Finance →
- 07 Sep 2021
- Research & Ideas
Who Pays For Wildfire and Hurricane Damage? Everyone.
Think only coastal states bear the costs related to rising seas? Research by Ishita Sen and colleagues shows how homeowners everywhere pay for climate change, regardless of location. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Aug 2021
- Research & Ideas
What If Closing the Wage Gap Means Everyone Earns Less?
Companies are under pressure to share more data about employee salaries, but research by Zoe Cullen reveals how pay transparency doesn't always help workers. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 20 Jul 2021
- Research & Ideas
Bankruptcy Spells Death for Too Many Businesses
Hasty liquidations cost creditors billions of dollars a year, research by Samuel Antill finds. What if more bankrupt companies were restructured—and revived—instead? Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 28 Jun 2021
- Research & Ideas
Keep or Cut Workers? How Companies Reacted to the COVID-19 Crisis
Analysis by Ethan Rouen and colleagues reveals the true factors behind leaders' choices during the pandemic's painful early months, when survival was at stake for many businesses. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 16 Jun 2021
- HBS Case
Cruising in Crisis: How Carnival Is Riding Out the COVID-19 Storm
COVID-19 has devastated the cruise industry, but one company may emerge stronger: Carnival. A case study by Stuart Gilson reveals how the cruising juggernaut is navigating the pandemic. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 01 Jun 2021
- Cold Call Podcast
Running a Consumer Fintech Startup within Goldman Sachs
Marcus by Goldman Sachs marked a dramatic shift for the 150-year-old financial institution, which historically had served only businesses and the wealthiest people. The fintech startup operated within Goldman Sachs, offering unsecured personal loans for the mass market, high-yield deposits, and a credit card in partnership with Apple. Harvard Business School associate professor Rory McDonald discusses the challenges of launching and operating a startup within an established company in his case, “Marcus by Goldman Sachs.” Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 27 Apr 2021
- Research & Ideas
IPO or M&A? How Venture Capital Shapes a Startup's Future
To a cash-strapped founder, any funding seems like a win, but research by Rory McDonald and colleagues shows that much more is at stake when it comes to venture capital. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 06 Apr 2021
- Working Paper Summaries
Currency Hedging in Emerging Markets: Managing Cash Flow Exposure
Economies with less liquid foreign exchange derivative markets offer firms fewer options to hedge their currency risk. Given the limitations of natural hedging, these firms are more exposed to systemic risk.
- 15 Mar 2021
- Office Hours
Readers Ask: What's the Next 'Big Thing' in Finance?
Lauren Cohen tackles questions about bitcoin, podcasts, and weightlifting on Working Knowledge’s “Office Hours” series. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 09 Mar 2021
- Working Paper Summaries
Real Credit Cycles
The financial crisis of 2008 renewed economists’ interest in financial fragility, specifically understanding its origins. This paper shows how market participants’ expectations can be part of standard macroeconomic models and significantly improve their explanatory power.
- 09 Mar 2021
- Working Paper Summaries
Stock Price Reactions to ESG News: The Role of ESG Ratings and Disagreement
Company performance evaluations have included sell-side analyst forecasts, recommendations, and credit ratings, but a newer set has emerged: environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings. This study finds that ESG ratings are useful for predicting future ESG news, but their predictive ability diminishes for firms with large disagreement between raters.
- 08 Feb 2021
- Working Paper Summaries
In the Red: Overdrafts, Payday Lending, and the Underbanked
Low-income customers turn to payday lenders and check cashers for basic financial needs when traditional banks push them out of the system through high overdraft fees and other penalties. Reducing overdraft fees improves consumers’ overall financial health and access to cheaper credit.
- 26 Jan 2021
- Research & Ideas
A New Way to Cut Credit Card Debt: Pay Off One Purchase at a Time
Letting credit card customers pay back specific purchases encourages borrowers to go beyond the minimum, says research by Michael Norton and colleagues. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 06 Dec 2020
- Working Paper Summaries
'Repayment-by-Purchase' Helps Consumers to Reduce Credit Card Debt
Many consumers fail to pay off credit card debt each month and suffer financial consequences. Repayment-by-purchase, allocating payment toward specific purchases on a credit card bill, helps consumers gain a sense of progress and control over credit card debt.
- 30 Nov 2020
- Working Paper Summaries
Short-Termism, Shareholder Payouts, and Investment in the EU
Shareholder-driven “short-termism,” as evidenced by increasing payouts to shareholders, is said to impede long-term investment in EU public firms. But a deep dive into the data reveals a different story.
- 30 Nov 2020
- Research & Ideas
COVID Not Slowing VC Investment
Despite the economic uncertainty, most venture capitalists expect their investments to outperform major equity indexes and are still funding new endeavors, says Paul Gompers. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 24 Nov 2020
- Working Paper Summaries
Accounting for Product Impact in the Consumer Finance Industry
A framework and method for measuring and monetizing product impact across industries, applying it to two competitors in the consumer finance space.
- 23 Nov 2020
- Research & Ideas
COVID Was Supposed to Increase Bankruptcies. Instead, They've Gone Down.
Down economic cycles and increasing unemployment usually usher in a rise in bankruptcies. Not so in the COVID-19 recession, where just the reverse has happened. Research by Raymond Kluender and colleagues. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 17 Nov 2020
- Working Paper Summaries
Venture Capitalists and COVID-19
This survey of more than 1,000 venture capitalists finds that the VC industry and its portfolio companies have reduced their activity less than in previous recessions and have been more resilient than many other sectors of the global economy.
Why JPMorgan Chase Is Committed to Improving Racial Equity in Banking
In 2020, JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced a $30 billion, “Commitment to Advance Racial Equity.” This included investments in housing, small businesses, and financial literacy across the U.S., as well as in diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives within the bank. Harvard Business School Professor Emeritus Joe Bower and case protagonist Alice Rodriguez, head of community impact at JPMorgan Chase, discuss the implementation of that commitment and how it aligns with the bank’s longer-term growth strategy in the case, "JPMorgan Chase’s Path Forward." Open for comment; 0 Comments.