Publications

24 Aug 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Equalizing Outcomes vs. Equalizing Opportunities: Optimal Taxation when Children’s Abilities Depend on Parents’ Resources

Keywords: by Alexander Gelber & Matthew Weinzierl

Research Summary

The Real Estate Challenge: Capitalizing on Change

By: William J. Poorvu

William J. Poorvu has developed a new casebook and instructor's manual for teaching how to manage change in real estate. Two chapters that describe changes that are currently affecting the industry are followed by twenty case studies-approximately 60 percent of them... View Details

26 Jul 2011
First Look

First Look: July 26

http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/11-034.pdf Tax Policy and the Efficiency of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad Authors:Mihir A. Desai, C. Fritz Foley, and James R. Hines Jr. Abstract Deferral of U.S. taxes on... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Research Summary

Overview

By: Ethan C. Rouen

Relying on empirical archival methodologies—as well as techniques in data science—to develop and structure new sources of data by which to approach questions of looming disclosure changes, Professor Rouen has focused on one of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s... View Details

2009
Working Paper

Watch What I Do, Not What I Say: The Unintended Consequences of the Homeland Investment Act

By: Dhammika Dharmapala, C. Fritz Foley and Kristin J. Forbes

This paper analyzes the impact on firm behavior of the Homeland Investment Act of 2004, which provided a one-time tax holiday for the repatriation of foreign earnings by U.S. multinationals. The analysis controls for endogeneity and omitted variable bias by using... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Multinational Firms and Management; Government Legislation; Taxation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Behavior; United States

Article

Are Buybacks Really Shortchanging Investment?

By: Jesse M. Fried and Charles C.Y. Wang

It’s no secret that the American economy is suffering from the twin ills of slow growth and rising income inequality. Many lay the blame at the doors of America’s largest public corporations. The charge? These firms prefer to distribute cash generated from their... View Details

Keywords: Economy; Investment; Stocks; Business and Shareholder Relations; Equality and Inequality; United States

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October 1997
Background Note

Family Firms in the Newspaper Industry

Changes in newspaper publishing, specifically the introduction of new technology and concurrent changes in tax policy, which led to a consolidation of the industry are described. Also describes the transformation of family firms into public corporations in response to... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Family Business; Journalism and News Industry

2012
Working Paper

~Why Do We Redistribute so Much but Tag so Little? Normative Diversity, Equal Sacrifice and Optimal Taxation

By: Matthew Weinzierl

Tagging is a free lunch in conventional optimal tax theory because it eases the classic tradeoff between efficiency and equality. But tagging is used in only limited ways in tax policy. I propose one explanation: conventional optimal tax theory has yet to capture the... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Cost; Framework; Policy; Taxation; Analytics and Data Science; Performance Efficiency; United States

SSRN

17 Aug 2021
Op-Ed

Dispensing Justice: The Case for Legalizing Cannabis Nationally

lower total cost. Further, cannabis businesses pay a much higher share of net income as taxes, compared to other businesses of similar scale. That’s because, according to the Internal Revenue Code, businesses that “traffic” in Schedule I... View Details

Keywords: by Ashish Nanda and Tabatha Robinson

1 Apr 2013
Interview

Restoring U.S. Competitiveness: Professor Michael Porter in an interview with Charlie Rose

By: Michael E. Porter

"There is an historic opportunity right now for business and government to work together [to restore U.S. competitiveness]." Professor Porter discusses the eight federal policy priorities that business leaders and policymakers, liberals and conservatives agree will... View Details

Keywords: U.S. Competitiveness; Competition; Policy; Global Strategy; Business and Government Relations; United States

01 Aug 2007
Op-Ed

Company Town: Fixing Corrupt Governments

government as well as embezzlement. They might very well be willing to pay the same, or higher, taxes to finance good government, which would include a profit margin to the elected firm. Corporations might... View Details

Keywords: by Eric Werker

August 2011 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Mike Mayo Takes on Citigroup (A)

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Amy Kaser

The case details the conflict between Mike Mayo, an influential banking analyst and Citigroup about what Mayo considers aggressive accounting policies. Mike Mayo questions Citigroup's lack of a valuation allowance against their Deferred Tax Assets despite Citi's recent... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Taxation; Capital; Financial Reporting; Corporate Disclosure; Valuation; Banks and Banking; Financial Strategy; Money; Conflict Management; Capital Budgeting; Asset Management; Banking Industry

October 1981 (Revised April 1984)
Case

H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (A)

Relates the April 1979 discovery of improper income transferal practices used at the H.J. Heinz Co. Background data on the company is presented, along with a detailed description of the organizational practices, the management incentive system, and the corporate... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Business Processes; Compensation and Benefits; Manufacturing Industry; Consumer Products Industry

February 1999 (Revised October 2009)
Background Note

Debt v. Equity: Definitions and Consequences

By: Henry B. Reiling and Mark Pollard

Explores the location of the somewhat imprecise line between debt and equity. Identifies the primary business contexts that give rise to problems, the alternative tax consequences attending the debt versus equity determination, and the most prominent tests used to... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Equity; Interest Rates; Taxation; Business and Government Relations; Public Administration Industry

2008
Working Paper

Where Does It Go? Spending by the Financially Constrained

By: Shawn A. Cole, John Thompson and Peter Tufano

In this paper, we analyze the spending decisions of over 1.5 million Americans who vary in their degree of revealed credit constraints. Specifically, we analyze how these Americans spend their income tax refunds, using transaction-level data from a stored-value card... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Credit; Personal Finance; Spending; Taxation; Consumer Behavior; United States

Read Now

April 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Malaysia: People First?

By: Diego A. Comin and John Abraham

On March 30, 2010, Prime Minister Najib Razak presented his new economic model (NEM) for Malaysia. With the goal of raising per capita income to over $15,000 by 2020 from the current level of $6,634, the plan included measures to improve human capital, reduce migration... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Economies and Regions; Problems and Challenges; Crime and Corruption; Developing Countries and Economies; Development Economics; Emerging Markets; Transformation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Wealth and Poverty; Equality and Inequality; Malaysia

June 2009
Journal Article

Taxes, Institutions and Foreign Diversification Opportunities

By: Mihir Desai and Dhammika Dharmapala

Investors can access foreign diversification opportunities through either foreign portfolio investment (FPI) or foreign direct investment (FDI). The worldwide tax regime employed by the U.S. potentially distorts this choice by penalizing FDI, relative to FPI, in... View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Foreign Direct Investment; Investment Portfolio; Multinational Firms and Management; Taxation; Diversification; United States

SSRN

31 Jan 2023
Research & Ideas

It’s Not All About Pay: College Grads Want Jobs That ‘Change the World’

Businesses seeking highly educated talent would do well to appeal to college graduates’ desire to “change the world.” And in doing so, they might change the world a little, too—by offering jobs that come with the unintended effect of reducing View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

June 2016 (Revised December 2017)
Case

The Cheese and the Oligarchs: The Politics, the Media, and Israel's Dream of a Start-Up Nation

By: Rafael Di Tella and Christine Snively

Israel enjoyed the highest concentration of technology start-ups in the world per capita. Despite regional instability, the country maintained strong economic growth and was considered a high-tech powerhouse. But not all Israelis benefited. Between the 1980s and 2010s,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Business Conglomerates; Business Startups; Israel