Research

Published Papers

[1] Navigating in a Partisan Political Landscape: Evidence from Boardroom Political Ideological Dispersion and Corporate Innovation, with Anqi Jiao and Honglin Ren. Abacus, 2026.
Boards with greater political ideological dispersion produce more patents, citations, and patent value.

[2] Buffing Firm Innovation by Lobbying, with Anqi Jiao. Journal of Corporate Finance, 2024.
Corporate lobbying fosters firm innovation by transmitting valuable information to politicians.

[3] Partisanship, Optimism, and Firm Innovation, with Anqi Jiao and Honglin Ren. Financial Management, 2024.
Managers partisan-aligned with the U.S. president produce more patents, citations, and patent value.

Semifinalist, FMA 2024 Best Paper Award in Corporate Finance.

[4] The Role of AI Capabilities in Environmental Management: Evidence from USA Firms, with Anqi Jiao, Honglin Ren, and Jia Wei. Energy Economics, 2024.
Firms' AI capabilities reduce greenwashing behavior.

[5] CTO Network Centrality and Corporate Innovation, with Tomas Jandik. Quarterly Journal of Finance, 2024.
Well-connected CTOs invest more in R&D and generate more patents, citations, and patent value.

[6] Independent Directors and Firm Value: New Evidence from the 2023 Regulatory Reform in China, with Anqi Jiao and Ran Sun. Applied Finance Letters, 2024.
Firms failing the 2023 independent-director reform criteria suffered stock-market losses.

[7] Do Prosocial CEOs Promote Innovation? with Anqi Jiao, Jia Wei, and Wenqiao Zhang. Finance Research Letters, 2023.
Prosocial CEOs spark innovation by attracting inventors to the firm.

[8] Stakeholder Orientation and Product Market Performance: Evidence from a Natural Experiment, with Jia Wei. Review of Financial Economics, 2023.
Stakeholder orientation improves firms' product-market performance.

Selected Working Papers

[1] "Equity Prices the Opportunity, Debt Prices the Risk: Generative AI and Corporate Credit Spreads," with Priyank Gandhi, Jasper Pan, Alberto Plazzi, and Jia Wei.
Scheduled presentations:

• Summer Research Conference in Finance (Indian School of Business, Hyderabad), 2026

• Wharton-Chicago-Harvard Insolvency & Restructuring Conference, 2026

• AI in Finance Conference (Montreal), 2026

• Southern Finance Association Annual Meeting, 2026

[2] "Generative AI and Corporate Investment," with Priyank Gandhi, Jasper Pan, Simi Kedia, and Jia Wei.
Scheduled presentations:

• Southern Finance Association Annual Meeting, 2026