Publications

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2014
Working Paper

Saving More to Borrow Less: Experimental Evidence from Access to Formal Savings Accounts in Chile

By: Felipe Kast and Dina Pomeranz

Poverty is often characterized not only by low and unstable income, but also by heavy debt burdens. We find that reducing barriers to saving through access to free savings accounts decreases participants' short-term debt by about 20%. In addition, participants who... View Details

Keywords: Saving; Poverty; Borrowing and Debt; Chile

SSRN

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April 1990 (Revised January 1994)
Case

Mexico: Escaping from the Debt Crisis?

Explores how Mexico found itself in the debt crisis that exploded in 1982 and how the de la Madrid administration (1982-88) followed by the Salinas government (1988 on) devised policies by which to resolve the macroeconomic imbalances. Describes the economic and... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Macroeconomics; Mexico

17 Apr 2017
HBS Case

This Turkish Debt Collector Is Customer-friendly

of both their consumers and regulators. “Usually, with debt collection, the object is to dial for dollars—collect as much as you can in the first phone call, and then outsource... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

25 Apr 2012
Conference Presentation

The European Sovereign Debt Crisis and Italy

By: Dante Roscini

June 1985 (Revised August 1994)
Background Note

U.S. Government Debt Market and the Structure of Interest Rates, The

Concerns U.S. Government Debt Market and various conventions used to depict the structure of interest rates. View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Finance; Bonds; Interest Rates

Educators

fall 2010
Article

Lawsuits and Empire: On the Enforcement of Sovereign Debt in Latin America

By: Faisal Z. Ahmed, Laura Alfaro and Noel Maurer

The re-occurring phenomenon of sovereign default has prompted an enormous theoretical and empirical literature. Most of this research has focused on why countries ever chose to pay their debts (or why private creditors ever expected repayment). The problem originates... View Details

Keywords: Lawsuits and Litigation; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Sovereign Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Debt Securities; Motivation and Incentives; Markets; Equity; Banking Industry; Latin America

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16 Oct 2010
Working Paper Summaries

A Comparative-Advantage Approach to Government Debt Maturity

Keywords: by Robin Greenwood, Samuel G. Hanson & Jeremy C. Stein

July 2002 (Revised March 2003)
Case

Restructuring Bulong's Project Debt

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Michael Kane

Preston Resources, a small Australian gold mining company, bought the Bulong nickel mine for A$319 million in November 1998 and financed the acquisition by issuing a US$185 million (A$294 million) project bond. At the time, mining had been underway for several months,... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Projects; Restructuring; Bonds; Borrowing and Debt; Business Startups; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Valuation; Mining Industry; Australia

Educators

13 Oct 2010
Research & Ideas

How Government can Discourage Private Sector Reliance on Short-Term Debt

financial institutions. “Most people agree that the financing of large financial intermediaries put the larger financial system at risk” Can the government do anything to discourage short-term borrowing by the private sector? HBS... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Financial Services

23 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

Forgiving Medical Debt Won't Make Everyone Happier

The solution seems obvious. Forgiving medical debt should ease both financial and emotional burdens for the two in five people in the US who carry it. Yet a new comprehensive study that tracked more than... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Health

August 1998 (Revised January 2000)
Teaching Note

Mexico in Debt TN

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

Teaching Note for (9-797-110) and (9-700-051). View Details

Keywords: Mexico

May 2004 (Revised July 2008)
Teaching Note

Brazil 2003: Inflation Targeting and Debt Dynamics (TN)

By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel

Teaching Note to (9-704-028). View Details

Keywords: Inflation and Deflation; Borrowing and Debt; Brazil

19 Jul 2011
News

A debt plan Republicans can support

1997
Chapter

The Role of Foreign Currency Debt in Public Debt Management

By: Patrick de Fontenay, Gian-Maria Milesi Feretti and Huw Pill

April 1977
Background Note

Choice of Debt Securities: Maturity and Call Provisions

By: Jay O. Light

Keywords: Financial Instruments

February 2009
Case

Avid Radiopharmaceuticals: The Venture Debt Question

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and Ann Leamon

The CEO of a promising biotech company must decide how to respond to the macro-economic slump of late 2008. He had planned to pursue an aggressive schedule, moving the firm's Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease imaging compounds through clinical trials and into the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Entrepreneurship; Borrowing and Debt; Venture Capital; Financial Management; Investment; Health Testing and Trials; Expansion; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

Educators

12 Jan 2023
News

‘Debiasing’ Debt with Data

Seke Ballard (MBA 2010) says he owes the inspiration for BetaBank, his small business-focused digital-banking venture, to his father—and not just as a person, but also as an archetype for every minority entrepreneur who has struggled to find capital in a banking system... View Details

Keywords: Ralph Ranalli

6 Apr 2011
Conference Presentation

Finding Technical Debt in Platform and Network Architectures

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and Alan MacCormack

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Design