Hazem Daouk is a financial economist, known for his work on securities regulation, especially insider trading, earnings management and short selling.
A little before the Enron scandal, Daouk was investigating whether informational risk associated with accounting earnings quality impacts stock markets around the world (he analyzed financial statements from 34 countries for the period 1985-1998).
A year later, the European Commission issued a formal warning after Greece was found to have falsified budget deficit data in run-up to joining the eurozone.
The magazine The Banker has written that "Most Western regulatory bodies tend to subscribe broadly to the findings" of Daouk, which concluded that when short selling is possible, stock prices are less volatile and there is greater liquidity.
However, in an interview with the same magazine, he stated that he did not oppose the temporary restrictions on short selling that were enacted in different countries in reaction to the financial crisis.