RESEARCH

Research Interests:

Theoretical and empirical corporate finance, intermediation, and entrepreneurial finance with primary focus on: IPOs, Innovation, Labor and Finance, Institutional Cross-ownership, Corporate Governance, M&As, Delegated Portfolio Management, Mortgage-backed Securities Markets, Rating Agencies, Analysts, Payout Policies, and Corporate Social Responsibility.

Working Papers:

1. Information Production, Endogenous Occupational Choices, and Delegated Portfolio Management.  [Download]

• • On the 2010 AFA program; Best Paper Award in Investment, the 2009 Eastern Finance Association Meetings

2.  Two Tales of Monitoring: Effects of Institutional Cross-Blockholding on Accruals, with Lei Li and Eric Yeung. [Download]

• • On the 2018 AAA program; the 2018 MIT Asia Accounting Conference

3.  Share the Gain but Not the Pain: Managerial Rent Extraction and the Manager-worker Pay Growth Gap, with Lei Li, Rik Sen, and Tao Shu. [Download]

• • On the 2025 The SFS Finance Cavalcade Asia-Pacific program, the 2025 Erasmus Corporate Governance Conference, the 2022 Labor and Finance Group meeting, the 2022 GCGC Oxford Conference program, the 2022 MFA program, the 2022 CICF program, the 2021 NFA program; Accepted for the 2020 FIRS program

4.  Market Feedback about Emerging Technologies, with Sean Cao, Itay Goldstein, Yabo Zhao

• • On the 2026 EFA program, the 2026 FARS Midyear program, the 2026 CICF program, the 2026 NFA program, the 2025 SFS Finance Cavalcade North America program, the 2024 University of Washington Summer Finance Conference, the 2024 Financial Intermediation Research Society (FIRS) Conference, the 2024 Purdue Fintech Conference, the 2024 MFA program, the 2024 ABFER Annual Conference program, the 2024 CAPANA Conference, the 2023 Cornell ESG Investing Research Conference, the 2023 Columbia Burton Accounting Conference, the 2023 Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance (JAAF) Symposium 

5.  The Power Behind the Pen: Institutional Investors’ Influence on Media during Corporate Litigation, with Han Xia, Yabo Zhao, and Luo Zuo. [Download]

• • On the 2023 MIT Asia Accounting Conference, the 2023 Owners as Strategists Conference, the 2022 FSU SunTrust Beach Conference program, the 2022 AFA program, the 2021 CICF, the 2020 SFS Finance Cavalcade North America program, the 2020 EFA program, the 2020 NFA program 

6.  Matchmaking in the Supply Chain: The Role of Shared Auditors, with Sean Cao, Yongtae Kim, and Biyu Wu

• • On the 2026 Mediterranean Accounting Conference (TMAC) program, the 2024 AAA program, the 2024 PCAOB Conference on Auditing and Capital Markets, the 2024 International Symposium on Audit Research program 

7. Venture Labor: A Nonfinancial Signal for Start-up Success, with Sean Cao, Luna Lin, and Xiao Ren. [Download]

• • On the 2025 New Zealand Finance Meeting program (Best Paper Award), 2025 AFA program, the 2024 SFS Finance Cavalcade North America program, the 2024 FARS Midyear program, the 2024 MFA program, the 2023 LBS Accounting Symposium, the 2023 Edinburgh Corporate Finance Conference program, the 2023 EFA program, 2023 Bretton Woods Accounting and Finance Ski Conference program, 2023 ITAM Finance Conference program, the 2023 NFA program, the 2022 FMA Napa/Sonoma Conference program, the 2022 SFS Finance Cavalcade Asia-Pacific program, the 2022 CICF program, the 2021 Hawaii Accounting Research Conference (HARC)

8. Common Suppliers: A Channel for Product Market Shock Spillovers, with Kayla Freeman, Han Xia, and Liyan Yang.

• • On the 2025 AEA program, the 2024 Eastern Finance Association Meetings program, the 2023 EFA program, the 2023 NFA program, the 2023 MFA program, the 2023 CICF program

 Surveys:

1. Finance and Corporate Innovation: A Survey, with Xuan Tian. [Download]

• • Asia-Pacific Journal of Financial Studies 47, 165-212

2. Institutions and Innovation, with Xuan Tian. [Download]

• • Annual Review of Financial Economics 12, 377-398

 Publications:

1.  The Employee Clientele of Corporate Leverage: Evidence from Family Labor Income Diversification, with Xiao Ren, Tao Shu, and Huan Yang, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, forthcoming. [Download]

2. The Disappearing IPO Puzzle and the Shift Toward Acquisitions: New Insights from Proprietary U.S. Census Data on Private Firms, with Thomas Chemmanur, Xiao Ren, and Tao Shu, Review of Corporate Finance Studies, forthcoming.  [Download]

3. Networking Behind the Scenes: Institutional Cross-industry Holdings and Corporate Loan Markets, with Max Liang, Grace Wang, and Han Xia, Management Science, 70, (2024), pp. 4932-4952. [Download]

4. Do Short Sellers Affect Corporate Innovation? Evidence from a Policy Experiment, with Xiao Ren and Xuan Tian, Review of Corporate Finance Studies, 14, (2025), pp. 125-165. [Download]

5.  Standing out from the crowd via CSR engagement: Evidence from non-fundamental-driven price pressure, with Lei Gao and Julie Wu, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 59, (2024), pp. 39-67. [Download]

6. Asymmetric Cost Behavior and Dividend Policy, with Xuan Tian, Huan Yang, and Luo Zuo, Journal of Accounting Research, 58, (2020), pp. 989-1021. [Download]

7. Expectation Management in Mergers and Acquisitions, with Tingting Liu, Jeff Netter, and Tao Shu, Management Science, 66, (2020), pp. 1205-1226. [Download]

8. Internalizing Governance Externalities: The Role of Institutional Cross-ownership, with Jiekun Huang and Shan Zhao, Journal of Financial Economics, 134, (2019), pp. 400-418. [Download]

9. Product Market Competition in a World of Cross Ownership: Evidence from Institutional Blockholdings, with Jiekun Huang, Review of Financial Studies, 30, (2017), pp. 2674-2718.  [Download]

10. Product Market Characteristics and the Choice between IPOs and Acquisitions, with Thomas J. Chemmanur, Shan He, and Debarshi Nandy, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 53, (2018), pp. 681-721. [Download]

11. Does the Market Understand Rating Shopping? Predicting MBS Losses with Initial Yields, with Jun Qian and Philip Strahan, Review of Financial Studies, 29, (2016), pp. 457-485. [Download]

12. The Dark Side of Analyst Coverage: The Case of Innovation, with Xuan Tian, Journal of Financial Economics, 109, (2013), pp. 856-878. [Download]

13. Are All Ratings Created Equal? The Impact of Issuer Size on the Pricing of Mortgage-Backed Securities, with Jun Qian and Philip Strahan, Journal of Finance, 67, (2012) pp. 2097-2137. [Download]

14. IPO Waves, Product Market Competition, and the Going Public Decision: Theory and Evidence, with Thomas Chemmanur, Journal of Financial Economics, 101, (2011), pp. 382-412. [Download]

15. Credit Ratings and the Evolution of Mortgage-backed Securities, with Jun Qian and Philip Strahan, American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, 101, (2011), pp. 131-135. [Download]

16. Is Dividend Smoothing Universal? New Insights from a Comparative Study of Dividend Policies in Hong Kong and the U.S., with Thomas J. Chemmanur, Gang Hu, and Helen Liu, Journal of Corporate Finance, 16, (2010), pp. 413-430. [Download]

17. Competition and Cooperation among Exchanges: Effects on Corporate Cross-Listing Decisions and Listing Standards, with Thomas J. Chemmanur and Paolo Fulghieri, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, 20, (2008), pp. 76-90.