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| Abigail Hornstein,
assistant professor of economics, studies corporate performance. |
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| Posted 09.09.05 |
Economics Department Welcomes New Assistant Professor
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Abigail Hornstein
has joined the Economics Department as an assistant professor.
Hornstein received her bachelor’s degree in Chinese language and history;
her master’s degree in economics and international business from New York
University Stern School of Business; and her Ph.D in economics and
international business from the New York University Stern School of
Business.
Her dissertation examined the capital budgeting decisions of multinational
enterprises. She examined U.S. firms in the 1990s to determine if effective
capital budgeting is associated with where a firm invests.
“I found that effective capital budgeting is strongly and significantly
associated with multinationality after controlling for characteristics of
the countries where a firm invests,” she says.
At Wesleyan, Hornstein is interested in exploring the relationship between
corporate performance and corporate structure.
“In my work so far I’ve taken a narrow approach by examining the
relationship between the efficacy of corporate capital budgeting decisions
and various corporate characteristics, particularly multinationality,” she
says.
Hornstein says she’d like to extend this work in several dimensions to
ascertain the relationship between corporate capital budgeting and CEO
turnover, corporate governance, and the use of patents to protect
proprietary firm-specific knowledge.
Hornstein has held several economics-related positions outside of
academia. In 1994, she worked in Hong Kong for a boutique management
consultancy, advising a multinational clientele on issues pertaining to
investing in China. In 1996, she joined HongKong and Shanghai Banking Corporation’s China
research group, covering China’s foreign investment and foreign trade for
the group’s research publications and the bank’s clients. In 1998,
Hornstein assumed full coverage for HSBC of the ASEAN economies
(Indonesia, Malyasia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam).
Since her days as an undergrad at Bryn Mawr, Hornstein’s had a strong
interest in the liberal arts environment.
“I’ve always believed strongly in the importance of a liberal arts
undergraduate education and I’m thrilled to join a faculty that places such
a strong emphasis on both research and teaching,” she says. “It is really
exciting to have such an accomplished set of colleagues, and brilliant
students to teach.”
Hornstein will teach Corporate Finance in the fall, Investment Finance in
the spring and Quantitative Methods in Economics both semesters.
Hornstein married her husband, Seth Bittker, in July and they reside in
Norwalk. Her hobbies include hiking, ceramics and cooking.
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| By
Olivia Bartlett, The Wesleyan Connection
editor |
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