Publications

December 2004
Article

Old Rules and New Realities: Corporate Tax Policy in a Global Setting

By: Mihir A. Desai and James R. Hines Jr.

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Taxation; Policy; Business Ventures

SSRN

01 Jun 2014
News

Ready for Takeoff

better public management," Domínguez says, "but you also begin to get more farsighted economic policies that allow business enterprises to invest and ordinary Brazilians to save." Then came what Domínguez calls the "happy accident" of... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell; Air Transportation; Transportation

April 2011
Article

Institutional Tax Clienteles and Payout Policy

By: Mihir Desai and Li Jin

This paper employs heterogeneity in institutional shareholder tax characteristics to identify the relation between firm payout policy and tax incentives. Analysis of a panel of firms matched with the tax characteristics of the clients of their institutional... View Details

Keywords: Institutional Investors; Clienteles; Payout Policy; Private Equity; Investment; Taxation; Ownership Stake; Business and Shareholder Relations

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2012
Working Paper

Payout Taxes and the Allocation of Investment

When corporate payout is taxed, internal equity (retained earnings) is cheaper than external equity (share issues). If there are no perfect substitutes for equity finance, payout taxes may therefore have an effect on the investment of firms. High taxes will favor... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Equity; Financing and Loans; Investment; Taxation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Motivation and Incentives

Read Now

15 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 15

Distributed Innovation Author:Carliss Y. Baldwin Abstract Systems of distributed innovation-so-called business ecosystems-have become increasingly prevalent in many industries. These entities generally encompass numerous corporations,... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

February 1997
Case

Transportation Displays, Incorporated (D): Exiting from a Successful Restructuring

By: Stuart C. Gilson, Vincent Hemmer, Eric Rahe, David Shorrock and Stephen Voorhis

Following a successful corporate turnaround and, more recently, a leveraged recapitalization, management of a highly profitable, fast--growing outdoor advertising company must consider alternative ways to harvest cash flow from the company without jeopardizing the... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Capital; Cash Flow; Profit; Taxation; Private Ownership

February 2018 (Revised December 2019)
Case

The Tax Man: Taxes in Private Equity Real Estate

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz, Timothy J. Becker, Ricardo Andrade and Sayiddah F. McCree

In January 2018, Caelan Langan, an associate at KSW Partners LLC (“KSW”), was asked by Katherine Scott, the partner for whom he worked, to recommend a proposed structure to acquire a prominent office building in San Francisco for their most recent fund. Caelan was... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Alternative Investment Structures; Property; Acquisition; Private Equity; Investment; Management; Taxation; Policy

06 Nov 2012
Op-Ed

Stop Talking About the Weather and Do Something: Three Ways to Finance Sustainable Cities

The wrath of Hurricane Sandy has illuminated a fundamental question: How do we ensure that our cities are resilient in the face of inevitable future disasters? A destroyed city is not a sustainable city. I'm making the case that it's time to stop complaining about... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Construction; Real Estate; Energy; Utilities

26 Mar 2025
Blog Post

How to Approach Your Equity Compensation

Radman (MBA 2019) wondered when he first received equity grants upon joining the tech industry shortly after graduating from Harvard Business School (HBS). He searched for someone who could help him create a strategy around his equity... View Details

March 2008
Article

Market Reactions to Export Subsidies

By: M. A. Desai and James R. Hines Jr.

This paper analyzes the economic impact of export subsidies by investigating stock price reactions to a critical event in 1997. On November 18, 1997, the European Union announced its intention to file a complaint before the World Trade Organization (WTO), arguing that... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Trade; Development Economics; Financial Markets; Profit; Taxation; Volume; Value Creation; Market Design; Business Subsidiaries; Utilities Industry; Financial Services Industry; Europe; North and Central America

SSRN

March 1992 (Revised November 1992)
Case

Lockheed Aeromod Center, Inc.

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

A wholly-owned subsidiary of Lockheed Corp. has an $11 million expansion underway in South Carolina. The company must decide how best to take advantage of the opportunity to issue tax exempt debt. Specifically, the decision involves choices about the maturity and... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Decisions; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Strategy; Taxation; Opportunities; Expansion; Valuation; South Carolina

December 2011
Article

Deposit Insurance and Subsidized Recapitalizations

By: Lucy White and Alan Morrison

The 2007–2009 financial crisis saw a vast expansion in deposit insurance guarantees around the world and yet our understanding of the design and consequences of deposit insurance schemes is in its infancy. We provide a new rationale for the provision of deposit... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Banks and Banking; Insurance; Taxation; Business and Government Relations; Banking Industry

23 Jun 2020
Book

Beginning America Over Again with a New Electoral System

result, write the authors, is a polarized government unable to compromise to solve the nation's greatest problems or realize its highest aspirations. The Politics Industry: How Political Innovation Can Break Partisan Gridlock and Save Our Democracy is written with a... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

16 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Making the Most of Government Upheaval

markets, trade tariffs, and taxation virtually overnight in 1991, sending shock waves throughout its economy. For YPF, at the time heavily diversified in cinemas, airlines, hotels, and restaurants in addition to energy, the first order of... View Details

Keywords: by Nancy O. Perry

January 2001 (Revised June 2001)
Case

Local Initiatives Support Corporation

By: James E. Austin and Kim Slack

Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC) is a $74 million nonprofit social enterprise that combats poverty by helping community development organizations build affordable housing and create economic development opportunities through public-private partnerships. Poses a... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Development Economics; Education; Capital; Investment Funds; Taxation; Growth and Development; Partners and Partnerships; Nonprofit Organizations; Segmentation; Service Industry

07 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 7, 2009

between domestic employment conditions and the growth of foreign operations by American firms have led to calls for increased taxation on foreign operations—the so-called "end to tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

March 1999 (Revised June 2005)
Case

Saevig Corporation

By: Henry B. Reiling and Mark Pollard

The taxpayer purchased land and later transferred it to a family controlled corporation in return for an earn out. When funds were eventually received, the IRS treated them as dividends, whereas the individual and corporate taxpayers contended they were sums paid on... View Details

Keywords: Investment Return; Debt Securities; Taxation; Outcome or Result; Financial Reporting; Family Business; Assets; Business and Stakeholder Relations

19 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Ground-Floor Opportunities for Retail in India

have made goods more attainable and enticing to a larger portion of the population. At the same time, trade liberalization and more sophisticated manufacturing techniques create goods that are less expensive and higher quality. A panel moderated by Harvard View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Consumer Products; Retail

2009
Working Paper

Endowments, Fiscal Federalism, and the Cost of Capital for States: Evidence from Brazil, 1891-1930

By: Andre C. Martinez Fritscher and Aldo Musacchio

There is a large amount of literature that aims to explain what determines country risk (defined as the difference between the yield of a sovereign's bonds and the risk-free rate). In this paper, we contribute to the discussion by arguing that an important explanatory... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Sovereign Finance; Goods and Commodities; Risk and Uncertainty; Trade; Taxation; Cost of Capital; Revenue; Brazil