Publications

SSRN

May 2011
Article

Higher Risk, Lower Returns: What Hedge Fund Investors Really Earn

By: Ilia Dichev and Gwen Yu

The returns of hedge fund investors depend not only on the returns of the hedge funds they hold but also on the timing and magnitude of their capital flows in and out of the funds. We use dollar-weighted returns (a form of IRR) to assess the properties of actual... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Investment Return; Capital Markets; Market Timing; Currency

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24 Feb 2011
Research & Ideas

What’s Government’s Role in Regulating Home Purchase Financing?

all, if the government charges the right price for bearing the credit risk of its guarantee, the effect on mortgage rates is likely to be small. Second, the government guarantee proposals that involve... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services

12 Mar 2024
Research & Ideas

Publish or Perish: What the Research Says About Productivity in Academia

research post-tenure. Encouraging researchers to take more risks The researchers also questioned professors’ personal appetites for risk-taking, hoping to gain answers to the age-old question: How do you get scientists to take more risks?... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Education

24 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

The Yelp Factor: Are Consumer Reviews Good for Business?

thing? If the ratings are capturing real quality, then that's a force for good. To the extent that there is gaming or nonrepresentative views, that's a problem. The onus is on the review industry to change... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage

11 Dec 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 11, 2018

cities between 1910 and 1930. Instrumenting immigrants’ location decision by interacting national changes in migration flows across ethnic groups with pre-existing immigrants’ enclaves across U.S. cities, we find that immigration raised marriage View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

21 Jul 2009
First Look

First Look: July 21

Working PapersIn Favor of Clear Thinking: Incorporating Moral Rules into a Wise Cost-Benefit Analysis Authors:Max H. Bazerman and Joshua D. Greene Abstract Bennis, Medin, and Bartels (2009) have contributed an interesting paper on the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

03 Oct 2023
HBS Case

Layoffs Can Be Bad Business: 5 Strategies to Consider Before Cutting Staff

corresponding increases in interest rates prompt fears of a recession. Indeed, a recent Harvard Business School case study details how four tech giants laid off almost 40,000 workers between November 2022... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Telecommunications; Technology; Financial Services; Manufacturing

2011
Chapter

The Economics of Housing Finance Reform

By: David S. Scharfstein and Adi Sunderam

This paper analyzes the two leading types of proposals for reform of the housing finance system: (i) broad-based, explicit, priced government guarantees of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and (ii) privatization. Both proposals have drawbacks. Properly-priced... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Housing; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Government and Politics

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30 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 30, 2015

underlying the ratings. Our tests examine whether these forms of disclosure reflect firms' real efforts to combat corruption or are cheap talk. We find that the ratings are related to enforcement and... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

Spring 2015
Article

Bitcoin: Economics, Technology, and Governance

By: Rainer Böhme, Nicolas Christin, Benjamin Edelman and Tyler Moore

Bitcoin is an online communication protocol that facilitates virtual currency including electronic payments. Since its inception in 2009 by an anonymous group of developers, Bitcoin has served tens of millions of transactions with total dollar value in the billions.... View Details

Keywords: Market Platforms; Online Technology; Currency

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November 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Drilling South: Petrobras Evaluates Pecom

By: Mihir A. Desai and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

The Brazilian oil company, Petrobras, is evaluating the acquisition of an Argentine oil company, the Perez Companc Group (Pecom). The acquisition would increase Petrobras' oil reserves and expand its interests outside Brazil, a significant step for the largest company... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Crisis; Non-Renewable Energy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Corporate Governance; Risk Management; Emerging Markets; State Ownership; Performance Evaluation; Risk and Uncertainty; Valuation; Energy Industry; Argentina; Brazil

Educators

18 Sep 2019
Op-Ed

WeWork—The IPO That Shouldn’t?

current operations that could materially impact their contribution margin, such as the failure to record any reserves for their furniture, fixtures, and equipment that are very real current costs. They fail to allocate any of their... View Details

Keywords: by Nori Gerardo Lietz; Real Estate; Real Estate

October 1998 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Preview Travel (A)

By: William A. Sahlman, Nicole Tempest, Daniel H Case III and Robert Keller

Preview Travel was a leader in the online travel industry, having generated $80 million in bookings in 1997 and growing at a 34% compound annual growth rate per quarter. This case describes the evolution of Preview Travel's business plan and financing strategy and... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Business Model; Initial Public Offering; Valuation; Internet and the Web; Business Plan; Capital; Financial Strategy; Travel Industry; United States

Educators

07 Aug 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Financial vs. Strategic Buyers

Keywords: by Marc Martos-Vila, Matthew Rhodes-Kropf & Jarrad Harford

March–April 2015
Article

The Almighty Ruble

By: Debora L. Spar

At 1 AM Moscow time on December 16, Russia's central bank announced a massive hike in the country's interest rate, from 10.5% to 17%. It's not clear how Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his colleagues could realistically have expected to achieve anything by hiking the... View Details

Keywords: Monetary Policy; Economy; Policy; Currency; Interest Rates; Sovereign Finance; Russia

22 Jun 2009
Research & Ideas

“Too Big To Fail”: Reining In Large Financial Firms

leverage and reforming the credit rating system. The Case Against A Systemic Risk Regulator In a lengthy minority dissent, the oversight panel's two Republicans, Texas Congressman Jeb Hensarling and former... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Banking; Financial Services

04 Feb 2002
Research & Ideas

How To Do Business in Islamic Countries

the Challenge." He was joined by a specialist in Islamic law, Harvard Law School professor Frank E. Vogel, for the series' discussion on doing business in the Islamic world. Vogel and Hayes are also co-authors of the book Islamic Law and Finance: Religion, View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

September 2022 (Revised January 2025)
Case

The Pokémon Company: Evolving into an Everlasting Brand

By: Tomomichi Amano and Masaki Nomura

Super Bowl 50, the fiftieth annual championship game of the American National Football League played in February 2016, featured 52 commercials, and brands spent more than six million dollars each for a 30-second commercial slot. Surprisingly, the commercial that... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Growth and Development Strategy; Video Game Industry; Japan

Educators

2010
Book

A Call for Judgment: Sensible Finance for a Dynamic Economy

By: Amar Bhide

Our prosperity requires the enterprise of innumerable individuals and businesses who exercise their imagination and judgment—and bear responsibility for outcomes. And it is through dialogue and relationships that widespread enterprise is fostered, not merely prices in... View Details

Keywords: Recession; Banking; Banks; Finance; Economics; Macroeconomics; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry