Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(773)
- Faculty Publications (270)
- 2010
- Working Paper
Surviving the Global Financial Crisis: Foreign Direct Investment and Establishment Performance
By: Laura Alfaro and Maggie Chen
We examine in this paper the differential response of establishments to the global financial crisis, with particular emphasis on the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in determining micro economic performance. Using a new worldwide dataset that reports the... View Details
- 2010
- Working Paper
Trade Policy and Firm Boundaries
By: Laura Alfaro, Paola Conconi, Harald Fadinger and Andrew F. Newman
We study how trade policy affects firms' ownership structures. We embed an incomplete contracts model of vertical integration choices into a standard perfectly-competitive international trade framework. Integration decisions are driven by a trade-off between the... View Details
- March 2010 (Revised May 2013)
- Case
Chile's Copper Surplus: The Road Not Taken (A)
By: Laura Alfaro, Dante Roscini and Renee Kim
In 2008, Andres Velasco, Chile's Finance Minister, was under mounting criticisms over his fiscal policy. As the world's largest copper producer, Chile was benefiting from the rise in copper prices, which had more than tripled since 2003. Copper revenues translated into... View Details
- March 2010 (Revised May 2013)
- Supplement
Foreign Direct Investment and Ireland's Tiger Economy (B)
By: Laura Alfaro and Matthew Johnson
- January 8, 2010
- Other Article
Multinational Firms, Agglomeration, and Global Networks
By: Laura Alfaro and Maggie Chen
Agglomeration effects are important but difficult to measure. This column uses a new database with precise geographical information to investigate the locational interdependence of multinational firms. Knowledge spillovers and capital- and labour-market externalities... View Details
- 2010
- Casebook
Global Capital and National Institutions: Crisis and Choice in the International Financial Architecture
By: Laura Alfaro
All managers face a business environment in which international and macroeconomic phenomena matter. International capital flows can significantly affect countries' development efforts and provide clear investment opportunities for businesses. During the 1990s and early... View Details
- 2010
- Working Paper
International Capital Allocation, Sovereign Borrowing, and Growth
By: Laura Alfaro, Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan and Vadym Volosovych
The key in the investigation of "where" and "why" capital flows, relative to the neoclassical benchmark, is how we measure these flows. The macro literature has been using three main yardsticks: the current account balance, returns to capital, and the volume of net... View Details
- December 12, 2009
- Other Article
The Transformation of India: Incumbent Control, Reforms, and Newcomers
By: Laura Alfaro and Anusha Chari
What microeconomic forces drove the structural transformation of India's economy in recent decades? This column studies firm-level data and portrays a dynamic economy driven by the growth of private and foreign firms. But the Indian economy did not go through an... View Details
- December 2009 (Revised March 2013)
- Case
Woolf Farming and Processing
By: David E. Bell, Laura Winig and Mary Louise Shelman
Woolf Farming Company, a privately owned family farming business in California's Central Valley, found its business threatened by a lack of water, brought on by a combination of drought, poor quality well water and unavailability of surface water due to federally... View Details
- December 2009
- Article
Intra-Industry Foreign Direct Investment
By: Laura Alfaro and Andrew Charlton
We use a new firm-level dataset that establishes the location, ownership, and activity of 650,000 multinational subsidiaries. Using a combination of four-digit-level information and input-output tables, we find the share of vertical FDI (subsidiaries that provide... View Details
- 2014
- Working Paper
The Global Agglomeration of Multinational Firms
By: Laura Alfaro and Maggie Chen
The explosion of multinational activities in recent decades is rapidly transforming the global landscape of industrial production. But are the emerging clusters of multinational production the rule or the exception? What drives the offshore agglomeration of... View Details
- 2009
- Other Paper
Trade Policy and Firm Boundaries
By: Laura Alfaro, Paola Conconi, Andrew F. Newman and Harald Fadinger
We examine how trade policy affects firms' organizational choices. We embed a model of firms' vertical integration decisions into a standard perfectly-competitive international trade framework. In the model, integration decisions are driven by a trade-off... View Details
- November 2009 (Revised June 2012)
- Case
Crisis and Reform in Japan's Banking System (A)
By: Thierry Porte, Rawi E. Abdelal, Laura Alfaro and Jonathan Schlefer
In 1997, amidst Japan's ongoing financial problems, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto sought to restructure the financial sector to make it more transparent and globally competitive. He hoped that this effort, dubbed the "Big Bang" after the British financial... View Details
- November 2009 (Revised June 2012)
- Supplement
Crisis and Reform in Japan's Banking System (B)
By: Thierry Porte, Rawi E. Abdelal, Laura Alfaro and Jonathan Schlefer
In 1997, amidst Japan's ongoing financial problems, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto sought to restructure the financial sector to make it more transparent and globally competitive. He hoped that this effort, dubbed the "Big Bang" after the British financial... View Details
- 2009
- Working Paper
India Transformed: Insights from the Firm Level 1988-2005
By: Laura Alfaro and Anusha Chari
Using firm-level data this paper analyzes, the transformation of India's economic structure following the implementation of economic reforms. The focus of the study is on publicly-listed and unlisted firms from across a wide spectrum of manufacturing and services... View Details
- August 2009
- Teaching Note
U.S. Subprime Mortgage Crisis: Policy Reactions (TN) (A) and (B)
By: Laura Alfaro and Renee Kim
Teaching Note for [708036] and [709045]. View Details
- June 2009 (Revised May 2013)
- Case
Australia: The Riches and Challenges of Commodities
By: Laura Alfaro and Renee Kim
Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd faced a daunting task that he never imagined he would have to face when he was elected two years ago. Australia at that time was poised to enter its 17th year of uninterrupted growth. Commodity exports were booming, largely driven... View Details
Keywords: Financial Crisis; Trade; Foreign Direct Investment; Policy; Crisis Management; China; Australia
- April 2009
- Case
The First Global Financial Crisis of the 21st Century
By: Laura Alfaro and Renee Kim
The global economy was expected to suffer from negative growth for the full year in 2009, a phenomenon not seen since World War II. While the U.S. subprime mortgage disaster was blamed as the original instigator, it was noted that the "global imbalances" of the U.S.... View Details
- April 2009 (Revised June 2010)
- Case
U.S. Subprime Mortgage Crisis: Policy Reactions (B)
By: Laura Alfaro and Renee Kim
In March 2009, the U.S. economy was in a severe recession not seen since the Great Depression after the subprime mortgage crisis had spiraled out of control. The situation had dramatically changed in one year since the Federal Reserve Board had helped to bailout... View Details