Publications

Fall 2011
Article

A Brief Postwar History of U.S. Consumer Finance

By: Gunnar Trumbull and Peter Tufano

In this brief history of U.S. consumer finance since World War II, the sector is defined based on the functions delivered by firms in the form of payments, savings and investing, borrowing, managing risk, and providing advice. Evidence of major trends in consumption,... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Finance; Consumer Credit; U.s. History; Consumer Behavior; Personal Finance; Credit; Trends; History; United States

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Web

Buy Now, Pay Later: A History of Personal Credit

HBS Quick Links MBA Executive Education Doctoral Programs Faculty and Research Alumni HBS Publishing Site Index HBS Home Contact Us Map/Directions Introduction Credit in Pre-Industrial Society Credit and the... View Details

Article

Credit and Punishment: Are Corporate Bankers Disciplined for Risk-Taking?

By: Janet Gao, Kristoph Kleiner and Joseph Pacelli

We examine whether bankers face disciplining consequences for structuring poorly performing corporate loans. We construct a novel data set containing the employment histories and loan portfolios of a large sample of corporate bankers and find that corporate credit... View Details

Keywords: Syndicated Loans; Credit Events; Career Outcomes; Loan Officers; Banks and Banking; Financing and Loans; Risk Management; Corporate Finance; Personal Development and Career

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05 Jan 2011
News

Baker Library I Bloomberg Center Exhibit Examines the History of Personal Credit

January 1997 (Revised March 1999)
Case

An Overview of Credit Derivatives

Presents the history and features of credit derivatives, a new class of securities. A stylized problem is also provided. View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps

02 Mar 2016
News

On Credit

Illustration by Eduardo Recife The large tome looks its age, which is roughly 160 years old. Bound in leather, an average page, of which there are about 800 in the volume, includes almost 100 eye-blurring lines of pen-and-ink script. It’s one of 2,522 volumes of View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

01 Sep 2023
News

History Matters

today from the Panic of 1907? It demonstrates at least six regularities of financial crises. First, crises tend to afflict vulnerable financial systems. Vulnerability often follows an economic boom, a period of real growth that morphs into excessive optimism and View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

January 2020
Case

SK Group: Social Progress Credits

By: George Serafeim, Ethan Rouen and David Freiberg

SK Group was one of the largest companies South Korea. A family-run conglomerate consisting of around 120 subsidiaries and employing more than 100,000, SK was tightly knit into the fabric of Korean society. SK viewed their future success as contingent upon the strength... View Details

January 2005 (Revised October 2005)
Case

Private Capital and Public Policy: Standard & Poor's Sovereign Credit Ratings

By: Rawi E. Abdelal and Christopher Bruner

Describes Standard & Poor's sovereign credit ratings business. Provides background on the history of credit ratings agencies, the meaning of credit ratings, the expansion of the sovereign ratings business over recent decades, and the market for credit ratings. Also,... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Finance; History; Policy; Business and Government Relations; International Finance; Country; Globalized Economies and Regions; Decision Choices and Conditions; Capital Markets; Debates; Financial Services Industry; United States

Web

Buy Now, Pay Later: Credits

Credits Curator Caitlin E. Anderson Faculty Advisors Walter A. Friedman, Research Fellow and Co-Editor, Business History Review , Harvard Business School, J. Gunnar Trumbull, Associate Professor of Business... View Details

01 Dec 2023
News

Turning Point: Where Credit Is Due

Nagi Otgonshar (MBA 2015) (Illustration by Gisela Goppel) Nagi Otgonshar (MBA 2015) (Illustration by Gisela Goppel) Earning a full scholarship has always been the only realistic ticket to a superior education for me. It was this golden opportunity that allowed me to... View Details

Keywords: Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support; Government

October 2021
Article

Fintech Borrowers: Lax Screening or Cream-Skimming?

By: Marco Di Maggio and Vincent Yao

Personal credit is the fastest-growing segment of the consumer credit market, mainly driven by fintech lenders' staggering expansion. We study this market using a unique individual-level data, which covers most of the top fintech and traditional lenders, and provides... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Lending; Consumer Finance; Credit History; Self-control; Present Bias; Financing and Loans; Personal Finance; Credit; Behavior

23 Apr 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate Financial Policies in Misvalued Credit Markets

Keywords: by Jarrad Harford, Marc Martos-Vila & Matthew Rhodes-Kropf; Financial Services; Banking

14 Dec 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Regulating for Legitimacy: Consumer Credit Access in France and America

Keywords: by Gunnar Trumbull

2010
Working Paper

Regulating for Legitimacy: Consumer Credit Access in France and America

By: J. Gunnar Trumbull

Theories of legitimate regulation have emphasized the role of governments either in fixing market failures to promote greater efficiency or in restricting the efficient functioning of markets in order to pursue public welfare goals. In either case, features of markets... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Credit; Financial Markets; Personal Finance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business History; Business and Government Relations; Welfare; France; United States

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Research Summary

Overview

Dr. Lurtz researches the history of agricultural economies in Latin America. She has a particular interest in export agriculture and attendant state- and locally-driven modernization projects. Her current work looks to the coffee economy of southern Mexico in the 19th... View Details

2016
Book

Slavery's Capitalism: A New History of American Economic Development

By: Sven Beckert and Seth Rockman

During the nineteenth century, the United States entered the ranks of the world's most advanced and dynamic economies. At the same time, the nation sustained an expansive and brutal system of human bondage. This was no mere coincidence. Slavery's Capitalism... View Details

Keywords: History; Development Economics; Ethics; Social Issues; United States

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