PUBLICATIONS

SELECTED JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS


  • Taxing the Rich to Finance Redistribution – Evidence from a Permanent Tax Increase in Singapore (SSRN version), 2023, with S. Agarwal, B. Yeung, and H. Zheng, Management Science, forthcoming

After a permanent increase in income tax for the high-income earners, the affected group did not experience a significant change in their consumption. However, the tax increase financed fiscal redistribution leads to a rather long-lasting increase in the consumption of the lower-income population.


  • Mortgage Debt, Hand-to-Mouth Households, and Monetary Policy Transmission (SSRN version), 2022, with S. Agarwal, Y. Deng, Q. Gu, J. He, and Y. Ren, Review of Finance, 26(3), 487-520

The disposable income increase through lower mortgage service plays an important role in transmitting monetary policy—our estimate implies an MPC of around 0.5 through credit card spending.


  • Employee Output Response to Stock Market Wealth Shocks (SSRN version), 2022, with T. Li, W.A. Xiong, and X. Zou, Journal of Financial Economics, 146(2), 779-796

Exploiting individual-level data linking worker performance and stock investment, we show that a 10 percent increase in stock investment returns is associated with a decrease in the same investor's work output by 3.8 percent in the following month.


  • The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Consumption: Learning from High Frequency Transaction Data (SSRN version), 2021, with H. Chen and Q. Wen, AEA Papers and Proceedings,111, 307-311

We use daily spending transaction data in 214 cities to study the impact of COVID-19 on consumption during the twelve-week period after China’s outbreak.


  • Thy Neighbor's Misfortune: Peer Effects on Consumption (SSRN version), 2021, with S. Agarwal and X. Zou, American Economic Journal-Economic Policy, 13(2), 1-25

Upon personal bankruptcy events, neighbors living in the same building (but not those in the adjacent ones) experience a significant decrease in monthly spending, translating into a significant social multiplier effect.


  • Disaggregated Sales and Stock Returns (SSRN version), 2021, with S. Agarwal and X. Zou, Management Science, 67(11), 7167-7183

The quality of customer demand, as extracted by micro-level spending data, predicts abnormal returns after earnings announcement.


  • The Ownership Complaint Gap: Mutual vs. Stock Intermediaries (SSRN version), 2020, with J. Cheng and D. Reeb, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 55(5), 1685-1715

We exploit a novel dataset of the universe of customer complaints to study customer satisfaction between mutual and stock insurance intermediaries.


  • Disguised corruption: Evidence from consumer credit in China (SSRN version), 2020, with S. Agarwal, A. Seru, and J. Zhang, Journal of Financial Economics, 137(2), 430-450

We uncover a disguised form of corruption using a unique and comprehensive sample of credit card data in China.


  • Age of decision: pension savings withdrawal and consumption and debt responses (SSRN version), 2020, with S. Agarwal and J. Pan, Management Science, 66(1), 3254-3270

Consumers respond to the option to cash out retirement savings by withdrawing a significant amount, followed by a significant consumption increase among liquidity constrained consumers.


  • Mobile Wallet and Entrepreneurial Growth (SSRN version), 2019, with S. Agarwal, B. Yeung, and X. Zou, AEA Papers and Proceedings, 109,48-53

The introduction of a mobile payment technology increases card sales of small, new firms by facilitating customer acquisition.


  • Access to home equity and consumption: Evidence from a policy experiment (SSRN version), 2017, with S. Agarwal, Review of Economics and Statistics, 99(1), 40-52

Exploiting a housing policy experiment in Singapore that resulted in a decrease in access to home equity, we find a significant negative consumption response, suggesting the important role of housing as a self-insurance mechanism for consumption smoothing.


We document the existence of a strategy designed to circumvent limits to arbitrage: faced with short-sale constraints and noise trader risk, small arbitrageurs publicly reveal their information to induce the target’s shareholders (“the longs”) to sell, thereby accelerating price discovery.


  • Playing the boys game: Golf buddies and board diversity (SSRN; AER P&P version), 2016, with S. Agarwal, D. Reeb, and T.F. Sing, American Economic Review (Papers and Proceedings), 106(5): 272-276

Exploiting a novel dataset of all golfers in Singapore, we find that woman golfers enjoy a 54% higher likelihood of serving on a board relative to male golfers. Joining the boy’s informal network appears to facilitate women’s entrance or success in the executive labor market.


We find that an increase in transaction tax has unintended consequences of raising price volatility, through a disproportionate deterrence effect on the informed traders than noise traders.


  • The hidden peril: the role of the condominium loan market in the recent financial crisis (SSRN version), 2016, with S. Agarwal, Y. Deng and C. Luo, Review of Finance, 20(2), 467-500

The condominium loan market, which experienced a 15-fold increase in origination from 2001 to 2007, experiences a faster default growth rate than that of single family (including subprime) loans which appear to be investor-driven.


  • Competition of the informed: Does the presence of short sellers affect insider selling? (SSRN version), 2015, with M. Massa, W. Xu, and H. Zhang, Journal of Financial Economics, 118(2), 268-288

The presence of short sellers induce insiders to sell more (shares from their existing stakes) and trade faster to preempt the potential competition from short sellers.


  • The composition effect of consumption around retirement: Evidence from Singapore (SSRN version), 2015, with S. Agarwal and J. Pan, American Economic Review (Papers and Proceedings), 105(5), 426-431

We show the hump shaped life cycle consumption pattern and in particular composition changes in consumption expenditures around retirement.


  • Consumption and debt response to unanticipated income shocks: evidence from a natural experiment in Singapore (SSRN version), 2014, w. S. Agarwal, American Economic Review, 104(12), 4205-4230

Consumption rose significantly after the unanticipated fiscal policy announcement of a one-time income payout. During the ten subsequent months, for each $1 received, consumers on average spent $0.80.


BOOKS


  • Household Finance: A Functional Approach, 2020, with S. Agarwal and R. Tan, Palgrave-Macmillan Publishing