Accounting, Finance, and Economics Research Area

Dr. Amel Ben Abdesslem’s research interests have focused on industrial policy, competitiveness, small and medium-sized enterprises, green growth, monetary unions and economics education. She analyzed the selection process of a cluster policy through a logit model and assessed its impact on firms’ performance in the optic/photonic industry (Ben Abdesslem & Chiappini, 2019). She worked on identifying patient and community level characteristics associated with frequent and recurrent ED users in Maryland. She also explored the use of pop culture in economics classes (Ben Abdesslem, 2022) and has created a website to accompany instructors and students: www.econetflix.com.

Dr. Catherine England’s research interests focus on financial institutions management and regulation; more broadly, she is interested in regulatory policy at local, national, and international scales. Given changing economic conditions for the banking industry, longstanding banking regulations must be revisited and may require far-reaching changes to address loopholes and other issues. Dr. England investigates and writes about potential regulatory changes that may impact financial institutions now and in the future. 

Dr. Noor Hashim has conducted research in the areas of banking regulations, financial misconduct, and financial intermediaries. Her research on equity analysts examines the role of analyst cash flow forecasts in improving analysts’ own target price valuations. Her research on banking regulations examines the failure to converge between the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) on accounting for bank credit losses. Dr. Hashim’s research was published in top accounting peer-reviewed journals: Contemporary Accounting Research, Accounting Horizons, Accounting and Business Research, and Accounting in Europe. Her research was also funded with a research grant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. She is currently developing new research on the role of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) regulations on bank lending. 

Dr. Brian Hollar’s research interests have focused on the economics of religion, public choice, law and economics, economic development, and economics education. He has written and published on the impact frequency of church attendance has on rates and stability of marriage in the United States, how the political decision-making structure of religious denominations affects church growth, the impact of taking students overseas to teach economic development, and the use of popular culture to teach basic economics. His future research interests include cultural competition and evolution, agent-based modeling to simulate economic behavior, and studying the institutions that foster and inhibit technological innovation.

Dr. Youree Kim’s research interests focus on issues surrounding corporate governance, auditing, and financial reporting. Specifically, Dr. Kim’s research explores the determinants and consequences of firms’ corporate governance systems such as audit committees and the appointment and tenure of executive officers. She also explores interactions between auditors and the firm’s management team, how those interactions affect the audit opinions, and how the opinions are viewed by the stakeholders. In addition, her research concerns the determinants and effects of firms’ financial disclosure. For this topic, she looks at the firm’s choice of reporting styles, especially for voluntary components such as non-GAAP reporting and detailedness of the reporting, and how the stakeholders view those choices.

Dr. Theresia Wansi’s research interests span a variety of topics relating to economics in the developing world, particularly in African countries. She is actively investigating the impacts of colonialism on the economy of emerging and developing nations. Additionally, she is investigating the curse of economic resources by using the African countries of DR-Congo, Cameroon, and Mali as case studies, and she is interested in the impact of corruption on African economies. Her research interests also include Altman Z-score’s predictive power of bankruptcy.