Professor of Finance and Law
Mihir Desai's academic publications have appeared in leading economics, finance, and law journals. His work has emphasized the appropriate design of tax policy in a globalized setting, the links between corporate governance and taxation, and the internal capital markets of multinational firms. His research has been cited in The Economist, BusinessWeek, The New York Times, and several other publications.
(w/ P. Antràs and C. F. Foley) Quarterly Journal of Economics, 124:3 (August 2009), 1171-1219.
This paper examines how costly financial contracting and weak investor protection influence the cross-border operational, financing and investment decisions of firms.
Read MoreWho says you can't rewrite history? Dozens of companies have been caught in the practice of backdating options for top executives. But this is only part of the problem with C-level compensation packages, which often motivate top executives to act in their own best interests rather than those of shareholders.
Read MoreHBS Bulletin
Since when do the taxman and the shareholder agree? IRS Commissioner Mark Everson and SEC Chairman Christopher Cox (MBA ’76) have advanced a simple, but controversial proposal.
Read More(w/ C. F. Foley and K. J. Forbes) Review of Financial Studies 21:6 (November 2008), 2857-2888.
This paper examines how financial constraints and product market exposures determine the response of multinational and local firms to sharp depreciations.
Read More(w/ A. Moel) Review of Finance 12:1 (2008), 221-251.
This paper examines the expropriation of a foreign investor by a local partner and the subsequent resolution of that case through international arbitration in favor of the investor.
Read More(w/ C. F. Foley and J. R. Hines Jr.) Journal of Public Economics 90, no. 3 (March 2006), 513-531.
What types of firms establish tax haven operations, and what purposes do these operations serve?
Read MoreEconomic Letters (w/ C. F. Foley and J. R. Hines Jr.) 90, no. 2 (February 2006), 219-224.
When multinational firms expand their operations in tax havens, do they divert activity from non-havens?
Read More(w/ D. Bergstresser and J. Rauh) Quarterly Journal of Economics 121, no. 1 (February 2006), 157-195.
Managers appear to manipulate firm earnings through their characterizations of pension assets to capital markets and alter investment decisions to justify, and capitalize on, these manipulations.
Read More(w/ D. Dharmapala) Journal of Financial Economics 79, no. 1 (January 2006), 145-179.
This paper analyzes the links between corporate tax avoidance and the growth of high-powered incentives for managers.
Read More(w/ D. Dharmapala) Taxing Corporate Income in the 21st Century, Cambridge University Press: New York (2007), 345-383.
Legal rules, politics and behavioral factors have all been emphasized as explanatory factors in analyses of the determinants of the concentration of corporate ownership and stock market participation.
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Mihir Desai's academic publications have appeared in leading economics, finance, and law journals. His work has emphasized the appropriate design of tax policy in a globalized setting, the links between corporate governance and taxation, and the internal capital markets of multinational firms. His research has been cited in The Economist, BusinessWeek, The New York Times, and several other publications.
Mizuho Financial Group Professor of Finance, Harvard Business School, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School