Jesse Zexi Wang 

Education

2010 --- 2013                 PhD in Finance, University of Zurich and Swiss Finance Institute

2007 --- 2010                 Research Scholar in Finance, Norwegian School of Economics

2005 --- 2007                 Master in Applied Mathematics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Working papers

What are the Costs of Weakening Shareholder Primacy? Evidence from a U.S. Quasi-Natural Experiment, with  Benjamin Bennett and René M. Stulz

• Featured at Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance

Firm-Level Litigation Risk: Measurement and Effects, with Benjamin Bennett,  Charles Ham, and Todd Milbourn

• Revise & Resubmit at Management Science

• Presented at the SFI Research Days 2018 Gerzensee, Paris Dauphine University, ESCP Europe Paris, Lancaster University

Paid Leave Pays Off: The Effects of Paid Family Leave on Firm Performance, with Benjamin Bennett, Isil Erel, and Lea Stern

• Revise & Resubmit at Review of Finance

• AFA 2020 San Diego; FIRS 2020 Budapest; EFA 2020 Helsinki; EFMA 2020 Dublin; SFS Cavalcade NA 2021; Weinberg Center Corporate Governance Symposium 2022

• NBER working paper (No. w27788)

• Featured by NBER (November 6, 2020); "GROW THE PIE"

Does Better Access to Disclosure Curb CEO Pay? Evidence from a Modern Information Technology Improvement, with Ilona Babenka, and Benjamin Bennett

• Revise & Resubmit at Journal of Finance

• AFA 2025 San Francisco, Penn-NYU Law and Finance Conference 2025, CICF 2024 Beijing, Drexel Corporate Governance Conference 2024, HKU Summer Finance Workshop 2024, Annual Corporate Finance Conference 2023 Exeter

The Effect of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on Payout Policies: The Role of Corporate Governance, with Ana Albuquerque, Benjamin Bennett, and Petro Lisowsky

• Seminar at Bocconi University, Erasmus University,  University of Colorado, University Carlos III (Madrid), Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance

• Current Research in Taxation  Conference (Portugal) 2024, European Accounting Association 2025 (Rome)

When Loyalty is Optional: The Economics of Corporate Opportunity Waivers and CEO Compensation, with Ilona Babenka, and Benjamin Bennett

Corporate Pension Risk-Taking and Funding Pressure, with Vasso Ioannidou and Roberto Pinto

• Best Paper Award of WFA 2023 San Francisco (Two Sigma award on investment management)

• EFA 2025 Paris (scheduled)

Does Greater Public Scrutiny Hurt a Firm’s Performance?, with Benjamin Bennett and René M. Stulz

• AFA 2024 San Antonio

• NBER working paper; Featured on NBER; Harvard Law School Forum

The Implementation of Central Bank Policy in China: The Roles of Commercial Bank Ownership and CEO Faction Membership, with Michel Habib, Yushi Peng, and Yanjie Wang

• CICF 2023 Shanghai, EWFS 2024 Davos

• Seminars at the University of Melbourne, Deakin University

• CEPR discussion paper (DP17918)

• Interview at VoxTalks

How Executive Compensation Changes In Response to Personal Income Tax Shocks, with Benjamin Bennett and Jeffrey Coles

• AFA 2021 Chicago, FMA 2021 Denver, Drexel Corporate Governance Symposium 2022, BELM seminar series

• Penn State University, Lafayette College, University of Birmingham, Univ of North Texas, UC-Riverside, Stevens Institute of Technology 

Do Informative Stock Prices Simplify Executive Compensation? with Benjamin Bennett,  Gerald Garvey, and Todd Milbourn

• AFA 2020 San Diego

Why Do Firms Use Equity-based Pay? Managerial Compensation and Stock Price Informativeness, with Benjamin Bennett,  Gerald Garvey, and Todd Milbourn

Teaching Experiences

Corporate Financial Strategy (graduate, Lancaster)

Applied Corporate Finance (graduate, Lancaster)

Advanced Corporate Finance II (doctoral AcF857, Lancaster)

Principles of Finance (undergraduate AcF214L, Lancaster)

IPO (undergraduate AcF351b, Lancaster) 

International Finance (undergraduate, Bern) 

Empirical Corporate Finance (graduate, Bern)