Finance
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- 14 Jun 2018
- Cold Call Podcast
How Chase Sapphire Made Credit Cool for Millennials
The Chase Sapphire Reserve card was one of the hottest product launches in 2016. But what would be its next act, now that the introductory offer of 100,000 points was reduced? Shelle Santana discusses JP Morgan's strategy. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 13 Jun 2018
- Sharpening Your Skills
That Costs HOW Much?
Beyond the attributes of the product itself, price is probably the leading determinant of success in the marketplace. What does it takes to get the price right? Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 30 May 2018
- Research & Ideas
Should Retailers Match Their Own Prices Online and in Stores?
For multichannel retailers, pricing strategy can be difficult to execute and confusing to shoppers. Research by Elie Ofek and colleagues offers alternative approaches to getting the price right. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 21 May 2018
- HBS Case
How Would You Price One of the World's Great Watches?
For companies with lots of innovation stuffed in their products, getting the price right is a crucial decision. Stefan Thomke discusses how watchmaker A. Lange & Söhne puts a price on its 173-year-old craftsmanship. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 07 May 2018
- Research & Ideas
Why Online Retailers Should Hide Their Best Discounts
Online retailers should take a tip from brick-and-mortar shops: Shove your best deals to the back of the store. Research by Thales Teixeira and Donald Ngwe. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 02 Apr 2018
- Research & Ideas
Is 'Gut Feel' a Good Reason to Invest in a Startup?
Most investments in startups should never be made, at least when using by-the-numbers reasoning. But funded they are. Laura Huang believes investors use gut instinct to manage that risk. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 31 Mar 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Expected Stock Returns Worldwide: A Log-Linear Present-Value Approach
Over the last 20 years, shortcomings of classical asset-pricing models have motivated research in developing alternative methods for measuring ex ante expected stock returns. This study evaluates the main paradigms for deriving firm-level expected return proxies (ERPs) and proposes a new framework for estimating them.
- 29 Mar 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Government Incentives and Financial Intermediaries: The Case of Chinese Sell-Side Analysts
This study is the first to examine analysts’ incentives vis-à-vis the government in a context where government has the ability and motives to influence capital market institutions. The paper highlights the role of government incentives in analysts’ behavior and output.
- 28 Mar 2018
- Research & Ideas
Sophisticated Investors May Be Harming Fintech Lending Platforms
A study by Boris Vallee and Yao Zeng says savvy investors on peer-to-peer lending platforms are upsetting a delicate balance that makes those systems work for borrowers. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 15 Mar 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Targeted Price Controls on Supermarket Products
Governments sometimes consider targeted price controls when popular goods become less affordable. Looking at price controls in Argentina between 2007 and 2015, this study’s findings suggest that new technologies like mobile phones are allowing governments to better enforce targeted price control programs, but the impact of these policies on aggregate inflation is small and short-lived.
- 12 Mar 2018
- Op-Ed
Op-Ed: Why BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Is Not a Socialist
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s open letter to CEOs has reignited the “shareholders versus stakeholders” debate. Bill George says it's actually not much of a debate: mission-driven, values-centered companies perform better. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 12 Mar 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Using Online Prices for Measuring Real Consumption Across Countries
The increasing availability of big data can improve measurement of real consumption in closer to real time. This study shows that online prices may enhance data of the International Comparisons Program, dramatically improving the frequency and transparency of purchasing power parities compared with traditional data collection methods.
- 07 Mar 2018
- Research & Ideas
Electronic Health Records Were Supposed to Cut Medical Costs. They Haven't.
Digitizing patient information promised to cut health care costs by driving down administrative expenses. So why can it cost a doctor more than $200 to process a single bill? New research by Robert Kaplan and colleagues. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 23 Feb 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Trade Creditors' Information Advantage
Trade credit represents about a quarter of the liabilities of US firms. There are several theories explaining this fact. This study reexamines whether suppliers hold private information about their trade partners, by analyzing their behavior in bankruptcy.
- 22 Feb 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Debt Traps? Market Vendors and Moneylender Debt in India and the Philippines
Small-scale entrepreneurs throughout the developing world often rely on moneylenders for working capital but at exorbitant interest rates. Results of three experiments involving market vendors in India and the Philippines show the difficulty that small-scale entrepreneurs face in escaping usage of moneylender debt.
- 20 Feb 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Stock Market Returns and Consumption
Using a unique dataset for the entire Swedish population, this study of household consumption in response to changes in capital gains and dividends shows that the marginal propensity to consume (MPC) out of capital gains for households in the top 50 percent of financial wealth distribution is relatively uniform and around 5 percent but is more than 10 percent for the bottom 50 percent. These results explain why the recent stock market rally ignited a spending splurge that is cutting into how much households save for rainy days.
- 15 Feb 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Can Financial Innovation Solve Household Reluctance to Take Risk?
Structured products are an innovative class of retail financial products with option-like features. This paper provides empirical evidence suggesting that innovative financial products like these can help alleviate loss aversion and thus the low participation of households in risky asset markets.
- 12 Feb 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Private Equity, Jobs, and Productivity: Reply to Ayash and Rastad
In 2014, the authors published an influential analysis of private equity buyouts in the American Economic Review. Recently, economists Brian Ayash and Mahdi Rastad have challenged the accuracy of those findings. This new paper responds point by point to their critique, contending that it reflects a misunderstanding of the data and methodology behind the original study.
- 09 Feb 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Developing Novel Drugs
This paper contributes to our understanding of how financing constraints affect the direction of innovation in drug development. The authors develop a new measure of drug novelty based on molecular characteristics, and explore the tradeoffs involved in decisions to develop more novel therapies. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
A Measure of Risk Appetite for the Macroeconomy
This paper sheds new light on connections between financial markets and the macroeconomy. It shows that investors’ appetite for risk—revealed by common movements in the pricing of volatile securities—helps determine economic outcomes and real interest rates.