Research

JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS/FORTHCOMING

1. Cross-Border Cooperation Among Securities Regulators and Supply Chain Collaboration: Evidence from U.S.-Listed Foreign Firms (with Xiaoqi Chen*, Yuqi Wang**), 2026, Journal of International Business Studies, forthcoming. SSRN | DOI

2. The Spillover Effect of Natural Disaster on Analyst Forecast Inaccuracy: Evidence from Shared Analyst Coverage (with Xiaoqi Chen*, Agnes C.S. Cheng, and Zhi Li*), 2026, British Accounting Review, 58(3), 101577. SSRN | DOI

3. Risk Management Committee and Bank Performance: Evidence from the Adoption of the Dodd-Frank Act (with Mingming Ji*), 2024, Journal of Business Finance & Accounting 51, 1762-1788. SSRN | DOI

--Listed among the Top 40 most-cited papers at Journal of Business Finance & Accounting  since 2024 (based on Scopus citation counts)

4. Lending Corruption and Bank Loan Contracting: Cross-Country Evidence (with Chong Wang), 2024, Journal of Contemporary Accounting & Economics 20(2), 100415. SSRN | DOI

5. Media Coverage and Debt Financing Choice (with Agnes C. S. Cheng and Weiling Song), 2024, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy 44, 107181. SSRN | DOI

6. Does Competition Affect Bank Risk? (with Ross Levine and Chen Lin), 2023, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking 55(5), 1043-1076. SSRN | NBER | DOI

--Covered by the The Oxford Handbook of Banking, 4th Edition, edited by Allen N. Berger, Philip Molyneux, and John O. S. Wilson, Oxford University Press, 2025

7. Deposit Supply and Bank Transparency (with Ross Levine, Chen Lin, and Wensi Xie), 2022, Management Science 68(5), 3834-3855. SSRN | DOI

--Covered by the The Oxford Handbook of Banking, 4th Edition, edited by Allen N. Berger, Philip Molyneux, and John O. S. Wilson, Oxford University Press, 2025

8. Aggressive CEOs and Bank Mergers and Acquisitions (with Mingming Ji*), 2022, Journal of Contemporary Accounting & Economics 18(3), 1-21. SSRN | DOI

--Lead Article

9. Policy Uncertainty and Textual Disclosure (with Jeffrey A. Pittman and Walid Saffar), 2022, Accounting Horizons 36(4), 113-131. SSRN | DOI

--Listed among the Top 5 most-cited papers at Accounting Horizons  since 2022 (based on Scopus citation counts)

10. Competition and Bank Liquidity Creation (with Ross Levine and Chen Lin), 2019, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 54, 513-538. SSRN | NBER | DOI

--Media mention: Wall Street Journal, VoxEU

11. The Role of Audit Verification in Debt Contracting: Evidence from Covenant Violations (with Hui Zhou), 2017, Review of Accounting Studies, 22, 469-501. SSRN | DOI

12. Competition and Bank Opacity (with Ross Levine and Chen Lin), 2016, Review of Financial Studies, 29, 1911-1942. SSRN| NBER | DOI

--Media mention: VoxEU, World Economic Forum, etc.

--Presented at: Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), The New Zealand Treasury, The 39th Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Annual Conference

13. Political Connections and the Cost of Bank Loans (with Joel Houston, Chen Lin and Yue Ma), 2014, Journal of Accounting Research 52, 193-243. SSRN | DOI

--Listed among the Top 5 most-cited papers at Journal of Accounting Research  since 2014 (based on Scopus citation counts)

14. Effects of Foreign Institutional Ownership on Foreign Bank Lending: Some Evidence for Emerging Markets (with Yi Zhu), 2014, International Review of Finance 14, 263-293. SSRN | DOI

15. The Determinants of Pollution Levels: Firm-level Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing (with Chen Lin and Ping Lin), 2014, Journal of Comparative Economics 42, 118-142. SSRN | DOI

--Listed among the Top 5 most-cited papers at Journal of Comparative Economics  since 2014 (based on Scopus citation counts)

16. Regulation and Corporate Corruption: New Evidence from the Telecom Sector (with Sanford Berg and Chen Lin), 2012, Journal of Comparative Economics 40, 22-43. SSRN | DOI

17. Universal Service Subsidies and Cost Inflation: Evidence from the U.S. Telecommunications Sector (with Sanford Berg and Chen Lin), 2011, Telecommunications Policy 35, 583-591. SSRN | DOI

18. Incentives for Cost Shifting and Misreporting: U.S. Rural Service Subsidies, 1991-2002 (with Sanford Berg and Chen Lin), 2011, Information Economics and Policy 23, 287-295. SSRN | DOI

*PhD student or former PhD student;     ** master's degree student

ACADEMIC CITATION / IMPACT

Google Scholar Citations: > 2000

Scopus Citations: >1000

Web of Science Citations: >1000

WORKING PAPERS (SELECTED)

1. "The Price of Privacy: How the GDPR Passes Through Banks to the Price of Credit"  (with C. Liu and S. Wang)

Abstract: We show that EU’s data-privacy regulation is transmitted to the price of credit through the banks that must comply with it. Using syndicated loans to firms from 58 countries, we find that the GDPR raises loan spreads when lead banks outside the GDPR jurisdiction bear extraterritorial compliance costs. Furthermore, exposed non-GDPR banks increase hiring in information technology and legal compliance and transmit these costs through their loan portfolios to affected borrowers. They also reduce participation in affected lending. Pass-through is stronger in less competitive markets and among non-TBTF banks. Our findings reveal how regulatory compliance costs travel across borders through financial intermediaries.

2. "Shared Analyst Coverage and Intra-portfolio Information Spillover: Evidence from Management Earnings Forecasts" (with M. Ji)

Abstract: We examine the role of information spillover between firms in an analyst’s portfolio. We find a positive intra-portfolio information spillover effect: management earnings forecasts issued by large firms reduce the analyst forecast error for corresponding small firms in the analyst’s portfolio. We show that the information spillover effect is stronger when 1) the linkage intensity between small and large firms is stronger, 2) analysts are more experienced, and 3) the information uncertainty about small firms is higher. Finally, we provide evidence that this intra-portfolio spillover effect is asymmetric, information spills over from large firms to small ones, and not the reverse.

3. "RegTech Investment and The Transmission of Regulatory Costs: Evidence from Banks" (with J. Lim and C. Liu)

Abstract: Complex accounting regulation increasingly requires firms to invest in regulatory technology (RegTech), encompassing not only information technology (IT) but also the specialized labor needed to implement data-intensive regulatory requirements. Yet little is known about how firms build these capabilities or whether the resulting economic burden extends beyond the regulated institution. We examine these questions using banks’ implementation of the Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL) standard, which requires forward-looking credit-loss estimation supported by extensive data, modeling, and information-processing capabilities. We find that CECL-affected banks increase investment in both specialized labor and IT. We then examine whether the economic burden associated with implementation extends to banks’ contractual counterparties. We find that borrowers exposed to CECL-affected lenders subsequently face higher loan spreads and fees, shorter maturities, greater collateral requirements, and more frequent amendments. These findings are consistent with banks transmitting part of the implementation burden to borrowers through loan contracting. Collectively, our evidence identifies RegTech investment as an important organizational response to complex accounting regulation and shows that the economic consequences of implementation can extend beyond regulated institutions.

4. "Leveling the Playing Field: Centralized Electronic Disclosure Systems and Insider Trading Profits" (with X. Chen, C. Liu, C. Sun)

Abstract: Regulatory technology (RegTech) has become an increasingly important component of modern securities regulation worldwide. One of the most consequential RegTech innovations is centralized electronic disclosure systems (CEDS). A key policy motivation behind CEDS is to level the informational playing field in capital markets and protect investors who lack access to privileged information. We examine whether CEDS achieves this goal by testing whether it reduces insiders’ estimated trading profits, a direct measure of insiders’ informational advantage over outside investors. Using a stacked difference-in-differences framework, we find that firms in adopting countries experience a significant decrease in insider trading profits following CEDS implementation. Two-stage channel tests show the reduction operates through faster price discovery (increased information efficiency) and greater negative-sentiment media scrutiny of insider trading (enhanced external monitoring), and is concentrated in countries with weaker information and monitoring environments. Decomposition analyses indicate that CEDS primarily reduces the informativeness and frequency of non-routine (opportunistic) buy transactions, with no significant effect on sell-side profits or routine trades. These findings demonstrate that disclosure technology can meaningfully constrain insiders’ private-information rents, even without changes to substantive insider trading laws.

5. "The Impact of Competition on Donation-Based Crowdfunding: Mediation Effects of Information Disclosure" (with F. Li, S. Li, S. Xie)

Abstract: The rapid growth of donation-based crowdfunding has intensified competition among charitable organizations for donations. Leveraging a unique dataset from a leading crowdfunding platform, this study employs a panel vector autoregressive model to examine the dynamic relationships among competition, information disclosure, and fundraising. Our results first show that competition can have a negative direct effect on fundraising amounts. However, it also shapes information disclosure by charitable organizations, which in turn enhances donations, thereby counteracting this negative effect. Drawing on construal level theory, we distinguish between descriptive information and progress updates and show that charitable organizations can allocate disclosure efforts among them strategically across campaign stages. Facing intensified competition, charitable organizations disclose more descriptive information for new campaigns but strategically limit progress updates in both new and ongoing campaigns. This study advances understanding of the impacts of competition in the non-profit sector by identifying disclosure strategies as a key mediating mechanism and disentangling how they interact with campaign stages to shape donor behavior, offering actionable insights for charitable organizations facing the concern of intensified competition. 

6. "Medical Insurance and Financial Inclusion: Evidence from Low-Income Households" (with M. Ji, M. Yin, and H. Vu)

Abstract: We investigate the effect of Affordable Care Act (ACA) on household financial inclusion in the United States. The Medicaid expansion following the staggered implementation of ACA in different states provides an identification to examine the causal impact of the availability of medical insurance on households’ decision to be included in mainstream financial services. Using the data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), we find that households eligible for Medicaid expansion are more likely to be banked after the implementation of ACA.