Publications

2015
Article

International Trade, Multinational Activity, and Corporate Finance

By: C. Fritz Foley and Kalina Manova

An emerging new literature brings unique ideas from corporate finance to the study of international trade and investment. Insights about differences in the development of financial institutions across countries, the role of financial constraints, and the use of... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Investment; Trade; Corporate Finance

18 Nov 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Payout Taxes and the Allocation of Investment

Keywords: by Bo Becker, Marcus Jacob & Martin Jacob

October 2009
Article

Influence and Inefficiency in the Internal Capital Market

By: Julie Wulf

I model inefficient resource allocations in M-form organizations due to influence activities by division managers that skew capital budgets in their favor. Corporate headquarters receives two types of signals about investment opportunities: private signals that can be... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Resource Allocation; Business Processes; Capital Budgeting; Business Headquarters; Investment; Opportunities; Cost; Value; Motivation and Incentives; Equity

2009
Working Paper

Why Do Countries Adopt International Financial Reporting Standards?

By: Karthik Ramanna and Ewa Sletten

In a sample of 102 non-European Union countries, we study variations in the decision to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). There is evidence that more powerful countries are less likely to adopt IFRS, consistent with more powerful countries being... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; International Accounting; Globalized Economies and Regions; Network Effects; Standards; Adoption

SSRN

2023
Book

Suharto's Cold War: Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and the World

By: Mattias Fibiger

After the murder of senior generals in the Indonesian army by elements of the country's communist party in 1965, General Suharto orchestrated the mass killing of some half a million leftists and fellow travelers. But his ambitions spanned far beyond perpetrating a... View Details

Keywords: Indonesia; Cold War; Political Economy; Foreign Aid; International Investment; International Relations; International Finance; History; War; Economic Systems; Government and Politics; Indonesia; Southeast Asia

04 Mar 2020
News

Female Faculty Leading the Way on International Women's Day

October 1999 (Revised April 2003)
Case

International Investor, The: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Mathew M Millett

Equate Petrochemical Co. (Equate) is a joint venture between Union Carbide Corp. and Petrochemical Industries Co. (PIC) for the construction of a $2 billion petrochemical plant in Kuwait. The sponsors began construction in August 1994, using a bridge loan, and are in... View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Project Finance; Religion; Investment; Finance; Mining Industry; Energy Industry; Kuwait

Educators

Research Summary

International Financial Integration and Entrepreneurship (joint with Andrew Charlton)

By: Laura Alfaro

We explore the relation between international financial integration and the level of entrepreneurial activity in a country. Researchers have stressed the role of new firm activity and economic dynamism on growth. Yet, the empirical effects of international capital... View Details

18 Oct 2016
Op-Ed

Why Business Should Invest in Community Health

Children in the United States today are at risk to live shorter lives than their parents. This sobering assessment is one reason big box retailer Target is investing $40 million this year to improve the health of communities around the... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch, Howard Koh, and Pamela Yatsko; Health

2023
Article

Green Bargains: Leveraging Public Investment to Advance Climate Regulation

By: Jonas Meckling and Jesse Strecker

Climate policy has entered a new era as public investment is increasingly moving to center stage, including recovery spending and long-term climate investment plans. While essential for decarbonization, public investment is not enough – the carrots of investment need... View Details

Keywords: Government and Politics; Environmental Regulation; Climate Change; Policy; Motivation and Incentives

07 Sep 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Diversification of Chinese Companies: An International Comparison

Keywords: by Joseph P.H. Fan, Jun Huang, Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Troy D. Smith & Mengxin Zhao

01 Mar 2023
News

An Investment in Tomorrow's Leaders

Understanding that for many prospective students the greatest barriers to attending graduate school are financial, HBS is taking proactive steps to make the MBA Program more affordable. The School has held tuition flat for the past five... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

April 2002
Article

Internal Capital Markets and Firm-Level Compensation Incentives for Division Managers

By: Julie Wulf

Do multidivisional firms structure compensation contracts for division managers to mitigate incentive problems in their internal capital markets? I find evidence that compensation and investment incentives are substitutes: firms providing a stronger link to firm... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Executive Compensation; Capital Budgeting; Motivation and Incentives; Profit; Decisions; Resource Allocation; Performance; Investment; Contracts

March 1997 (Revised November 1997)
Case

Incidents in Foreign Direct Investment

By: Louis T. Wells Jr. and Courtenay Sprague

Presents seven examples (i.e., incidents) of conflict concerning foreign direct investment. The incidents lay the framework for discussion of issues such as the jurisdiction of the WTO and the U.S. position, the Helms-Burton Act of 1996 and its political implications,... View Details

Keywords: Trade; International Finance; Foreign Direct Investment; Laws and Statutes; United States

Educators

1990
Working Paper

Short Rates and Expected Asset Returns

By: K. A. Froot

Keywords: Risk Aversion; Risk; International Investing; Risk and Uncertainty; International Finance; Asset Pricing; Behavioral Finance

Research Summary

Internalizing Global Value Chains: A Firm-Level Analysis

By: Laura Alfaro

In recent decades, advances in information and communication technology and falling trade barriers have led firms to retain within their boundaries and in their domestic economies only a subset of their production stages. A key decision facing firms worldwide is the... View Details

April 2019
Article

Internalizing Global Value Chains: A Firm-Level Analysis

By: Laura Alfaro, Pol Antràs, Davin Chor and Paola Conconi

In recent decades, advances in information and communication technology and falling trade barriers have led firms to retain within their boundaries and in their domestic economies only a subset of their production stages. A key decision facing firms worldwide is the... View Details

Keywords: Global Value Chains; Sequential Production; Incomplete Contracts; Demand and Consumers; Customer Value and Value Chain; Globalization

2017
Working Paper

Internalizing Global Value Chains: A Firm-Level Analysis

By: Laura Alfaro, Pol Antràs, Davin Chor and Paola Conconi

In recent decades, advances in information and communication technology and falling trade barriers have led firms to retain within their boundaries and in their domestic economies only a subset of their production stages. A key decision facing firms worldwide is the... View Details

Keywords: Global Value Chains; Sequential Production; Incomplete Contracts; Demand and Consumers; Customer Value and Value Chain; Globalization