Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(611)
- Faculty Publications (141)
- June 2007 (Revised November 2007)
- Case
Italy: If not now, when?
By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Julia Galef
Describes Italy's main macroeconomic problems: low productivity growth, stagnant GDP growth, and high public debt. As of early 2007, the country's global competitiveness has plummeted and its debt remains well above the level allowed by the EU's Maastricht treaty.... View Details
- April 2007 (Revised June 2007)
- Case
Aid, Debt Relief, and Trade: An Agenda for Fighting World Poverty (A)
By: Laura Alfaro, Eric D. Werker and Renee Kim
At the 2005 Group of Eight summit, world leaders agreed to relieve the world's poorest countries' debt burdens and double aid to Africa by 2010. The announcement raised questions whether debt relief would really help the poor. By examining past aid trends and policies... View Details
- June 2006 (Revised April 2024)
- Case
Creditor Activism in Sovereign Debt: 'Vulture' Tactics or Market Backbone
By: Laura Alfaro and Ingrid Vogel
The role of distressed debt funds, also known as "vulture funds," in sovereign debt restructuring was a hotly debated topic, especially after the success of Elliot Associates in converting an $11 million investment in Peruvian bonds worth $21 million into a $58 million... View Details
- spring 2006
- Article
All's Fair in Love, War, & Bankruptcy: Corporate Governance Implications of CEO Turnover in Financial Distress
Prior discussions of management turnover during financial distress have examined bankrupt and non-bankrupt firms as distinct groupings with little overlap. Separately investigating rates of turnover in-bankruptcy and out-of-bankruptcy, without a direct comparison... View Details
- July 2005 (Revised December 2006)
- Case
Japan: Deficits, Demography, and Deflation
By 2005, Japan's debt had risen to 163% of GDP. For more than a decade, the government had run huge deficits, trying unsuccessfully to stimulate economic growth. Interest rates, meanwhile, had been zero for years. But with slow growth and banks in crisis, nothing had... View Details
- July 2005 (Revised December 2005)
- Case
General Motors U.S. Pension Funds
By: Luis M. Viceira and Helen Tung
In June 2003, General Motors Corp. (GM) successfully marketed the largest corporate debt offering in U.S. history, worth $17.6 billion. The offering included $13.6 billion worth of debt denominated in dollars, euros, and pounds and $4 billion dollars denominated in... View Details
- July 2005 (Revised September 2020)
- Case
The U.S. Current Account Deficit
By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael Di Tella, Ingrid Vogel, Renee Kim, Sarah Jeong, Matthew Johnson and Jonathan Schlefer
Investors and policymakers throughout the world were confronted with the risk of painful economic consequences arising from the large U.S. current account deficit. In 2007, the U.S. current account deficit was $731 billion, equivalent to 5.3% of GDP. The implications... View Details
- March 2005 (Revised July 2007)
- Case
Capital Controls in Chile in the 1990s (A)
By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel
In 1991, Chile adopted a framework of capital controls focused on reducing the massive flows of foreign investment coming into the country as international interest rates remained low. Capital inflows threatened the Central Bank's ability to manage the exchange rate... View Details
- 2005
- Working Paper
Nominal versus Indexed Debt: A Quantitative Horse Race
By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk
The main arguments in favor of and against nominal and indexed debt are the incentive to default through inflation versus hedging against unforeseen shocks. We model and calibrate these arguments to assess their quantitative importance. We use a dynamic equilibrium... View Details
- March 2004 (Revised April 2005)
- Case
International Rivers Network and the Bujagali Dam Project (A)
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Aldo Sesia
In the summer of 2002, the International Rivers Network (IRN), an environmental NGO located in Berkeley, California, was engaged in what appeared to be the last hours of a three year campaign to stop a $582 million dam and hydropower project at Bujagali Falls in... View Details
- February 2004 (Revised March 2010)
- Case
Brazil 2003: Inflation Targeting and Debt Dynamics
By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel
In October 2002, Brazilians elected a left-wing president, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, for the first time in that country's history. As markets faltered in response, Lula sought to reaffirm his commitment to fiscal discipline, a floating exchange rate, and inflation... View Details
Keywords: Economy; Inflation and Deflation; Money; Borrowing and Debt; Policy; Emerging Markets; Brazil
- January 2004 (Revised June 2004)
- Case
Innovation at the Treasury: Treasury Inflation-Protection Securities (A)
By: Kenneth A. Froot, Peter A. Hecht and Christopher Edward James Payton
In 1997, the U.S. Treasury was deciding whether to proceed with a proposal to issue inflation-indexed bonds. This case explores the challenges facing innovation in the financial markets as the Treasury tries to determine whether to introduce Treasury... View Details
- 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
- February 2003 (Revised May 2003)
- Case
Mobile Energy Services Company
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Aldo Sesia
When Al "Chainsaw" Dunlap became CEO of the Scott Paper Co., the company owned a large, vertically integrated production facility in Mobile, Alabama. Dunlap sold part of the production facility, a cogeneration power plant (later known as Mobile Energy Services Co.), to... View Details
- March 2002 (Revised June 2003)
- Case
MAC Development Corporation
By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Colleen McCaffrey
Deals with MAC Development's efforts to develop a 41-acre site near Chicago. Reviews two years of efforts and highlights the remaining issues of: 1) gaining town approval for development and tax reductions, 2) meeting the bank's debt covenants, including finding a... View Details
- March 2001 (Revised February 2004)
- Case
Power to the States: "Fiscal Wars" for FDI in Brazil
By: Laura Alfaro, Yasheng Huang and Marios S. Kalochoritis
On January 6, 1999, Itamar Franco, the governor of the state of Minas Gerais, the second-largest state in Brazil, declared a 90-day moratorium on its debt payment to the federal government. The announcement triggered a run on the Brazilian currency, the Real, and... View Details
- September 1997 (Revised August 2007)
- Case
Bankruptcy and Restructuring at Marvel Entertainment Group
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Jason Auerbach
Marvel Entertainment Group is the leading comic book publisher in the United States, with superheros like Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, and Captain America. It is also one of the leading manufacturers of sports and entertainment trading cards under the... View Details
- April 1997 (Revised February 2001)
- Case
Mexico in Debt
By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Eilene Zimmerman
Describes Mexico's political and economic system in the 1960s and 1970s. Focuses on: 1) the causes of the debt crisis in 1982; 2) elements of President de la Madrid's restructuring efforts between 1982-88; President Salinas's attempts to complete restructuring and... View Details
- January 1995 (Revised June 1995)
- Case
Note on Yield Conventions
By: Andre F. Perold and Wai Lee
Describes the principal conventions used to report yields on debt instruments. View Details
- 1994
- Other Unpublished Work
Interest Allocation Rules and the Changing Cost of Debt Finance
By: K. A. Froot and J. Hines