Publications

March 2011 (Revised November 2011)
Case

Harmonic Hearing Co.

By: Howard H. Stevenson and Craig H. Stephenson

Harmonic is a small, privately held manufacturer of hearing aids. Harriet Burns and Marc Davis, two employees at Harmonic, have an opportunity to purchase the company from the founder. As well-informed insiders who understand the industry, Burns and Davis believe the... View Details

Keywords: Debts; Quantitative Analysis; Financing; Entrepreneurial Finance; Development Stage Enterprises; Small ＆ Medium-sized Enterprises; Small Business; Business Growth and Maturation; Cash Flow; Mathematical Methods; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Borrowing and Debt; Equity; Manufacturing Industry

01 Sep 2009
News

Consumer Finance Makes HBS Debut

TUFANO: His new consumer finance elective is part of a broader effort to legitimize the field as an important area for research and teaching. Last spring HBS became the first top-ranked U.S. business school to offer a course in consumer... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Finance; Finance; Finance

March 2005
Article

Sovereign Debt As a Contingent Claim: A Quantitative Approach

By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk

We construct a dynamic equilibrium model with contingent service and adverse selection to quantitatively study sovereign debt. In the model, benefits of defaulting are tempered by higher future interest rates. For a wide set of parameters, the only equilibrium is one... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Interest Rates; Balance and Stability; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Mathematical Methods; Management Style; Segmentation; Debt Securities; Banking Industry

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22 Feb 2024
News

How Gen Z Can Avoid Further Student Debt in 2024

June 2017
Article

Is Operating Flexibility Harmful under Debt?

By: Nikolaos Trichakis, Dan A. Iancu and Gerry Tsoukalas

We study the inefficiencies stemming from a firm's operating flexibility under debt. We find that flexibility in replenishing or liquidating inventory, by providing risk-shifting incentives, could lead to borrowing costs that erase more than a third of the firm's... View Details

Keywords: Covenants; Risk-shifting; Inventory; Agency Costs; Debt Financing; Risk Management; Borrowing and Debt

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February 2010 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Negotiating Trust: Borrowers, Lenders, and the Politics of Household Debt

By: Catherine S. M. Duggan and Alexander F. Roehrkasse

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Personal Finance; Negotiation; Trust

Web

Research - Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

effects on other firms. See Sergey’s other research work here and Adi’s other research work here . Related Themes: Global Crisis & Debt Data, Monetary Policy & Money Markets, Stabilization Policy & Regulation More Info The Growth of View Details

2010
Working Paper

A Brief Postwar History of U.S. Consumer Finance

By: Andrea Ryan, Gunnar Trumbull and Peter Tufano

This article describes the consumer finance sector in the US since World War II. We first define the sector in terms of the functions delivered by firms (payments, savings/investing, borrowing, managing risk, and providing advice.) We provide time series evidence on... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Borrowing and Debt; Mortgages; Personal Finance; Business History; Innovation and Invention; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Services Industry; United States

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Feb 2014
Case

Finding the Money: An Overview of Infrastructure Finance Challenges and Opportunities

This overview describes how the United States funds and finances infrastructure investment to maintain its economic competitiveness. It considers the roles of taxpayers, users, government allocators and lenders, and private investors in... View Details

December 10, 2013
Article

A Market-based Mechanism to Improve Capital Expenditures

By: Eric D. Werker

Keywords: Finance; Infrastructure; Debt; Political Risk; Expenditure; Ghana; Africa

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March 2001
Background Note

Valuing the Option Component of Debt and Its Relevance to DCF-Based Valuation Methods

The flows-to-equity or equity cash flows valuation method is a discounted cash flow method used to estimate the equity portion of the capital structure. It is closely related to the venture capital/buyout valuation method, which estimates the IRR of the stream of cash... View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Valuation; Equity

24 Sep 2021
News

‘A Different Kind of Moral Hazard’: The History and Politics behind the Evergrande Debt Crisis

July 19, 2011
Article

Social Security Refrom Is the Key to the Debt Ceiling Debate

By: Robert C. Pozen

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Borrowing and Debt

June 2015 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Greece's Debt: Sustainable?

By: George Serafeim

The case "Greece's Debt: Sustainable?" describes the Greek economic crisis, bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the debt restructuring that followed. Because of a lack of trust in Greece's ability to repay its debt, two... View Details

Keywords: Debt Crisis; Accounting; Debt Sustainability; Austerity; Solvency Opinions; Borrowing and Debt; Restructuring; Valuation; Accrual Accounting; Fair Value Accounting; Economy; Greece

Web

About - Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

in real time, perhaps policy makers can anticipate financial vulnerability and take measures to prevent crises. Harvard faculty have originated measures of investor sentiment in the equity, credit, and sovereign debt markets. The... View Details

Web

Finance Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Wisdom of Finance: Discovering Humanity in the World of Risk and Return (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017). Victoria Ivashina : Finalist for the 2018 Pagano & Zechner Prize for Best Non-Investments Paper Published in the Review of Finance... View Details

08 Aug 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

Parmigiano-Reggiano, Jane Austen, and Other Things You Didn't Know About Finance

MarsYu Who says finance is boring? These stories, written about HBS faculty research and case studies, cover such diverse topics as financial adviser robots, the rise of impact investing, and the tell-tale signs that brokers are giving... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services

May 2001 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Calpine Corporation: The Evolution from Project to Corporate Finance

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Michael Kane

In early 1999, Calpine Corp.'s CEO Pete Cartwright adopted an aggressive growth strategy with the goal of increasing the company's aggregate generating capacity from approximately 3,000 to 15,000 megawatts (MW) by 2004. He believed there was a fleeting opportunity to... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Cost of Capital; Project Finance; Adaptation; Profit; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Energy Industry; United States