Smith Research

Smith’s Xiaojia Guo co-authored a study on forecasting demand for new products using Bayesian model averaging. The research offers a robust, flexible model for predicting life cycles of fast-evolving items like fashion, news topics and digital content.

New online marketplaces often rely on network effects to grow, but inviting prominent sellers can shape their long-term reputation. Research from Wedad Elmaghraby and Ashish Kabra shows that high-quality sellers attract premium buyers, while lower-quality sellers foster price-sensitive markets.

When the Covid pandemic made the already growing trend of remote work ubiquitous five years ago, it also opened possibilities for where people could decide to live.

Professors Siva Viswanathan, Balaji Padmanabhan, and PhD student Yizhi Liu at UMD’s Smith School developed a patent-pending deepfake method to detect and mitigate bias in decision-making. Their study shows how AI-generated images can improve fairness in hiring, healthcare, and criminal justice.

App crashes shorten user sessions and reduce content consumption, says Smith’s Michel Wedel. While a single crash boosts engagement, frequent failures can drive users away. Developers should release updates cautiously, target resilient users, and take responsibility to maintain trust.

A study by Smith professor Michael Trusov and Sanghwa Kim finds South Korean consumers spend more on hedonic goods when air pollution rises, seeking mood-lifting purchases. Published in the Journal of Marketing, the research suggests implications for marketers and policymakers in responsible…

Smith professor Musa Subasi’s research, published in Management Science, examines whether credit rating agencies use options market data to improve rating accuracy. His study finds that higher options trading volume correlates with more accurate ratings, offering insights for regulatory discussions…

Global businesses use AR and VR to engage consumers, but cultural differences impact success. Smith professor P.K. Kannan’s research finds foreign brands face challenges in South Korea’s XR market. Companies must tailor strategies, choose technology wisely, and build local brand communities.

Sean Cao, director of the Smith AI Initiative, has researched blockchain’s role in financial auditing for six years. His study, published in Management Science (2024), explores how permissioned blockchains enhance reporting integrity, reduce costs by 70%, and improve data privacy.

Smith finance professor Serhiy Kozak and co-authors Stefano Giglio and Bryan Kelly developed a new asset pricing model to evaluate risky investments by predicting term structures of discount rates. Their model, validated with 45 years of data, excludes reliance on dividend strip data while…