Publications

06 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

How South Africa Challenges Our Thinking on FDI

More than one decade after the fall of apartheid, and despite ambitious economic reforms by the ANC government, foreign direct investment flows into South Africa averaged around two-thirds less than investments in comparable... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

March 1984 (Revised July 1985)
Background Note

Note on Exchange Rate Determination

Discusses exchange rate determination in world of flexible rates. The fundamentals of supply of and demand for foreign exchange are explained. View Details

Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate

Working Paper Summaries

A Quantity-Driven Theory of Term Premia and Exchange Rates

Keywords: by Robin Greenwood, Samuel G. Hanson, Jeremy C. Stein, and Adi Sunderam

September 1987 (Revised November 1992)
Background Note

Note on Transaction and Translation Exposure

By: W. Carl Kester and Richard P. Melnick

Describes the transaction and translation exposures that companies doing business internationally face when foreign exchange rates change. Also discusses how to measure and cover both types of exposure. Covering techniques are demonstrated using examples of forward... View Details

Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate; International Finance

21 Feb 2013
HBS Seminar

Rodrigo Wagner, Tufts University

December 1981 (Revised July 1991)
Case

Ocean Drilling, Inc.

By: Thomas R. Piper

Management must choose between two mutually exclusive bids to build two drilling rigs. Both bids involve attractive export credit financing denominated in foreign currencies. View Details

Keywords: Credit; Currency; Financing and Loans; Bids and Bidding; Natural Environment

December 1994 (Revised June 1995)
Case

Tiffany & Co.--1993

By: W. Carl Kester and Kendall Backstrand

The restructuring of Tiffany's retailing agreement with Mitsukoshi Ltd. in 1993 exposed Tiffany to substantial yen/dollar exchange rate volatility that it had not previously faced. This new exposure requires Tiffany to establish risk management policies and practices.... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Currency Exchange Rate; Management Practices and Processes; Risk Management; Agreements and Arrangements; Situation or Environment

March 1984 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Decline of the Dollar, The: 1978

Describes the U.S. experience with floating exchange rates between 1973 and 1978, focusing on the rapid decline of the dollar in the summer of 1978. Illustrates the major determinants of the exchange rates and the role of government intervention in the foreign exchange... View Details

Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate; Government and Politics; Macroeconomics; United States

December 2003 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Globalizing the Cost of Capital and Capital Budgeting at AES

By: Mihir A. Desai and Douglas Kurt Schillinger

With electricity generating businesses around the world, AES Corp. is seeking a methodology for calculating the cost of capital for its various businesses and potential projects. In the past, AES used the same cost of capital for all of its capital budgeting, but the... View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Risk Management; Globalized Firms and Management; Cost of Capital; Valuation; Emerging Markets; Foreign Direct Investment; Capital Budgeting; Energy Industry; South America

February 2018
Case

Infrastructure in Nigeria: Unlocking Pension Fund Investments

By: John Macomber and Pippa Tubman Armerding

The so-called “infrastructure finance gap” was a problem in Nigeria as in many parts of the world. Infrastructure projects like power plants and dams were very large capital investments that could generate long-term consistent cash flows, but their financing and... View Details

Keywords: Pension Fund Investing; Infrastucture; Power/Energy; Credit Enhancement; Infrastructure; Project Finance; Investment Funds; Emerging Markets; Nigeria; Africa

July – August 2009
Article

The Descent of Finance

What if the current recession turns out to be like the Great Depression of 1929-1933? Four years from now, the United States might find itself with a still-shrinking economy, half as many banks as in 2009, a third as many hedge funds, and retail banking resembling a... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; International Finance; Globalized Economies and Regions; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry

March 2006 (Revised November 2006)
Case

China: To Float or Not To Float? (D)- Bank of America's Strategic Investment in China Construction Bank

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

With its $3 billion investment in Chinese state bank China Construction Bank, Bank of America--the second U.S. bank behind Citigroup in terms of assets and market capitalization--was one of several foreign banks directly participating in China's banking sector reform.... View Details

Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate; Banks and Banking; Foreign Direct Investment; International Relations; Banking Industry; China; United States

July 1991
Case

Managing the U.S. Dollar in the 1980s

By: W. Carl Kester and Richard P. Melnick

Provides numerical data and alternative explanations concerning the U.S. dollar's rise and subsequent fall in value from 1981 through 1987. Students are challenged to study the evidence and make their own inferences concerning the dollar's movements and the degree of... View Details

Keywords: Macroeconomics; Currency Exchange Rate; Price; Theory; United States

2010
Casebook

Global Capital and National Institutions: Crisis and Choice in the International Financial Architecture

By: Laura Alfaro

All managers face a business environment in which international and macroeconomic phenomena matter. International capital flows can significantly affect countries' development efforts and provide clear investment opportunities for businesses. During the 1990s and early... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Capital; International Finance; Globalized Economies and Regions; Policy; Government and Politics; Business and Government Relations

Read Now

27 Jun 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, June 27

Policy Experiment By: Alfaro, Laura, Anusha Chari, and Fabio Kanczuk Abstract—Emerging-market governments adopted capital control taxes to manage the massive surge in foreign capital inflows in the aftermath of the global financial... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2003 (Revised January 2004)
Case

The 2001 Crisis in Argentina: An IMF-Sponsored Default? (A)

By: Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel

At the end of 2001, Argentina's economy and society both appeared on the verge of collapse. Furious about controls imposed on the convertibility of their bank deposits into cash (the "corralito") and huge proposed government spending cuts amidst high unemployment and... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Banks and Banking; Problems and Challenges; Decision Choices and Conditions; Currency Exchange Rate; Economy; Government Administration; Crime and Corruption; Argentina

Article

Tariff Passthrough at the Border and at the Store: Evidence from U.S. Trade Policy

By: Alberto Cavallo, Gita Gopinath, Brent Neiman and Jenny Tang

We use micro data collected at the border and the store to characterize the price impact of recent US trade policy on importers, exporters, and consumers. At the border, import tariff passthrough is much higher than exchange rate passthrough. Chinese exporters did not... View Details

Keywords: Trade Policy; Tariffs; Exchange Rate Passthrough; Economics; Trade; Policy; Currency Exchange Rate; Price; United States