issue... View Details

Keywords: Financial Instruments