Past Financial Economics Institute Senior Theses

The following is a list of students who have completed the Financial Economics Sequence, their senior thesis title, and the name(s) of their faculty advisor(s):

2008

Louis F. Albanese II, Indulging in Bad Times: Investigating Sin Stock Returns in Recessions, Professor Janet Smith

Asaf Bernstein (HMC), Can a Lender-of-Last-Resort Stabilize Financial Markets? Lessons from the Founding of the Fed, Professors Marc Weidenmier and Eric Hughson

Roshunda Calhoun, Goodwill Hunting: Goodwill Recognition and Earnings Management since SFAs No. 142, Professors Joshua Rosett and Lisa Meulbroek, and Dr. Jerome Garris

Kristen Crouse, An Exploration of Environmental Accounting and the Valuation of Companies That Environmentally Report, Professor Joshua Rosett

Jonathan Delich, Forecasting Market Returns Based on Lagged Volatility: Do VIX and VXN Have Predictive Ability in a Lagged Setting?, Professor Eric Hughson

Fan Du, An Empirical Study of the Impact of Intangible Assets on the Sustainability of Firm-Specific Profits, Professor Joshua Rosett

Yasmin Entekhabi, Unrecognized Land Value Appreciation: A Look at the Spread between Book and Market Valuation, Professor Joshua Rosett

Alexander McGavock Hill, The Impact of Financial Development on Economic Growth: A Case Study Including Argentina, China, Greece, and India, Professor Richard Burdekin

Daniel Jager, An Empirical Examination of the Impact of Material Weakness Disclosure under Section 404 on the Value Relevance of Reported Earnings, Professor Joshua Rosett

Philip J. Kaestle, A Quantitative Analysis of Climate Change: Cointegration Testing to Determine Causation and Projecting Future Costs of Achieving a Sustainable Climate, Professors Manfred Keil and Jim Symons

Robert Kurisu, The Penny Pilot Program: Effects of Pricing Equity Options in Penny Increments, Professor Eric Hughson

Tinsley Lowe, Chronically Underperforming Firms and Institutional Monitoring: Does Increased Monitoring Influence Performance?, Professor Janet Smith

Ryan Lulow, The Effect of World Bank Investment, Foreign Direct Investment, and Domestic Investment on Economic Growth, Professor Gregory Hess

Eric Michaels, Bringing Down the Housing Market: Should the Federal Reserve Have Altered Monetary Policy in Response to the U.S. Real Estate Bubble?, Professor Marc Massoud

David Noble, Labor Relations and the Troubling State of Major League Baseball, Professor Gregory Hess

Christopher W. Penka, Convertible Debt's Function in Linking the Current and Future Financing Needs of Firms, Professor Joshua Rosett

Jessica L. Perri, Investing in the Super Bowl - Stock Returns and Commercials, Professor Lisa Meulbroek

Catherine Powers, Managerial Turnover and Organizational Efficiency: The Pursuit of Alpha in the Context of Major League Baseball, Professor Janet Smith

Kartheek C. Raju, Impact of Microfinance: A Study of its Distribution and its Effects on Output and School Enrollment in Andhra Pradesh, Professor Jennifer Ward-Batts

Luke Redfern, Stock Market Sentiment in China: The Impact on Time Deposits and Share Prices, Professor Richard Burdekin

Meg Sakurai, The Impact of the New Company Law on Japanese Stock Valuation, Professor Joshua Rosett

Valay Shah, International Diversification: An Out-of-Sample Study of Portfolio Optimization Using Analysts' Earnings Forecasts, Professor Eric Hughson

Cindy Thio, CEO Finance Background: Effect on Firm Dividend Policy, Professor Joshua Rosett

Aseem Vyas, The Effect of University Endowment Spending on Institutional Quality, Professor Janet Smith

Felicia Wu, Insider Trading on Credit Default Swaps, Professor Lisa Meulbroek

Blake Zacharias, Insider Anticipation of the 2007 U.S. Subprime Crisis, Professor Lisa Meulbroek

2007

Jacquelyn Bean, Determinants of Retail Pricing for U.S. Electric Utilities, Professor Joshua Rosett

Takaya Brunner, The Effect of Compensation Consultants and Why Companies Hire Them, Professor Janet Smith

Matthew Colville, Trends in Pharmaceutical Pro Forma Reporting, Professor Joshua Rosett

John Robert Field, Accounting Implications of Macroeconomic Influences on Trade Receivables, Professor Joshua Rosett

Zachry Fragapane, Evidence of Collusion and Productive Efficiency in Airline Stock Reactions to Merger and Acquisition Announcements, Professor Janet Smith

Ryan Hibbard, Measuring Market Efficiency in Selected Securities Fraud Cases: To Presume or not to Presume Investor Reliance at the Class Certification Stage, Professor Janet Smith

Daniel Jacobson, Exploring Private Entity Valuation Methodologies: A Case Study in Audio Books, Professor Janet Smith

Jerry Lin, Investor Response to Corporate Sponsorships in the Olympics and the World Cup, Professor Janet Smith

Ilona Moizesch, Earnings Management: A Look into CEO Incentive Based Compensation, Professor Joshua Rosett

Skye Morland, Evidence of Momentum Displayed by Real Estate Investment Trusts, Professor Janet Smith

Daniel Nishball, Virtual Worlds as an Economics Experimentation Tool, Professor Janet Smith

Will St. Clair, Intra-Industry Information Transfer Effects in the Oil Industry Following Downward Revisions in Proved Reserves, Professor Janet Smith

Mohamed Traore, Corruption and Capital Market Size, Professor Janet Smith

Chris Urban, Ethanomics: Economic Analysis of the United States Ethanol Industry, Professor Janet Smith

Paul Van Deventer, Assessing the Merits of Securities Class Action Lawsuits through the Insider Trading Records of Named Defendants, Professor Eric Helland

Zizheng Wang, Chronic Underperformance/Overperformance and Organizational Risk Taking, Professor Janet Smith

2006

Paul Books, Private Investment of Public Equity (PIPE): An Analysis of Short and Long Term Returns and the Role Illiquidity Plays in a PIPE Discount, Professor Janet Smith

Max Gokhman, The Corporate Prince: Using the Machiavellian Instrument to Predict Corporate Behavior, Professors William Brown and Yaron Raviv

Justin Hance, The Effect of Size and Asset Allocation on College and University Endowment Performance, Professor William Brown

Jason Kamienski, Absolute Priority in Bankruptcy and the Role of Managerial Compensation, Professor Lisa Meulbroek

Michael D. Karp, A Quantitative Approach to Predicting Corporate Fraud: The Human Influence on Financial Reporting, Professor William Brown

Ryu Kawano, Consolidation in the Japanese Banking Sector: Analyzing the Merger Between Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group and United Financial Japan Holdings, Professor Janet Smith

George Malikov, The Market Response to Employee Stock Option Repricings and Exchanges, Professor Lisa Meulbroek

Lauren Melin, Evidence of the Debt-Monitoring Hypothesis and Agency Cost in the Merger and Acquisition Market, Professor Lisa Meulbroek

Jeffrey Model, Examining Equity-Linked Executive Compensation in the Apparel and Drug Industries, Professor Lisa Meulbroek

Kyle Seminara, An Analysis of the Contribution of Discount Volatility to Movements in the Market Price of Closed-End Municipal Funds, Professor Lisa Meulbroek

Matthew R. Westcot, Does Capital Under Management Affect the Concentration of Venture Capital Portfolios?, Professors William Brown and Janet Smith

2005

Peter Hellwig, An Empirical Analysis of Section 404: Implications for the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, Professors William Brown and Joshua Rosett

Eva Nazarewicz, CEO Finance Background: Effects on Firm Free Cash Flow and Capital Structure, Professor Joshua Rosett

Kan Ho Hirotaka Son, The Effect of Option Exchange Program on Firm Value: Examining the Significance of Incentive Alignment, Professor Lisa Meulbroek