IMI researchers to receive up to $150K in funding

Sarah Jane Silva

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) has awarded two professors at the University of Toronto Mississauga’s Department of Management grants of approximately $50,000 to $150,000 to help answer some fascinating questions.

Minlei Ye



Minlei Ye

Assistant professor of accounting Minlei Ye’s SSHRC-funded work will examine regulatory oversight and audits in capital markets.
 

“The additional regulatory oversight on top of the private litigation on the different legal systems would improve audit quality.

But that is not necessarily a good thing, she says.

“The auditor can work too hard and it would actually impair the investor’s welfare.”

Ye’s research interests include the economics of auditing, with an emphasis on analytical research in auditing standards setting, pricing, auditor industry expertise, and auditor independence.

Her work has been published in the Journal of Accounting Research, Contemporary Accounting Research and the Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance.

Matthew Osborne, an assistant professor of marketing, will use his grant to look at the formation of consumer forward-looking behaviour and its implications for business strategy and public policy.

“Having better tools to  understand how forward-looking consumers are and how consumers act can help firms to do a better job of timing their promotions," said Osborne. 

"And it can help them do a better job of understanding how good to make those promotions."

Osborne has written papers about consumer choice of cellular phone tariffs and the effect of bill shock regulation, and consumer stockpiling behaviour.

He has also conducted research on business-to-business pricing in markets where geographic differentiation that arises due to transport costs plays a role.

His work has been published in The American Economic Review, Quantitative Marketing and Economics, and the RAND Journal of Economics

Matthew Osborne

Matthew Osborne


The Insight Grants, announced last month, are meant to build knowledge and understanding, and support long-term new approaches to research by providing long-term funding for mature research projects proposed by individuals or teams.