Publications

September 2021
Teaching Note

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments): April 2021

By: Josh Lerner

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 821-125. View Details

Keywords: Pension Funds; Investment Strategy; Capital Markets

November 2013
Case

Canyon-Agassi Investing in Charter Schools

By: Nicolas P. Retsinas, Nicole Shomair, Vernon Beckford and Lisa Strope

After an unusual round of doubles in May 2011, real estate investor Bobby Turner, Managing Partner, Canyon-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund (CACSFF) and Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder of Canyon Capital Realty Advisors, found himself at a loss for words. Turner was... View Details

Keywords: Charter Schools; Real Estate; Fund Raising; Social Entrepreneurship; Education; Real Estate Industry; United States

Educators

January 2008
Article

Venture Capital Investment Cycles: The Impact of Public Markets

By: Paul Gompers, Anna Kovner, Josh Lerner and David Scharfstein

It is well documented that the venture capital industry is highly volatile and that much of this volatility is associated with shifting valuations and activity in public equity markets. This paper examines how changes in public market signals affected venture capital... View Details

Keywords: Market Cycles; Venture Capital; Investment; Experience and Expertise; Public Equity; Volatility; Financial Services Industry

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January 2018 (Revised August 2024)
Background Note

Background Note: Introduction to Investing for Impact

By: Shawn Cole, Vikram Gandhi, Caitlin Reimers Brumme and Radhika Kak

Educators

10 Sep 2010
Working Paper Summaries

The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Investment Recommendations

Keywords: by Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim; Financial Services

Long-run Returns to Impact Investing in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies

There is growing interest in impact investing, the idea of deploying capital to obtain both financial and social or environmental returns. Examination of every equity investment made by the International Finance Corporation, one of the largest and... View Details

2021
Working Paper

Accounting for Product Impact in the Pharmaceuticals Industry

By: Amanda Rischbieth, George Serafeim and Katie Trinh

We apply the product impact measurement framework of the Impact-Weighted Accounts Initiative (IWAI) in two competitor companies within the pharmaceuticals industry. We design a monetization methodology that allows us to calculate monetary impact estimates of accessible... View Details

14 Jan 2013
News

Why Money Market Funds Are Still Safe Investments

2008
Chapter

Life-Cycle Funds

By: Luis M. Viceira

The U.S. retirement system has experienced a substantial transformation in recent years. It has evolved from a system in which employees relied mainly on Social Security and professionally managed defined benefit (DB) pension plans sponsored by their employers to... View Details

Keywords: Retirement; Personal Finance; Investment Funds; Compensation and Benefits; United States

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17 Jan 2013
News

Social Impact Investing Will Be the New Venture Capital

2024
Working Paper

Ponzi Funds

By: Philippe van der Beck, Jean-Philippe Bouchaud and Dario Villamaina

Many active funds hold concentrated portfolios. Flow-driven trading causes price pressure, which pushes up the funds’ existing positions resulting in realized returns. We decompose fund returns into a price pressure (self-inflated) and a fundamental component and... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Investment Return; Price Bubble; Financial Reporting; Financial Liquidity

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2021
Working Paper

Accounting for Workforce Impact at Scale

By: Adel Fadhel, Katie Panella, Ethan Rouen and George Serafeim

Using new data on workforce composition and wages, we systematically measure the employment impact at U.S. firms from 2008 to 2020, including 2,682 unique firms and 22,322 firm-year observations. We document significant variation across industries and firms within each... View Details

Keywords: Impact Accounting; ESG; Employee Turnover; Wages; Employment; Measurement and Metrics; Human Capital; Diversity; United States

2018
Working Paper

The Impact of Pensions and Insurance on Global Yield Curves

By: Robin Greenwood and Annette Vissing-Jorgensen

We document a strong effect of pension and insurance company (P&I) assets on the long end of the yield curve. Using data from 26 countries, the yield spread between 30-year and 10-year government bond yields is negatively related to the ratio of pension assets (in... View Details

Keywords: Pension Funds; Investment Funds; Insurance; Assets; Interest Rates; Bonds

December 1996
Case

Common Fund Hedge Fund Portfolio, The

By: Andre F. Perold and William T. Spitz

The Common Fund, a nonprofit consortium of educational institutions, is deciding whether to create a fund of hedge funds for its members, and if it does, which hedge fund managers to select. View Details

Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Investment Funds

Educators