UD Faculty Research

UD Faculty Research

Bruce Evans, Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business

Bruce Evans"Life Settlement Transactions From the Standpoint of the Investor"

The life settlement industry brokers the transfer of rights in life insurance policies from policyholders to investors. In this article, we examine life settlement transactions from the standpoint of the investor. We discuss the history and current state of life settlement structure, regulation and taxation. READ MORE

Journal of Insurance Regulation, Vol. 32 .2014


Ruth May, Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business

Ruth May"Institutional Erosion and its Effects on Russia’s Corporate Leadership"

In this article, my co-authors and I provide a dual-level perspective of the longitudinal erosion in Russia’s independent media, electoral process, judicial independence, and civil society, along with the corresponding effects on the attitudes and behaviors of Russia’s corporate leadership. READ MORE

May, Ruth C., Rayter, G. R. & Ledgerwood, Donna. E. (2016). Institutional erosion and its effects on Russia’s corporate leadership. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 23(2),191-207.


Mike Cosgrove, Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business

Mike Cosgrove"Political Agreements and Exporting Activities: An Empirical Assessment of the Effects of the JCPOA Agreement on Iran's Exports"

Conflicts hinder international trade. Political agreements that restrain conflicts and remove sanctions may contribute positively to exporting and importing activities. In this study, we examine the effects of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly known as Iran Nuclear Deal, on Iran’s non-oil exports. Employing a dynamic panel model, we find a significant increase in the growth rate of industry-level exports following the removal of nuclear-related sanctions, resulting from this political agreement. In particular, the exports of industries that have relatively low shares in Iran’s non-oil exports grow significantly faster than industries with relatively high shares in those exports. Our findings suggest that even a short-lived political agreement could have significant positive effects on exporting activities in middle-income countries.

Reference: Dadpay, A., & Tabrizy, S. S. (2021). Political Agreements and Exporting Activities: An Empirical Assessment of the Effects of the JCPOA Agreement on Iran’s Exports. Comparative Economic Studies, 63(1), 147-180. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41294-020-00136-x


Scott Wysong, Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business

Scott Wysong"Website Words Matter: An analysis of business schools' online brand personalities"

This study investigates how a business school website informs a prospective student about the school's brand personality. Using a content analytical approach, words were extracted from business school websites in one major US market. The results of this research demonstrated the utility of a dictionary-based approach to identifying brand personality, and that within the sample, business schools at public universities signalled more competence, while those at private universities exhibited more excitement and sincerity. Also, higher enrolment business schools portrayed themselves as more competent, while lower enrolment schools described themselves as more sincere. Interestingly, there was no difference between AACSB-accredited and non-AACSB schools on the brand personality dimension, competence. Implications and directions for future research are discussed in detail.

Frank, B., Beldona, S., & Wysong, S. (2020). Website words matter: An analysis of business schools' online brand personalities. Journal for Global Business Advancement, 13(1), 53–69.


Jenny Gu, Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business

Jenny Gu"Mortgage Loan Securitization and Personal Consumption Smoothening"

In this paper we examine the extent to which personal consumptions are sheltered from state-specific economic shocks because of banks’ mortgage loan securitizations. We posit that securitization contributes to personal consumption smoothening due to securitizations’ positive effect on banks’ credit supply, which reduces consumers’ consumption constraints during economic shocks. READ MORE

Gu, J., Hernandez, R., Liu, P., & Shao, Y. (2015). Mortgage Loan Securitization and Personal Consumption Smoothening. Journal of Economics and Finance. “lead article” in issue.


Lynn Kendall, Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business

Lynn KendallBank Failure Prediction and the Subprime Mortgage Crisis

The most recent financial crisis, generally viewed as being precipitated by the early 2000s spate of sub-prime mortgages and their securitization, led to the failure of 507 banks between 2008 and 2014. The year 2008 saw the first wave of 25 bank failures and by the middle of 2009, another 45 banks had closed.READ MORE

Kendall, Lynn, and Walter Kendall (2016). Bank Failure Prediction and the Subprime Mortgage Crisis. E-Journal of Business & Economic Issues, XI (III).


Scott Crider, Constantin College

Scott Crider"Shakespeare and the Figures of Speech"

In "Shakespeare and the Figures of Speech," I continue my research and writing in Shakespeare and rhetoric. In it, I provide the background to Shakespeare's education in the language arts, especially style and figuration, and the influence that education had on him as a literary artist. The article and the encyclopedia are written for both the scholar and the common reader.   READ MORE

Crider, Scott F. "Shakespeare and the Figures of Speech." The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare. Vol. 1. Gen. Ed. Bruce R. Smith. New York: Cambridge UP, 2016. 227-232.


Sally Hicks, Constantin College

Sally Hicks"Neutron Scattering Differential Cross Sections for 23Na from 1.5 to 4.5 MeV."

One of the leading designs for the next generation of nuclear fission reactors is a sodium-moderated fast reactor. Before such reactors can come online, it is necessary to understand how neutrons, which are prevalent in the reactor environment, interact with Na, especially in what is the fast neutron energy region between about 1 and 20 MeV.  READ MORE

Neutron Scattering Differential Cross Sections for 23Na from 1.5 to 4.5 MeV, J .R. Vanhoy, S.F. Hicks, A. Chakraborty , B.R. Champine, B. M. Combs, B.P. Crider, L. J. Kersting, A. Kumar, C. J. Lueck, S. H. Liu, P. J. McDonough, M.T. McEllistrem, E.E. Peters , F.M. Prados-Estevez, L.C. Sidwell, A. J. Sigillito, D.W. Watts, and S.W. Yates, Nuclear Physics A 939 (2015).