
- 06 Apr 2021
- Cold Call Podcast
Disrupting the Waste Industry with Technology
Rubicon began with a bold idea: create a cloud-based, full-service waste management platform, providing efficient service anywhere in the US. Their mobile app did for waste management what Uber had done for taxi service. Five years after the case’s publication, Harvard Business School Associate Professor Shai Bernstein and Rubicon founder and CEO Nate Morris discuss how the software startup leveraged technology to disrupt the waste industry and other enduring lessons of professor Bill Sahlman’s case about Rubicon. Open for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
Finance
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- 15 Mar 2021
- Research & Ideas
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; Comment(s) posted.

- 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; Comment(s) posted.

- 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; Comment(s) posted.

- 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; Comment(s) posted.

- 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.

- 16 Nov 2020
- Working Paper Summaries
Private Equity and COVID-19
Private equity investors are seeking new investments despite the pandemic. This study shows they are prioritizing revenue growth for value creation, giving larger equity stakes to management teams, and targeting somewhat lower returns.

- 13 Nov 2020
- Working Paper Summaries
Long-Run Returns to Impact Investing in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies
Examination of every equity investment made by the International Finance Corporation, one of the largest and longest-operating impact investors, shows this portfolio has outperformed the S&P 500 by 15 percent.

- 03 Nov 2020
- Working Paper Summaries
The Stock Market Value of Human Capital Creation
Measuring human capital creation is complex but increasingly important to managers for understanding the relationship between employee expenditures and firm performance. This paper develops a strategy to examine aspects of the intangible human capital investment embedded in a firm’s personnel expense. Closed for comment; Comment(s) posted.

- 27 Oct 2020
- Working Paper Summaries
Does Venture Capital Attract Human Capital? Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment
Using a randomized field experiment conducted on a large online search platform, this study illustrates how investments by top venture capital investors attract potential employees and improve the pool of candidates available for the startup.

- 25 Oct 2020
- Research & Ideas
The Dark Side of Fintech Borrowing
Fintechs have revolutionized the banking industry, but some customers end up worse for the experience, according to research by Marco Di Maggio and colleagues. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

- 22 Oct 2020
- Working Paper Summaries
Estimating Causal Effects in the Presence of Partial Interference Using Multivariate Bayesian Structural Time Series Models
A case study of an Italian supermarket introducing a new pricing policy—in which it reduced prices on some brands—offers managers a new approach to reduce uncertainty. The approach is flexible and can be applied to different business problems.

- 19 Oct 2020
- Working Paper Summaries
Bankruptcy and the COVID-19 Crisis
Analyzing the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on bankruptcy filing rates in the United States, this study finds that large businesses, small businesses, and consumers experience very different effects of the crisis.

- 13 Oct 2020
- Working Paper Summaries
Fencing Off Silicon Valley: Cross-Border Venture Capital and Technology Spillovers
This study of foreign corporate investment transactions from 32 countries between 1976 and 2015 finds these investments pose a trade-off: While they support young firms in pursuing innovations they could not otherwise afford, they also generate knowledge for the foreign investors.
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.