1. “Does Ownership Concentration Affect Corporate Bond Volatility? Evidence from Bond Mutual Funds”, 2024, Journal of Banking and Finance, forthcoming. (with Jing-Zhi Huang, Pennsylvania State University, and Y. Wang, University at Albany)

2. "Repurchases for Price Impact: Evidence from Fragile Stocks", 2024,  Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, forthcoming. (with M. Massa, INSEAD, and D. Schumacher, McGill University)

3. "Labor-saving Innovations and Capital Structure", 2023, Journal of Corporate Finance, forthcoming. (with J. Qiu, McMaster University, and C. Wan, University of Massachusetts at Boston)

4. "Can Short Sellers Detect Internal Control Material Weaknesses? Evidence from Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act", 2022, Journal of Accounting, Auditing, and Finance: 37(1), pp.3-38.  (with Z. Singer, HEC Montreal, and J. Zhang, University of Alabama Huntsville)

5. “How Are Institutions Informed? Proactive Trading, Information Flows, and Stock Selection Strategies”, 2021, Contemporary Accounting Research: 38, pages 1849-1887.

6. “Who is Afraid of BlackRock?”, 2021, Review of Financial Studies: 34(4), pages 1987–2044. (with M. Massa, INSEAD, and D. Schumacher, McGill University).

7.  “Cross-Country Competitive Effects of Cross-Listings”, 2020, Review of Corporate Finance Studies: 9 (1), pages 116–164. (with S. Sarkissian, McGill University)

8. “The Product Market Impact of Minority Stake Acquisitions”, 2018, Management Science: 64(2), pages 825-844. (with A. Nain, University of Iowa)

Labor and corporate finance

1. “Labor Market Power and Financial Leverage: Evidence from Online Job Postings”, (with John Bai, Northeastern University, M. Massa, INSEAD, and C. Wan, University of Massachusetts at Boston)   SSRN

• Presented at PFMC 2022, WBFS 2022, FMA 2023, MFA 2024, FMA Asia 2024, CICF 2024

• R&R at Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 

Abstract: Using the near universe of online job postings from 2007 to 2021, we construct a firm-level metric of labor market power. We find that firms with higher labor market power tend to have higher financial leverage. Our findings are not driven by product market competition or correlated labor market characteristics. They are less pronounced among firms hiring in occupations with high labor mobility and skill transferability. To establish causality, we exploit the establishment of Amazon HQ2 in Crystal City as a shock to the labor market power of local firms and show consistent findings with our baseline results.

2. “When Talent Walks:  Skilled Labor Mobility and Bank Behavior”, (with R. Liu, McMaster University and M. Massa, INSEAD) SSRN

Abstract: We investigate how traditional banks react to a shock in high-skilled labor mobility that induces more labor turnover, raises the bargaining power of skilled labor, and translates into higher costs for the banks. Using the natural experiment of the U.S. state courts’ staggered rejections of the Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine (IDD), we document that the rejections of IDD increase labor mobility and wages of skilled workers, which translates to a higher operating cost and lower operating efficiency for traditional banks. This induces banks to increase the loan rates and selectively loan offering without impacting their riskiness. The impact of employee labor mobility on loan rates is more prominent among the banks whose clients have fewer outside options, banks with stronger bargaining power, and banks with a higher likelihood of employee turnover. Neither banks nor customers do seem to enjoy the benefit of such mobility, and the rent of high skilled labor is appropriated by the employees through higher salaries. This has important normative implications for the regulator. 

3. “The Effect of Labor Cost on Innovation”, (with A. Nain, University of Iowa) SSRN

• Presented at FMA 2020, University of Iowa

Abstract: We show that an increase in the cost of unskilled labor leads to more labor-saving innovation. Larger minimum wage increases are associated with larger increases in automation patent applications and citations received by automation patents. These findings are stronger in states with a higher binding wage percentile, i.e., where the minimum wage increase has more ‘bite’. The increase in automation patents following minimum wage hikes contributes to poorer employment outcomes for unskilled workers employed in routine tasks. We conclude that minimum wage legislation spurs innovation that displaces the very same workers the legislation was designed to help.

Product markets and corporate finance

4. “Two Faces of Product Market Competition and Tax Avoidance”, (with R. Li, University of Massachusetts at Boston, J. Qiu, McMaster University, C. Wan, University of Massachusetts at Boston, and M. Wang, University of Massachusetts at Boston) PDF

Abstract: This paper investigates the effect of product market competition on a firm’s tax avoidance behavior. We develop a theoretical model showing that a greater product market competition could increase the managerial incentive of tax avoidance due to a “threat-of-demotion” effect but decrease shareholders’ incentive of tax avoidance due to a “value-of-tax-saving” effect, resulting in a nonlinear impact of product market competition on tax avoidance. Empirically, we find consistent evidence that the effect of product market competition on a firm’s tax avoidance has an inverted U-Shape. Our analysis highlights that the product market competition could have a two-faced impact on a firm’s tax avoidance activities.

• SSHRC Insight Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Principal Investigator,  2019 – 2025 (Amount: $88,219)

• SSHRC Insight Development Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Principal Investigator, 2019 – 2023 (Amount: $48,268)

• SSHRC Explore – Standard Research/Creative & Performing Arts Grant, McMaster University, 2017 (Amount: $7,000)