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Faculty Insights

Making an Impact, Making Headlines: WSB Faculty Research in 2017

By Clare Becker

February 16, 2018

From the border adjustment tax to in-store food sampling, research by Wisconsin School of Business faculty caught the eye of national and international news media in 2017, with the top 10 most-covered topics garnering more than 219 million impressions.

“Our faculty are consistently at the forefront of bringing to bear new thinking and new methods to better understand and answer important questions in the world of business,” says Barry Gerhart, Interim Albert O. Nicholas Dean. “These insights get translated into the classroom and can contribute to better decisions by consumers, leaders, and policy makers.”

Here is the top 10 list of most-covered research by number of web impressions:

  1. Justin Sydnor, associate professor of risk and insurance, examined the relationship between health habits and financial incentives. Featured: The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Men’s Health (82.1 million).
  2. Andra Ghent, associate professor of real estate and urban land economics, questioned the CARD Act, maintaining that young borrowers can still be good borrowers. Featured: AOL, Business Insider, The Huffington Post (64.9 million).
  3. Evan Polman, assistant professor of marketing, looked at whether the gift-giving experience is enhanced if a gift is shared. Featured: Martha Stewart Living, Science Daily, Psych Central (23 million).
  4. Hessam Bavafa, assistant professor of operations and information management, examined the role of medical e-visits in a hospital’s overall health care system. Featured: Healthcare Finance News, Becker’s Hospital Review, Medpage Today (19.9 million).
  5. Justin Sydnor, associate professor of risk and insurance, appears on the list again with his research on health plans and the absence of choice. Featured: The New York Times, The Seattle Times, Las Vegas Sun (12.9 million).
  6. Fabio Gaertner, assistant professor of accounting and information systems, investigated the impact of shareholder wealth and border adjustment taxation. Featured: Politico, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, Agenda (9.6 million).
  7. Qing Liu, associate professor of marketing, tested whether retail stores could maximize in-store food sampling events by using optimal times and conditions. Featured: Food Processing Magazine, EurekAlert! Science News (3 million).
  8. Enno Siemsen, professor of operations and information management, looked at the relationship between investigators and future plant inspection quality. Featured: Pharmacy Choice, Pharma Intelligence, Medtech Insight (2.5 million).
  9. Moussa Diop, assistant professor of real estate and urban land economics, investigated potential correlations between house prices and retail marijuana establishments. Featured: Civilized, mg, MJINews (1.2 million).
  10. Fabio Gaertner, assistant professor of accounting and information systems, makes the list a second time for his work on the relationship between tax overpayments and forced CEO departures. Featured: Accounting Today, CPA Practice Advisor, CFO Magazine (789,000).

WSB faculty also lent their expertise to media outlets on current events and business trends throughout 2017, providing thought leadership and weighing in on areas as diverse as Obamacare, iPhone X branding, and the pitfalls of combining business and politics.Quote from Barry Gerhart on faculty researchRead more about WSB faculty research on the Forward Thinking blog.


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