A Mathematical Gem from Euler
By Dr. Hassan Shirvani–The Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler (1707–1783) is widely considered as one of the greatest mathematicians who ever lived. He made fundamental and path-breaking contributions to many areas of mathematics and physics. In the following example, Euler displays the inspired ease with which he managed to crack some of the most difficult mathematical…
Read MoreFrom the Classroom to the Real World
By Kenzie Owen and Bryon Wolfford —We are members of the Houston CPA Society Student Auxiliary, an organization that helps prepare young professionals interested in accounting for the real world. Each meeting has a panel of speakers from various accounting firms who provide students with valuable insight about how they became successful and what they look…
Read MoreCan There Be Too Much Finance?
By Dr. Pierre Canac –Finance certainly plays an indispensable and positive role in promoting economic growth and overall employment. However there is some evidence that the relationship between financial development and GDP growth is not linear, but instead has an inverse U-shape. As the size of the financial sector gets larger, at first GDP growth…
Read MoreAn Awe-inspiring Look at Product Research and Development: Baker Hughes
By Brittany Lopez–Situated a on a sprawling campus approximately one hour outside the center of downtown Houston, Baker Hughes’ offers newcomers their ID tags and a bottle of water. The morning is just beginning on what will be a three-hour tour of the state of the art facilities. The Cameron School of Business students (along…
Read MoreThe Satisfaction and Stress of Being a Market Maven: A Social Network Perspective
By Dr. Shouyang Zhang— Who are Market Mavens? Market mavens are “individuals who have information about many kinds of products, places to shop, and other facets of markets, and initiate discussions with consumers and respond to requests from consumers for market information” (Feick and Price, 1987, p. 85). Market mavens are information transfer agents and…
Read MoreThe Power of Communication: Lessons Learned at the Celts Breakfast Club
By Brian Ehlinger—On Wednesday, September 16, 2015, I was among the selected CSB and UST students joining the Celts Breakfast Club guest speaker, Habeeb Gnaim, who has eleven years of experience as a tax attorney. Mr. Gnaim graduated from UST in 2000 with an Economics degree, received a J.D. in Law from SMU, and then…
Read MoreA Critique of Behavioral Finance
By Dr. Hassan Shirvani—The recent global financial crisis has raised serious questions about the rationality of the securities markets. In rational markets, prices tend to closely track their fundamental values, so that there is little or no chance of getting price bubbles. During the run-up to the recent crisis, however, many asset prices, including those in the housing sector, seemingly deviated from their correct values, resulting in subsequent financial crashes around…
Read MoreCreating Firm Value as a Team: A New Case Study From Turkey
By Dr. Gulfem Bayram–Executive compensation has been one of the most researched topics in business literature. There is even a sub-discipline within corporate finance that investigates corporate governance and executive compensation issues. Finance literature reports that corporate governance and executive compensation practices are closely related to firm value. While there are many different perspectives to…
Read MoreThe UST Academic Mall and My Teaching Philosophy
By Dr. Shuoyang Zhang–Being an educator is a noble profession. Human civilization depends upon the transcendent transmission of wisdom from generation to generation. It is an honor and a privilege for me to play a small role in this grand process. This is the 11th year of teaching since I first started in the summer…
Read MoreEconomic Inequality in America
By Dr. Hassan Shirvani–The impressive body of empirical evidence recently furnished by the French economist Thomas Piketty and his associates clearly demonstrates that there is a worsening trend of income and wealth inequality in America. This trend, in effect since the beginning of the 19th century, managed to take a breather in the first half of the…
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