Research

Research Interest

• Finance, AI (Artificial Intelligence), Big Data, Network Economics, Portfolio Management, Macroeconomics, Innovation, and Chinese Economy.

Publications 

1. with Junhui Jeff Cai, Yang D. and Zhao L.  "Hierarchical vintage sparse PCA: Discussion of ‘Vintage Factor Analysis with Varimax Performs Statistical Inference.' by Rohe & Zeng"  Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B: Statistical Methodology, 2023.

2.  with Junhui Jeff Cai, Xian Gu, Linda Zhao."State Ownership in China: An Equity Network Perspective", "The Arc of the Chinese Economy", the University of Pennsylvania,  edited by, Hanming Fang and Marshall W. Mayer, Cambridge University Press, 2025

3. Lin William Cong, Tengyuan Liang, Xiao Zhang, ``Textual Factors: A Scalable, Interpretable, and Data-driven Approach to Analyzing Unstructured Information''.(Forthcoming, Management Science, 2025)

4. with Junhui Jeff Cai, Ran Chen, Haipeng Shen, Dan Yang, Linda Zhao, ``Network Regression and Supervised Centrality Estimation''. (Forthcoming, Journal of the American Statistical Association(JASA), 2025)

Papers

1. with Rakesh Vohra, Yiqing Xing,  ``The Network Effects of Agency Conflicts''.  (Reject and Resubmit, American Economic Review)

Keywords: Agency conflicts, Financial networks, Ownership networks, General equilibrium

2. with Franklin Allen , Jeff Junhui Cai , Xian Gu, QJ Jun Qian, Linda Zhao, ``Ownership Networks and Firms Growth - What do Forty Million Firms Tell us about Chinese Economy?'' , (2021 CFRC Best Paper in Finance, Revise and Resubmit, Management Science)

Keywords: Ownership network; Equity capital; Firm growth; Bank credit

3. with Yu Shi, Robert Townsend, ``Tiered Intermediation in Business Groups and Targeted SME Support ''  (Finalist of Best Ph.D Paper , MFA, PHBS-IER Special Issue Conference 2024,CICM 2022, CICF 2021, AEA 2020, MFA 2020, IMF 2019, NAMES 2019, MIT 2019  etc., Revise and Resubmit, Management Science)

Keywords:Tiered intermediation,Equity networks, Equity investment, Investment, Bank credit shock

4. with Jian Chen, Guohao Tang, Guofu Zhou, "ChatGPT and DeepSeek, Can They Predict the Stock Market and Macroeconomy?"  (Submitted)

Keywords: LLMs, ChatGPT, Textual analysis, NLP, Return predictability

5. with Franklin  Allen, Junhui Jeff Cai, Xian Gu, QJ Jun Qian, Linda Zhao, ``Centralization or Decentralization ? the Evolution of State Ownership in China.''   (2021 XiYue Best Paper in CICF, Submitted)

Keywords: state-owned enterprises; state capital; decentralization; ownership network; hierarchical distance.

6. with Yucheng Yang,  ``Networks and Business Cycles''  

Keywords: Business cycles, Innovation networks, Production networks, Sectoral shock, Persistence,

7. with Guofu Zhou ``Link Complexity and Cross-Predictability'' (Finalist of Best Paper in Investment, FMA)

Keywords: Return cross predictability, Citation networks, Information complexity, Link complexity, Limited investor attention

8. with Lin William Cong, Yao Lu, Hanqing Shi, ``Automation-induced Innovation Shift." (2025 CICF Best Paper Award, Submitted)

Keywords: AI, Corporate innovation, Language models, Technology, Robot

9. with Junhui Jeff Cai, Ran Chen, Qitao Huang, Martin Wainwright, Linda Zhao. ``Assortment and Pricing Via Generalized MNL Models with Novel Poisson Arrivals" (INFORMS 2023, 2024 Econometric Society Interdisciplinary Frontiers (ESIF) conference on Economics and AI+ML, INFORMS Annual 2024, Invited Submission)

Keywords: Contextual bandits; Assortment problem; Pricing problems; Reinforcement learning, Customer arrival; On-line decision-making.

10. with Shubo Kou, Minghao Li, Kai Li, ``The Carbon Risk Premium Revisited: Role of the Production Networks.'' (CICF 2025, RED 2025, MRS 2025)

11. with Yuwei Cui, Yao Lu, ``Innovation Networks and M&A"

12. with Lin William Cong ``Divergent LLM Adoption and Heterogeneous Convergence in Research Writing'' (Submitted) (Conference on Frontiers in Machine Learning and Economics: Methods and Applications, Chicago Booth 2025))

Keywords: Generative AI, LLMs, Technology adoption, Writing style.

13. Gobal Minds and Local Gains, (with Hanming Fang, Xian Gu, and Hanyi Yan) ((Conference on Frontiers in Machine Learning and Economics: Methods and Applications, Chicago Booth 2025)

Keywords: AI, LLMs, Innovations, and Talents

14.  Interpretable Factors of Firm Characteristics (with Yuxiao Jiao, Guofu Zhou, Yingzi Zhu, Submitted)

Selected Project in Progress

1.    with Jeff Junhui Cai, Jiacui Li, and Shangjin Wei, ``Competitive Narratives.''

2.    with Junhui Jeff Cai, and Linda Zhao, ``High Dimensional Reinforcement Learning''

3.      with  Junhui Jeff Cai, Fawan Tian,Guofu Zhou, ``Pricing Novelty: A Tale of LLMs''

4.     ``Generative AI for Analysts''

5.    with Qian Wang, `` The Pro-competitive Effect of Vertical Mergers Using Large Invoice Data''

Media Reports

1.     ``Tiered Intermediation in Business Groups", with Robert Townsend and Yu Shi, (VoxChina)

2.      ``Centralization or Decentralization - the Evolution of State Ownership in China", with Franklin Allen, Junhui Jeff Cai, Xian Gu, Jun Qian, Linda Zhao (VoxChina)

3.      ``Centralization or Decentralization - the Evolution of State Ownership in China", with Franklin Allen, Junhui Jeff Cai, Xian Gu, Jun Qian, Linda Zhao (Stanford China Briefs, China's Economy and Institutions )

Academic Services

1. Management Science, Associated Editor (Guest), 2024-

2. Conference Committee, ACM International Conference on AI in Finance, 2024-

3. Committee, SFS (Society for Financial Studies) Cavalcade Asia-Pacific, 2025

Honor and Awards

1. Global Association of Risk Professionals Research Excellence Award (MRS, 2025)

2. 2025 CICF Best Paper Award (China International Conference in Finance, 2025)

3. 2024  清华大学经管学院先进工作者

4. 2023 清华大学经管学院先进工作者

5. 2022  清华大学经管学院学生工作优秀奖(一等奖)

6. 2021 清华大学经管学院学生工作优秀奖(二等奖)

7. 2021 XiYue Best Paper Award in CICF (China International Conference in Finance, 2021)

8. 2021 Best Paper Award in CFRC (China Finance Research Conference, 2021)

9. 2020 Finalist of Best Ph.D. Paper Award in Middlewest Financial Association (MFA, 2020)

10. 2020 Finalist of Best Paper in Investment (Financial Management Association, US, 2020)

11. 2020 Wharton Mack Institute for Innovation Research (Machine Learning, Networks, and Asset Pricing, 2020)

12. 2019 Wharton Global Initiatives Research Grant

13. 2018 Wharton Global Initiatives Research Grant

To students

I hope the following provides insights into my research interests and agenda.

1. On AI, I am super interested in exploring the application of Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Reinforcement Learning in economics, finance, and business decisions which presently constitutes my research focus. I have initiated multiple projects in this regime and welcome students with robust backgrounds in Math, Computer Science, or Statistics. My collaboration spans several disciplines from Finance and Economics to Mathematics, Statistics, Physics, and Computer Science across various institutions. 

2. On Networks, I aim to delve both theoretically and empirically into how the connections among firms, financial, physical, and technological, influence corporate actions, portfolio management, business cycles, and systemic risk. I employ microdata to substantiate the macro narratives. 

3. My expertise also lies in harnessing big data and enormous datasets to unveil micro channels that bolster a vibrant macro picture.

4.  My research to date falls into three domains:

1. The first delves into the tangible and intangible linkages between firms, examining their implications on corporate finance, governance, monetary policy, and the broader economy, an area in which I have a special interest

2. The second explores the employment of statistical learning, deep learning, and reinforcement learning techniques in portfolio or asset management, enriched by regular interdisciplinary discussions with my co-authors from fields like finance, statistics, and computer science across various institutions.

3. The third investigates the interplay between non-structural data (like text, video, and graph) with deep learning and asset management.

My students have been placed in the very top institutions like UPenn Wharton, Princeton, MIT, Morgan Stanley, Jane Street, Ubiquant Investment, Optival etc.,