Mihir A. Desai

Mihir A. Desai is the Mizuho Financial Group Professor of Finance at Harvard Business School and a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He received his Ph.D. in political economy from Harvard University; his MBA as a Baker Scholar from Harvard Business School; and a bachelor's degree in history and economics from Brown University. In 1994, he was a Fulbright Scholar to India.  

Professor Desai's areas of expertise include tax policy, international finance, and corporate finance.  His 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. His C.V. is available here.  He is a Research Associate in the National Bureau of Economic Research's Public Economics and Corporate Finance Programs, and served as the co-director of the NBER's India program.

His general interest publications include opinion pieces on varied topics, including tax policy and the effects of globalization on domestic welfare, in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Tax Notes and The New York Times.  He has also written for practitioners in the Harvard Business Review on the role of the Global CFO, on how to reform the U.S. tax system, and how changing incentive systems have contributed to the degradation of American competitiveness.  He has testified several times to Congressional bodies, including most recently to the Senate Finance Committee on corporate tax reform and inversions.      

Professor Desai has taught extensively as an award-winning teacher at HBS and at Harvard University.  As a second-year professor teaching finance in the required curriculum, he received the Student Association Award for teaching excellence from the HBS Class of 2001.  He subsequently built a second-year elective on International Financial Management, and his many cases on international finance are collected in a casebook published by John Wiley and are taught around the world.  Since 1999, he has co-taught Public Economics (EC 1410) at Harvard College.  He has also taught seminars and classes on tax policy at Harvard Law School, NYU Law School, and Columbia Law School.  Most recently, Professor Desai has been active in delivering various executive education programs at HBS, including the General Managers Program (GMP), on campus and around the world.  In 2011, Professor Desai launched, with Professor Joe Lassiter, the first offering at HBS for Harvard undergraduates, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, that is also included as part of the General Education curriculum at Harvard College. In the fall of 2014, Professor Desai began teaching Taxation at Harvard Law School.

From 2008 to 2011, Professor Desai led HBS's doctoral programs, which include the DBA and joint programs with the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. In that role, he led the restructuring of various programs and initiated a terminal master's program. From 2010 to 2014, Professor Desai was the Senior Associate Dean for Planning and University Affairs, where he was part of the senior management team of the Business School focused on integration with the rest of the University.  Specifically, he has launched a program for Harvard undergraduates to collaborate on research with HBS professors (PRIMO), led the course for undergraduates described above, helped launch the Harvard Innovation Lab, worked on campus planning efforts including the design of Tata Hall and served on the newly created Harvard Libraries Board.  

His professional experiences include working at CS First Boston (1989-1991), McKinsey & Co. (1992), and advising a number of firms and governmental organizations. He is also on the Advisory Board of the International Tax Policy Forum and the Centre for Business Taxation at Oxford University.   

For Professor Desai's personal page, click here.

Featured Work

How Finance Works: The HBR Guide to Thinking Smart About the Numbers

If you're not a numbers person, then balance sheets and financial jargon can be intimidating and easy to ignore. But if you want to advance in your career, it's crucial that you are able to make smart financial decisions and develop the confidence to clearly communicate those decisions to others.

In How Finance Works, Mihir Desai--a professor at Harvard Business School and author of the widely praised book The Wisdom of Finance-guides you into the complex but endlessly fascinating world of finance and demystifies it in the process. 

Through entertaining stories, interactive exercises, full-color visuals, and a conversational style that belies the topic, Desai tackles a broad range of subjects that will give you the skills and knowledge you need to finally understand how finance works. These include:

• The ins and outs of balance sheets, and how different financial levers can affect a company's performance
• How companies fund their operations and investments in different ways
• Why finance is concerned with cash flow versus profits
• How value is created, measured, and maximized
• The importance of capital markets in helping companies grow

Preorder from your favorite bookseller today!

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The Wisdom of Finance

Discovering Humanity in the World of Risk and Return

The finance industry is widely thought of as being morally suspect. Even those who work in finance tend to compartmentalize between their personal lives and how they get ahead professionally. Mihir Desai argues that not only is this preconception completely false but it’s detrimental to those who work in finance as well as the industry itself.

In this provocative work, Desai deftly sets out his unexpected thesis: there is actually a deep connection between finance and morality. At its root, these two worlds are both animated by the same question: How do we pursue and create value? Through the use of entertaining case studies, Desai shows how finance professionals can find a way to see their work as uplifting rather than dispiriting. Readers will rethink the way everyday business is done to reflect the core moral principles on which the financial field is truly based.

Harvard Business School Online: Leading with Finance

Leading with Finance is a flexible, 6-week, highly-interactive online course which is designed to provide participants with a thorough understanding of the principles of finance – a toolkit for making smart financial decisions and the confidence to clearly communicate those decisions to key internal and external stakeholders. Leading with Finance is offered via Harvard Business School Online, the digital learning initiative from Harvard Business School.

Books

• Desai, Mihir. The Wisdom of Finance: Discovering Humanity in the World of Risk and Return. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A. International Finance: A Casebook. John Wiley & Sons, 2006. View Details

Journal Articles

• Desai, Mihir, C. Fritz Foley, and James R. Hines Jr. "Trade Credit and Taxes." Review of Economics and Statistics 98, no. 1 (March 2016): 132–139. View Details
• Desai, Mihir. "A Better Way to Tax U.S. Businesses." Harvard Business Review 90, nos. 7-8 (July–August 2012): 135–139. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., C. Fritz Foley, and James R. Hines Jr. "Tax Policy and the Efficiency of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad." National Tax Journal 64, no. 4 (December 2011): 1055–1082. View Details
• Desai, Mihir. "The Incentive Bubble." Harvard Business Review 90, no. 3 (March 2012). View Details
• Desai, Mihir, and Li Jin. "Institutional Tax Clienteles and Payout Policy." Journal of Financial Economics 100, no. 1 (April 2011): 68–84. View Details
• Desai, Mihir, and Dhammika Dharmapala. "Dividend Taxes and International Portfolio Choice." Review of Economics and Statistics 93, no. 1 (February 2011): 266–284. View Details
• Desai, Mihir. "The Mistaken Attack on Outsourcing." Wall Street Journal (December 29, 2010), A11. View Details
• Desai, Mihir. "Tax U.S. Companies into Spending." Washington Post (December 10, 2010), A25. View Details
• Desai, Mihir, and Dhammika Dharmapala. "Do Strong Fences Make Strong Neighbors?" National Tax Journal 63, no. 4 (December 2010): 723–740. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A. "The Decentering of the Global Firm." World Economy 32, no. 9 (September 2009): 1271–1290. View Details
• Desai, Mihir, and D. Dharmapala. "Corporate Tax Avoidance and Firm Value." Review of Economics and Statistics 91, no. 3 (August 2009): 537–546. View Details
• Antras, Pol, Mihir Desai, and C. Fritz Foley. "Multinational Firms, FDI Flows and Imperfect Capital Markets." Quarterly Journal of Economics 124, no. 3 (August 2009): 1171–1219. View Details
• Desai, Mihir, and Dhammika Dharmapala. "Taxes, Institutions and Foreign Diversification Opportunities." Journal of Public Economics 93, nos. 5-6 (June 2009): 703–714. View Details
• Desai, Mihir, and Dhammika Dharmapala. "Earnings Management and Corporate Tax Shelters, and Book-Tax Alignment." National Tax Journal 62, no. 1 (March 2009): 169–186. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., C. Fritz Foley, and James R. Hines Jr. "Domestic Effects of the Foreign Activities of U.S. Multinationals." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 1, no. 1 (February 2009): 181–203. View Details
• Desai, Mihir, D. Kapur, J. McHale, and K Rogers. "The Fiscal Impact of High-skilled Emigration: Flows of Indians to the U.S." Journal of Development Economics 88, no. 1 (January 2009). View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., C. Fritz Foley, and Kristin Forbes. "Financial Constraints and Growth: Multinational and Local Firm Responses to Currency Crises." Review of Financial Studies 21, no. 6 (November 2008). View Details
• Desai, Mihir A. "The Finance Function in a Global Corporation." HBS Centennial Issue Harvard Business Review 86, nos. 7/8 (July–August 2008). View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., C. Fritz Foley, and James R. Hines Jr. "Capital Structure with Risky Foreign Investment." Journal of Financial Economics 88, no. 3 (June 2008): 534–553. View Details
• Desai, Mihir. "America the Difficult." The American: A Magazine of Ideas (May–June 2008). View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Alberto Moel. "Czech Mate: Expropriation and Investor Protection in a Converging World." Review of Finance 12, no. 1 (2008): 221–251. (This paper is a revised version of ECGI Working Paper No. 62/2004.) View Details
• Desai, M. A., and James R. Hines Jr. "Market Reactions to Export Subsidies." Journal of International Economics 74, no. 2 (March 2008). View Details
• Desai, Mihir, and Dhammika Dharmapala. "Taxing the Bandit Kings." Pocket Part 98 (2008). View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., I.J. Alexander Dyck, and Luigi Zingales. "Theft and Taxes." Journal of Financial Economics 84, no. 3 (June 2007). (Was NBER Working Paper No. 10978, 2006. Second Place Winner of the Jensen Prize for the Best Paper published in the Journal of Financial Economics, 2007.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., C. Fritz Foley, and James R. Hines Jr. "Dividend Policy inside the Multinational Firm." Financial Management 36, no. 1 (Spring 2007). (

  Winner of Pearson/Prentice Hall Prize for Best Paper in Financial Management For the best paper published in Financial Management in the previous two years presented by Financial Management Association​

  .) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., C. Fritz Foley, and James R. Hines Jr. "The Internal Markets of Multinational Firms." Survey of Current Business 87, no. 3 (March 2007). View Details
• Desai, Mihir A. "Taxing Corporate Capital Gains." Tax Notes 110 (March 6, 2006): 1079–1092. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., C. Fritz Foley, and James R. Hines Jr. "The Demand for Tax Haven Operations." Journal of Public Economics 90, no. 3 (March 2006): 513–531. View Details
• Bergstresser, Daniel B., Mihir A. Desai, and Joshua Rauh. "Earnings Manipulation, Pension Assumptions, and Managerial Investment Decisions." Quarterly Journal of Economics 121, no. 1 (February 2006): 157–195. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., C. Fritz Foley, and James R. Hines Jr. "Do Tax Havens Divert Economic Activity?" Economics Letters 90, no. 2 (February 2006): 219–224. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., C. Fritz Foley, and James R. Hines Jr. "Taxation and Multinational Activity; New Evidence, New Interpretations." Survey of Current Business 82, no. 6 (February 2006): 16–22. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Dhammika Dharmapala. "Corporate Tax Avoidance and High Powered Incentives." Journal of Financial Economics 79, no. 1 (January 2006): 145–179. (This paper is a revised version of NBER Working Paper 10471.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., C. Fritz Foley, and James R. Hines Jr. "Capital Controls, Liberalizations, and Foreign Direct Investment." Review of Financial Studies 19, no. 4 (Winter 2006): 1399–1431. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Dhammika Dharmapala. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Taxation: The Missing Link." Leading Perspectives (winter 2006). View Details
• Desai, Mihir A. "The Degradation of Reported Corporate Profits." Journal of Economic Perspectives 19, no. 4 (Fall 2005): 171–192. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and James R. Hines Jr. "Reply To Grubert." National Tax Journal 58, no. 2 (June 2005): 275–278. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., C. Fritz Foley, and James R. Hines Jr. "Foreign Direct Investment and the Domestic Capital Stock." American Economic Review 95, no. 2 (May 2005): 33–38. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., C. Fritz Foley, and James R. Hines Jr. "Foreign Direct Investment in a World of Multiple Taxes." Journal of Public Economics 88, no. 12 (December 2004): 2727–2744. (This paper is a revised version of HBS Working Paper 03-047 and NBER Working Paper no. 8840.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., C. Fritz Foley, and James R. Hines Jr. "A Multinational Perspective on Capital Structure Choice and Internal Capital Markets." Journal of Finance 59, no. 6 (December 2004): 2451–2488. (Revised version of NBER Working Paper 9715.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and James R. Hines Jr. "Old Rules and New Realities: Corporate Tax Policy in a Global Setting." National Tax Journal 57, no. 4 (December 2004): 937–960. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Alberto Moel. "Czech Mate." Beyond Transition 15, no. 1 (October–December 2004): 17. View Details
• Desai, M. A., Devesh Kapur, and John McHale. "Sharing The Spoils: Taxing International Human Capital Flows." International Tax and Public Finance 11, no. 5 (September 2004): 663–693. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., C. Fritz Foley, and James R. Hines Jr. "The Costs of Shared Ownership: Evidence From International Joint Ventures." Journal of Financial Economics 73, no. 2 (August 2004): 323–374. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A. "New Foundations for Taxing Multinational Corporations." Special Issue from the University of Chicago Federal Tax Conference Taxes (March 2004). View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., C. Fritz Foley, and James R. Hines Jr. "Venture Out Alone." Harvard Business Review 82, no. 3 (March 2004). View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and William M. Gentry. "The Character and Determinants of Corporate Capital Gains." Tax Policy and the Economy 18 (2004): 1–36. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Austan D. Goolsbee. "Investment, Overhang, and Tax Policy." Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, no. 2 (2004): 285–338. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and James R. Hines Jr. "Evaluating International Tax Reform." National Tax Journal 56, no. 3 (September 2003): 409–440. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A. "Reading Off The Same Page." Harvard Crimson (May 5, 2003). View Details
• Desai, Mihir A. "Remote Control Tax." Times of India (January 11, 2003), 14. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A. "The Divergence Between Book and Tax Income." Tax Policy and the Economy 17 (2003): 169–206. (Issue edited by James M. Poterba. This paper is a revision of NBER Working Paper 8866, entitled The Corporate Profit Base, Tax Sheltering Activity, and the Changing Nature of Employee Compensation. [For a profile of this research from The New York Times, see here. For a profile of this research from The Economist, see here.].) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A. "Review of International Taxation and Multinational Activity edited by J.R. Hines, Jr." National Tax Journal 55, no. 4 (December 2002): 845–848. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and James R. Hines Jr. "Expectations and Expatriations: Tracing the Causes and Consequences of Corporate Inversions." National Tax Journal 55, no. 3 (September 2002): 409–440. (This article is a revision of NBER Working Paper 9057.) (Excerpted in Michael J. Graetz, Foundations of International Income Taxation, West Group (2003).) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., C. Fritz Foley, and James R. Hines Jr. "Repatriation Taxes and Dividend Distortions." National Tax Journal 54, no. 4 (December 2001). View Details
• Desai, M. A. "The Uneasy Marriage of Export Incentives and the Income Tax." Tax Policy and the Economy 15 (2001). View Details
• Desai, M. A., and James R. Hines Jr. "Exchange Rates and Tax-Based Promotion." Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Taxation and Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the National Tax Association (2001). View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and James R. Hines Jr. "'Basket' Cases: Tax Incentives and International Joint Venture Participation by American Multinational Firms." Journal of Public Economics 71 (March 1999): 379–402. View Details
• Desai, M. A. "Are We Racing to the Bottom? Evidence on the Dynamics of International Tax Competition." Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Taxation and Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the National Tax Association (1999): 176–187. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A. "The End of Everything." New York Times (August 24, 1996), 23. View Details

Book Chapters

• Desai, Mihir A., Dhammika Dharmapala, and Winnie Fung. "Taxation and the Evolution of Aggregate Corporate Ownership Concentration." In Taxing Corporate Income in the 21st Century, edited by Alan Auerbach, James R. Hines Jr., and Joel Slemrod. Cambridge University Press, 2006. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and C. Fritz Foley. "The Comovement of Returns and Investment within International Firms." In NBER International Seminar on Macroeconomics, edited by Richard H. Clarida, Jeffrey A. Frankel, Francesco Giavazzi, and Kenneth D. West, 197–230. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., C. Fritz Foley, and James R. Hines Jr. "Chains of Ownership, Regional Tax Competition, and Foreign Direct Investment." In Foreign Direct Investment in the Real and Financial Sector of Industrial Countries, edited by Heinz Herrmann and Robert Lipsey, 61–98. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 2003. View Details
• Desai, M. A., and James R. Hines Jr. "Excess Capital Flows and the Burden of Inflation in Open Economies." In The Costs and Benefits of Price Stability, edited by Martin S. Feldstein. University of Chicago Press, 1999. View Details

Working Papers

• Desai, Mihir A., C. Fritz Foley, and James R. Hines Jr. "Tax Policy and the Efficiency of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 17202, July 2011. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A. "Securing Jobs or the New Protectionism?: Taxing the Overseas Activities of Multinational Firms." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 09-107, March 2009. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Dhammika Dharmapala, and Monica Singhal. "Investable Tax Credits: The Case of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 14149, June 2008. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Dhammika Dharmapala. "Taxes and Portfolio Choice: Evidence from JGTRRA's Treatment of International Dividends." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 13281, July 2007. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Robert J. Yetman. "Constraining Managers Without Owners: Governance of the Not-for-profit Enterprise." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 11140, October 2005. View Details

Cases and Teaching Materials

• Desai, Mihir, Ruth Page, Suzanne Antoniou, and Leanne Fan. "The Tulsa Massacre and the Call for Reparations." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Case 221-707, February 2021. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Suzanne Antoniou. "The Tulsa Massacre and the Call for Reparations." Harvard Business School PowerPoint Supplement 221-064, December 2020. (Revised February 2021.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Suzanne Antoniou. "The Tulsa Massacre and the Call for Reparations." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 221-044, December 2020. (Revised February 2021.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Suzanne Antoniou, and Leanne Fan. "The Tulsa Massacre and the Call for Reparations." Harvard Business School Case 221-039, October 2020. (Revised February 2021.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., William E. Fruhan, Jr., Leanne Fan, and Adil Bhatia. "The Case of the Unidentified Industries—2018." Harvard Business School Case 219-046, December 2018. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., William E. Fruhan, and Leanne Fan. "The Case of the Unidentified Industries—2018." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 219-047, December 2018. View Details
• Desai, Mihir. "The Valuation and Financing of Lady M Confections Case Supplement." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 216-706, February 2016. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Keith Chi-ho Wong, and Zachary D. Markovich. "Hon Hai's Investment in Sharp." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 216-036, February 2016. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Keith Chi-ho Wong, and Zachary Markovich. "Hon Hai's Investment in Sharp." Harvard Business School Case 216-035, February 2016. View Details
• Desai, Mihir, and Elizabeth A. Meyer. "The Valuation and Financing of Lady M Confections Teaching Note Supplement." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 216-701, July 2015. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Elizabeth A. Meyer. "The Valuation and Financing of Lady M Confections." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 216-001, July 2015. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Elizabeth A. Meyer. "The Valuation and Financing of Lady M Confections." Harvard Business School Case 215-047, June 2015. View Details
• Desai, Mihir, and Elizabeth A. Meyer. "Financial Policy at Apple, 2013 Excel Supplement." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 215-703, October 2014. View Details
• Desai, Mihir, and Elizabeth A. Meyer. "Financial Policy at Apple, 2013 (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 214-094, June 2014. View Details
• Desai, Mihir, and Elizabeth A. Meyer. "Financial Policy at Apple, 2013 Powerpoint Supplement." Harvard Business School PowerPoint Supplement 215-023, October 2014. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Elizabeth Meyer. "Financial Policy at Apple, 2013 (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 215-022, October 2014. View Details
• Desai, Mihir, and Elizabeth A. Meyer. "Financial Policy at Apple, 2013 Student Supplement." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 214-714, June 2014. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Elizabeth A. Meyer. "Financial Policy at Apple, 2013 (A)." Harvard Business School Case 214-085, June 2014. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., William E. Fruhan, Jr., and Elizabeth A. Meyer. "The Case of the Unidentified Industries—2013." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 214-030, September 2013. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., William E. Fruhan Jr., and Elizabeth A. Meyer. "The Case of the Unidentified Industries—2013." Harvard Business School Case 214-028, September 2013. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A. "Globalizing the Cost of Capital and Capital Budgeting at AES." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 204-707, March 2004. (Revised August 2007.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Vincent Dessain, and Anders Sjoman. "Hedging Currency Risks at AIFS." Harvard Business School Case 205-026, September 2004. (Revised February 2007.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Christina Pham, Kathleen Luchs, and Yanjun Wang. "Foreign Exchange Markets and Transactions." Harvard Business School Background Note 205-016, October 2004. (Revised February 2007.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Gabriel J. Loeb, and Mark Veblen. "Tax-Motivated Film Financing at Rexford Studios." Harvard Business School Case 203-005, November 2002. (Revised November 2006.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Douglas Kurt Schillinger. "Globalizing the Cost of Capital and Capital Budgeting at AES." Harvard Business School Case 204-109, December 2003. (Revised October 2006.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Kathleen Luchs, Elizabeth A. Meyer, and Mark Veblen. "Innocents Abroad: Currencies and International Stock Returns." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 206-012, August 2005. (Revised April 2014.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Fabrizio Ferri, and Steve Treadwell. "Understanding Economic Value Added." Harvard Business School Background Note 206-016, November 2005. (Revised July 2006.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Valuing a Cross-Border LBO: Bidding on the Yell Group (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 206-038, November 2005. (Revised May 2006.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Vincent Dessain, and Anders Sjoman. "Nestle and Alcon--The Value of a Listing." Harvard Business School Case 205-056, December 2004. (Revised April 2006.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Nestle and Alcon - The Value of a Listing (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 206-135, April 2006. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Cross-Border Financial Opportunities." Harvard Business School Module Note 206-126, April 2006. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Drilling South: Petrobras Evaluates Pecom." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 206-134, April 2006. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Alexandra de Royere. "Dow Chemical's Bid for the Privatization of PBB in Argentina." Harvard Business School Case 204-021, November 2003. (Revised March 2006.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Mark Veblen. "Foreign Exchange Hedging Strategies at General Motors: Competitive Exposures." Harvard Business School Case 205-096, March 2005. (Revised March 2006.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Redesigning Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanisms (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 206-096, March 2006. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "The Continuing Transformation of Asahi Glass: Implementing EVA (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 206-094, March 2006. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "International Regulatory Regimes." Harvard Business School Module Note 206-128, March 2006. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Finance in Weak Institutional Environments." Harvard Business School Module Note 206-127, March 2006. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Valuing Cross-Border Investments." Harvard Business School Module Note 206-125, March 2006. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Financing Decisions within the Firm." Harvard Business School Module Note 206-124, March 2006. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Exchange Rates and Firms." Harvard Business School Module Note 206-123, March 2006. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Exchange Rates and Global Markets." Harvard Business School Module Note 206-122, March 2006. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A. "International Finance: A Course Overview Note." Harvard Business School Course Overview Note 206-107, March 2006.​ View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Mark Veblen. "Foreign Exchange Hedging Strategies at General Motors: Transactional and Translational Exposures." Harvard Business School Case 205-095, March 2005. (Revised January 2006.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Foreign Exchange Hedging Strategies at General Motors: Competitive Exposures (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 206-081, January 2006. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Growing Up in China: BabyCare Ltd. (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 206-083, January 2006. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Foreign Exchange Hedging Strategies at General Motors: Transactional and Translational Exposures (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 206-031, January 2006. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Dow Chemical's Bid for the Privatization of PBB in Argentina (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 206-040, December 2005. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Globalizing the Cost of Capital and Capital Budgeting at AES (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 206-080, December 2005. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Refinancing of Shanghai General Motors, The (A) (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 206-034, November 2005. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Foreign Exchange Markets and Transactions (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 206-032, October 2005. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Exchange Rate Policy at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 206-029, October 2005. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (TN) (A) - (E) Series." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 206-026, September 2005. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Hedging Currency Risks at AIFS (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 206-025, September 2005. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Mark Veblen, and Kathleen Luchs. "Corporate Inversions: Stanley Works and the Lure of Tax Havens (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 206-013, August 2005. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Mark Veblen, and Kathleen Luchs. "Note on International Tax Regimes." Harvard Business School Background Note 206-014, August 2005. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Gabriel L. Loeb, Mark Veblen, and Kathleen Luchs. "Tax-Motivated Film Financing at Rexford Studios (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 206-011, August 2005. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Belen Villalonga. "Antitrust Regulations in a Global Setting: The EU Investigation of the GE/Honeywell Merger (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 205-094, March 2005. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (E) - CME Returns." Harvard Business School Case 205-069, January 2005. View Details
• Desai, Mihir, Robin Greenwood, Scott Mayfield, and Lucy White. "Subscriber Models." Harvard Business School Background Note 205-061, December 2004. (Revised October 2017.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Kathleen Luchs, Elizabeth A. Meyer, and Mark Veblen. "Innocents Abroad: Currencies and International Stock Returns." Harvard Business School Case 204-141, March 2004. (Revised October 2013.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Christina Pham, and Kathleen Luchs. "Foreign Exchange Markets and Transactions: Solutions to Exercises." Harvard Business School Supplement 205-017, October 2004. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Masako Egawa, and Yanjun Wang. "Continuing Transformation of Asahi Glass, The: Implementing EVA." Harvard Business School Case 205-030, October 2004. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Mark Veblen. "Growing Up in China: The Financing of BabyCare Ltd." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 204-709, March 2004. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Christina Pham, Julia Stevens, and Kathleen Luchs. "Redesigning Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanisms." Harvard Business School Case 204-110, January 2004. (Revised March 2004.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho. "Drilling South: Petrobras Evaluates Pecom." Harvard Business School Case 204-043, November 2003. (Revised March 2004.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Alberto Moel, and Kathleen Luchs. "Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (A)." Harvard Business School Case 204-118, February 2004. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Alberto Moel, and Kathleen Luchs. "Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (B1)-CME Negotiates." Harvard Business School Case 204-119, February 2004. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Alberto Moel, and Kathleen Luchs. "Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (B2)-SBS Negotiates." Harvard Business School Case 204-120, February 2004. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Alberto Moel, and Kathleen Luchs. "Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (B3)-Zelezny Negotiates." Harvard Business School Case 204-121, February 2004. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Alberto Moel, and Kathleen Luchs. "Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (C)-The Struggle for Control." Harvard Business School Case 204-122, February 2004. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Alberto Moel, and Kathleen Luchs. "Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (D)-Resolution." Harvard Business School Case 204-129, February 2004. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Maria Raga-Frances, Ami Dave, Mark Veblen, and Kathleen Luchs. "Cross-Border Listings and Depositary Receipts." Harvard Business School Background Note 204-022, January 2004. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Belen Villalonga, and Mark Veblen. "Antitrust Regulations in a Global Setting: The EU Investigation of the GE/Honeywell Merger." Harvard Business School Case 204-081, December 2003. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Julia Stevens. "Financing Biodiversity Conservation by the Global Conservation Fund." Harvard Business School Case 204-019, October 2003. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Paolo Notarnicola, and Mark Veblen. "Valuing a Cross-Border LBO: Bidding on the Yell Group." Harvard Business School Case 204-033, September 2003. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Mark Veblen. "Refinancing of Shanghai General Motors (B), The." Harvard Business School Case 204-025, July 2003. (Revised September 2003.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Mark Veblen. "Refinancing of Shanghai General Motors (A), The." Harvard Business School Case 204-031, July 2003. (Revised September 2003.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Mark Veblen. "Growing Up in China: The Financing of BabyCare Ltd." Harvard Business School Case 204-029, September 2003. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Mark Veblen. "Exchange Rate Policy at the Monetary Authority of Singapore." Harvard Business School Case 204-037, January 2003. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Gabriel J. Loeb, and Mark Veblen. "Strategy and Sources of Motion Picture Finance, The." Harvard Business School Background Note 203-007, November 2002. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., James R. Hines, Jr, and Mark Veblen. "Corporate Inversions: Stanley Works and the Lure of Tax Havens." Harvard Business School Case 203-008, September 2002. (Revised October 2002.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., Frank Williamson, Mark Veblen, and Yuming Zou. "Provident Life and Accident Insurance: The Acquisition of Paul Revere." Harvard Business School Case 202-044, October 2001. (Revised November 2001.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., E. Scott Mayfield, and Mark Veblen. "Provident Life and Accident Insurance: The Acquisition of Paul Revere TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 202-046, November 2001. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Mark Veblen. "Laura Martin: Real Options and the Cable Industry TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 202-060, November 2001. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Peter Tufano. "Laura Martin: Real Options and the Cable Industry." Harvard Business School Case 201-004, August 2000. (Revised July 2001.) View Details
• Desai, Mihir A. "Valuing Project Achieve TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 201-130, June 2001. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and Kathleen Luchs. "Valuing Project Achieve." Harvard Business School Case 201-080, January 2001. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A. "Financing of Project Achieve, The (A)." Harvard Business School Case 200-042, April 2000. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A. "Financing of Project Achieve, The (B)." Harvard Business School Case 200-053, April 2000. View Details
• Rangan, V. Kasturi, Krishna G. Palepu, Ahu Bhasin, Mihir A. Desai, and Sarayu Srinivasan. "Enron Development Corporation: The Dabhol Power Project in Maharashtra, India (A)." Harvard Business School Case 596-099, May 1996. (Revised July 1998.) View Details
• Mason, Scott P., and Mihir A. Desai. "Coca-Cola Harmless Warrants TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 295-099, January 1995. (Revised May 1996.) View Details
• Mason, Scott P., and Mihir A. Desai. "Coca-Cola Harmless Warrants." Harvard Business School Case 295-007, July 1994. (Revised October 1995.) View Details
• Mason, Scott P., and Mihir A. Desai. "Cougars." Harvard Business School Case 295-006, July 1994. (Revised September 1995.) View Details

Other Publications and Materials

• Porter, Michael E., Jan Rivkin, Mihir Desai, Katherine M. Gehl, William R. Kerr, and Manjari Raman. "A Recovery Squandered: The State of U.S. Competitiveness 2019." Report, U.S. Competitiveness Project, Harvard Business School, December 2019. View Details
• Porter, Michael E., Jan Rivkin, Mihir Desai, and Manjari Raman. "Problems Unsolved and a Nation Divided: The State of U.S. Competitiveness 2016." Report, U.S. Competitiveness Project, Harvard Business School, September 2016. View Details
• Desai, Mihir, Paul Gompers, and Josh Lerner. "Institutions, Capital Constraints and Entrepreneurial Firm Dynamics: Evidence from Europe." NBER Working Paper Series, June 2005. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., C. Fritz Foley, and James R. Hines Jr. "Foreign Direct Investment and Domestic Economic Activity." NBER Working Paper Series, June 2005. View Details
• Desai, Mihir A., and James R Hines Jr. "Value-Added Taxes and International Trade: The Evidence." March 2005. View Details

Research Summary

Research and Publications

Please refer to Professor Desai's Web Page for a complete listing of Professor Desai's research and publications. Also available are transcripts of his government testimony, as well as an in-depth look at some of Professor Desai's course materials.

Awards & Honors

Won with C. Fritz Foley the 2008 Pearson/Prentice Hall Prize for Best Paper in Financial Management for their paper (with James R. Hines Jr.) "Dividend Policy inside the Multinational Firm" (2007).

Runner up for the 2009 Review of Financial Studies-Michael Brennan Best Paper Prize for his paper with C. Fritz Foley and Kristen Forbes, "Financial Constraints and Growth: Multinational and Local Firm Responses to Currency Crises" (November 2008).

Winner of the Second Place 2007 Jensen Prize presented by Journal of Financial Economics in the Areas of Corporate Finance and Organizations for his paper with Alexander Dyck and Luigi Zingales, "Theft and Taxes" (June 2007).

Received the Student Association Award for Teaching Excellence from the HBS Class of 2001.

Won the 2004 Barclays Global Investor Best Symposium Paper for his paper with Daniel Bergstresser and Joshua Rauh, “Managerial Opportunism and Earnings Manipulation: Evidence from Defined Benefit Pension Plans.”

Winner of the 2018 Axiom Business Book Award Bronze Medal in the Economics category for The Wisdom of Finance: Discovering Humanity in the World of Risk and Return (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017).

Additional Information

• Personal Website
• Mihir Desai in HBS Working Knowledge
• Curriculum Vitae

Videos & Podcasts

• The Incentive Bubble (Podcast), Harvard Business Review
• U.S. Competitiveness: Paths Forward, Washington D.C., June 21, 2012, Harvard Business School
• U.S. Competitiveness: Paths Forward, New York City, March 5, 2012, "Adi Ignatius of HBR Moderates an HBS Faculty Panel on U.S. Competitiveness," Harvard Business School
• Financial Times: Investing in a Sustainable Future Conference 2012, Keynote Speaker
• Tax Policies That Might Work, Columbia Business School
• India in the Global Economy: The Next Fifteen Years, Columbia University
• "Artist as Entrepreneur" A Conversation with Wynton Marsalis, Harvard i-lab
• One Harvard, Harvard University
• Debt and Equity Tax Treatment, Senate Testimony, C-SPAN (31:37)
• Superpower in Decline or America Resurgent? Prospects for the U.S. in the Global Economy (2nd Video), Mortimer Caplin Conference on the World Economy, Miller Center, University of Virginia
• Striking the Balance: Tax Reform, Deficit Reduction, and Global Economic Power (3rd Video), Mortimer Caplin Conference on the World Economy, Miller Center, University of Virginia

Areas of Interest

• corporate finance
• foreign direct investment
• international business
• international finance
• taxation

In The News

In The News

• • 30 May 2013
  • New York Times

  Tax Only the Income Earned in the U.S.
• • 23 May 2013
  • HBR Blogs

  Don't Blame Apple for America's Broken Tax Code
• • 01 Sep 2012
  • Harvard Magazine

  Compensation Practices and Incentives
• • 17 Jul 2012
  • Financial Times

  Rivals clash on US corporate tax reform
• • 05 Oct 2011

  On Corporate Taxes, Put the Public in Publicly Traded: View