Publications

2022
Working Paper

Markups to Financial Intermediation in Foreign Exchange Markets

By: Jonathan Wallen

On average from 2013 to 2020, foreign asset managers in net sold forward 1.1 trillion U.S. dollars. This forward sale of dollars hedges the currency mismatch of foreign investment in U.S. dollar assets. By accommodating this demand, U.S. and European banks earn an... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Exchange; Financial Intermediation; Arbitrage; Market Power; Regulations; Currency; Assets; Interest Rates; Banking Industry

2023
Working Paper

The Value of Professional Ties in B2B Markets

By: Navid Mojir and Sriya Anbil

We study how a particular form of social ties (i.e., professional ties proxied by past employment) aﬀects price and proﬁtability in business-to-business (B2B) markets. While most of the work on social ties focuses on information diﬀusion in business-to-consumer... View Details

Keywords: Professional Ties; Social Ties; Business-to-business Marketing; B2B Marketing; Repo; Individual Connections; B2B Pricing; Pricing; Decision-making In Financial Markets; Marketing; Relationships; Price; Financial Markets; Decision Making

SSRN

February 2019
Article

The Market for Financial Adviser Misconduct

By: Mark Egan, Gregor Matvos and Amit Seru

We construct a novel database containing the universe of financial advisers in the United States from 2005 to 2015, representing approximately 10% of employment of the finance and insurance sector. We provide the first large-scale study that documents the economy-wide... View Details

Keywords: Financial Advisors; Brokers; Consumer Finance; Financial Misconduct And Fraud; FINRA; Financial Institutions; Crime and Corruption; Organizational Culture; Personal Finance; Financial Services Industry

February 2018
Article

Financial Disclosure and Market Transparency with Costly Information Processing

By: Marco Di Maggio and Marco Pagano

We study a model where some investors (“hedgers”) are bad at information processing, while others (“speculators”) have superior information-processing ability and trade purely to exploit it. The disclosure of financial information induces a trade externality: if... View Details

Keywords: Financial Disclosure; Information Processing; Liquidity; Market Transparency; Rational Inattention; Information; Financial Liquidity; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Corporate Disclosure; Financial Markets; Investment

June 2009 (Revised May 2010)
Case

BlackRock Money Market Management in September 2008 (A)

By: Kenneth A. Froot and David Lane

This case highlights the issues around money market mutual funds in the financial crisis of 2008. View Details

Keywords: BlackRock; Mutual Funds; Money Market; Investment Management; Bank Runs; 2008 Financial Crisis; Government Intervention In The Markets; GRG; Financial Management; Investment Funds; Crisis Management; Government and Politics; Financial Crisis; Financial Services Industry

Educators

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; Financial Services

June 2009 (Revised May 2010)
Supplement

BlackRock Money Market Management in September 2008 (B)

By: Kenneth A. Froot and David Lane

This case highlights the issues surrounding money market mutual funds in the financial crisis of 2008. View Details

Keywords: BlackRock; Mutual Funds; Money Market; Investment Management; Bank Runs; 2008 Financial Crisis; Government Intervention In The Markets; GRG; Financial Management; Investment Funds; Government and Politics; Financial Crisis; Financial Services Industry

01 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Encouraging Dissent in Decision-Making

other places." During the decision-making process, George explains, this means asking probing questions and insisting that managers present each situation in objective terms, rather than with a positive... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

2014
Working Paper

Corporate Financial Policies in Misvalued Credit Markets

By: Jarrad Harford, Marc Martos-Vila and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

We theoretically and empirically investigate the repercussions of credit market misvaluation for a firm's borrowing and investment decisions. Using an ex-post measure of the accuracy of credit ratings to capture debt market misvaluation, we find evidence that firms... View Details

Teaching Interest

Information in Financial Markets (Econ 970, Spring 2016)

Second-year undergraduate course covering various aspects of information propagation in financial markets. The course is divided into four units. We begin by covering canonical pricing anomalies that illustrate the importance of information distribution and... View Details

October 2014 (Revised June 2016)
Case

MasterCard: Driving Financial Inclusion

By: Sunil Gupta, Rajiv Lal and Natalie Kindred

MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga was investing significant time and attention to increase financial inclusion among individuals with historically no access to banking or financial services in countries around the world with large underserved populations. The effort included... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Financial Services; Financial And Social Return; Financial Inclusion; Strategic Management; South Africa; Nigeria; Ajay Banga; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; South Africa; Nigeria

Educators

2016
Article

Organizational Decision-Making and Information: Angel Investments by Venture Capital Partners

By: Andy Wu

We study information aggregation in organizational decision-making for the financing of entrepreneurial ventures. We introduce a formal model of voting where agents face costly tacit information to improve their decision quality. Equilibrium outcomes suggest a... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Angel Investors; Organization Design; Voting; Group Decision-making; Information; Strategy; Organizations; Entrepreneurship; Decision Making; Financing and Loans

Research Summary

Financial Markets and Corporate Governance

By: Dwight B. Crane

Corporate scandals beginning in the late 1990s focused renewed attention on corporate governance, but significant cracks in the governance system also contributed to recent problems. Deregulation and growth of financial markets, as well as changes in the competitive... View Details

09 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

It’s Time to Reset Decision-Making in Your Organization

price decreases segmented by customer and channel. Another hallmark of stressful situations is that they can lead to paralysis and inaction, what Nathan Furr calls “unproductive uncertainty.” He recommends three strategies for View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

Research Summary

Corporate Debt, Firm Size and Financial Fragility in Emerging Markets

By: Laura Alfaro

The post-Global Financial Crisis period shows a surge in corporate leverage in emerging markets and a number of countries with deteriorated corporate financial fragility indicators (Altman’s Z-score). Firm size plays a critical role in the relationship between... View Details

26 Nov 2019
News

Predicting Financial Market Bubbles and Crises in Real-time

Source: Greenwood Source: Greenwood Professor Robin Greenwood notes that faculty members across Harvard have long been exploring the behavioral perspective on financial market bubbles and View Details

Keywords: Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments

2011
Article

The Causal Impact of Media in Financial Markets

By: Christopher Parsons and J. Engelberg

Disentangling the causal impact of media reporting from the impact of the events being reported is challenging. We solve this problem by comparing the behaviors of investors with access to different media coverage of the same information event. We use zip codes to... View Details

Keywords: Media; Financial Markets

Article

Marketing Complex Financial Products in Emerging Markets: Evidence from Rainfall Insurance in India

By: Sarthak Gaurav, Shawn A. Cole and Jeremy Tobacman

Recent financial liberalization in emerging economies has led to the rapid introduction of new financial products. Lack of experience with financial products, low levels of education, and low financial literacy may slow adoption of these products. This article reports... View Details

Keywords: Literacy; Insurance; Marketing; Decisions; Demand and Consumers; Financial Instruments; Emerging Markets; Education; Personal Finance; Agribusiness; Developing Countries and Economies; Innovation and Invention; Gujarat

March 2022
Case

In Data We Trust: Be Mobile Africa and Furthering Financial Inclusion Across the African Continent

By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Pierre Marchesseault

To Cédric Jeannot, leveraging technology to promote financial inclusion was personal. After no established financial institution would accept his technology platform to lower transaction costs for free, Jeannot launched FinTech company Be Mobile Africa in May 2020.... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Fintech; Emerging Market; Fundraising; Financial Inclusion; Strategy; Expansion; Management; Entrepreneurship; Personal Finance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Africa; Togo; Nigeria; Ghana

Educators