Research Areas
Corporate Governance, FinTech, Financial Institutions, Hedge Funds
Education
- Ph.D. in Economics, Columbia University, New York, 2013
- M.A. in Statistics, Columbia University, New York, 2008
- M.S. in Architecture and Urban Design, Columbia University, New York, 2005
- Bachelor of Architecture, Tongji University, Shanghai, 2004
Publications
“Social Networks and Hedge Fund Activism,” with Ellen Yazhou He, Review of Finance, forthcoming. Previously circulated under the title “The Benefits of Friendship in Hedge Fund Activism.”
“Consumer Behavior and Food Prices during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Chinese Cities,” with Bixuan Yang and Frank Asche, Economic Inquiry, forthcoming.
“The Wisdom of Crowds in FinTech: Evidence from Initial Coin Offerings,” with Jongsub Lee and Donghwa Shin, Review of Corporate Finance Studies 11(1), 1-46, February 2022 (Editor’s Choice).
- NH Investment & Securities CAFM Conference Best Paper Award, 2018
- Coverage: Duke Law School FinReg Blog, Investopedia
“Investor Ideology,” with Patrick Bolton, Enrichetta Ravina, and Howard Rosenthal, Journal of Financial Economics 137(2), 320-352, August 2020.
- Jensen Prize for Corporate Finance and Organizations, Journal of Financial Economics Best Paper Contest, Second Place, 2020
- Aberdeen Standard Investments Best Paper Prize (ECGI), 2019
- Featured in the SEC’s Proposed Amendments to Proxy Rules for Proxy Voting Advice (2019)
- Data on investors’ ideal points and proposal midpoints are available upon request
“The Long Rise and Quick Fall of Appraisal Arbitrage,” with Wei Jiang and Randall Thomas, Boston University Law Review 100(6), 2133-2177, December 2020.
- Reprinted in Corporate Practice Commentator. Ed. Robert B. Thompson. Thomson Reuters, Vol. 63, No. 3, November 2021.
- Coverage: Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance
“Seeking Out Non-Public Information: Sell-Side Analysts and the Freedom of Information Act,” with April Klein and Bobo Zhang, The Accounting Review 95(1), 233-257, January 2020.
“Influencing Control: Jawboning in Risk Arbitrage,” with Wei Jiang and Danqing Mei, Journal of Finance 73(6), 2635-2675, December 2018.
- Best Paper Award at the FMA Consortium on Activist Investors, Corporate Governance and Hedge Funds, 2015
- Finalist, Crowell Memorial Prize, PanAgora Asset Management, 2016
“Outsourcing Corporate Governance: Conflicts of Interest Within the Proxy Advisory Industry,” Management Science 64(6), 2951-2971, June 2018.
“Appraisal: Shareholder Remedy or Litigation Arbitrage?” with Wei Jiang, Danqing Mei, and Randall Thomas, Journal of Law and Economics 59(3), 697-729, August 2016.
- Coverage: Financial Times, New York Times, New York Times, Bloomberg, Financial Times
“Activist M&A Arbitrage in Acquirers,” with Wei Jiang and Danqing Mei (2018), Finance Research Letters 29, 156-161, June 2019.
“The Value of Access to Rail Transit in a Congested City: Evidence from Housing Prices in Beijing,” Real Estate Economics 48(2), 556-598, Summer 2020.
Working Papers
“How Fragile Are Loan Mutual Funds?” with Mustafa Emin, Christopher James, and Jing Lu (2021). Presentations: NBER Summer Institute, CICF
“Conflicting Objectives between ESG Funds and their Investors,” with Lakshmi Naaraayanan and Kunal Sachdeva (2021). Presentations: Clemson University ESG Conference, CICF, FMA, FMA Europe
“Recontracting CEO Compensation” (2021). Presentations: 12th Financial Markets and Corporate Governance Conference, Business Economics & Law Workshop
“Power Grab: Activists, Short Sellers, and Disagreement,” with Pedro Saffi and Daheng Yang (2021).
- Winner of the INQUIRE Europe Award
- Coverage: Institutional Investor magazine
“Municipal Finance During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” with Jing Lu (2020). Presentations: Virtual Municipal Finance Workshop 2021, AFA Poster, Midwest Finance Association
“Cryptocurrency Pump-and-Dump Schemes,” with Donghwa Shin and Baolian Wang (2019). Revise & Resubmit
- Presentations: SEC, Princeton, Cornell, AEA, LSE Paul Woolley Centre Conference, Crypto Day Conference (Georgetown), GSU FinTech Conference, 2nd Toronto FinTech Conference, Chicago Financial Institutions Conference, 1st Annual Symposium in Financial Economics (ABFER, CEPR and CUHK), CICF
- Coverage: Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog, WIRED, Yahoo Finance, Kenan Insights, CCN, Les Échos (French), Bitcoin News, BTCNN, Bitcoin Exchange Guide, The Crypto Updates, Nakamoto Jedi, EconomicPolicyJournal.com, UF Warrington Newsroom
“Picking Friends Before Picking (Proxy) Fights: How Mutual Fund Voting Shapes Proxy Contests,” with Alon Brav, Wei Jiang, and James Pinnington (2019), Columbia Business School Research Paper No. 18-16; ECGI Finance Working Paper No. 601/2019. Online Appendix. Revise & Resubmit
- Aberdeen Standard Investments Best Paper Prize (ECGI), 2020
- Featured in the SEC’s Proposed Amendments to Proxy Rules for Proxy Voting Advice (2019)
- Presentations: NBER Corporate Finance Summer Institute, AFA, 10th Annual Hedge Fund Research Conference, FTSE World Investment Forum, UVA/ICI Symposium on Mutual Funds and ETFs, Columbia Law School, Columbia Business School
- Coverage: Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance
“Acquiring and Trading on Complex Information: How Hedge Funds Use the Freedom of Information Act,” with April Klein (2015). Previously circulated under the title “Costs and Benefits of Acquiring Information: How Hedge Fund Managers Trade on the Freedom of Information Act.”
- Presentations: EFA, American Law & Economics Association, Annual Hedge Fund Research Conference (Paris), EFMA, FMA
- EFMA Conference Best Paper Award, 2015
- Semi-finalist, FMA Conference Best Paper Award, 2015
- Coverage: Barclay’s Insider Report
Fellowships and Honors
- Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence on the MBA Program, Warwick Business School, 2015.
- The Jensen Prize for Corporate Finance and Organizations, Journal of Financial Economics Best Paper Contest 2020, Second Place: “Investor Ideology.”
- The 2020 Aberdeen Standard Investments Finance Prize (ECGI Working Paper series): “Picking Friends Before Picking (Proxy) Fights: How Mutual Fund Voting Shapes Proxy Contests.”
- The 2019 Aberdeen Standard Investments Finance Prize (ECGI Working Paper series): “Investor Ideology.”
- INQUIRE Europe Award (€10,000), “Power Grab: Activists, Short Sellers, and Disagreement,” 2018.
- Best Paper Award, 2015 European Financial Management Association (EFMA): “Costs and Benefits of Acquiring Information: How Hedge Fund Managers Trade on the Freedom of Information Act.”
- Best Paper Award, 2015 Consortium on Activist Investors, Corporate Governance and Hedge Funds: “Influencing Control: Jawboning in Risk Arbitrage.”
- Finalist, 2016 Crowell Memorial Prize, PanAgora Asset Management: “Influencing Control: Jawboning in Risk Arbitrage.”
- William Kinne Fellows Memorial Traveling Prize, Columbia University, 2005.
Other Publications
- “The Long Rise and Quick Fall of Appraisal Arbitrage,” with Wei Jiang and Randall Thomas, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, March 17, 2020.
- “Comment on Proposed Rule: Amendments to Exemptions from the Proxy Rules for Proxy Voting Advice,” U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, January 30, 2020.
- “How institutional investors’ shareholder voting reflects their ideologies and values,” VoxEU, July 30, 2019.
- “Cryptocurrency Pump-and-Dump Schemes,” Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog, January 7, 2019.
- “Comment on Statement Announcing SEC Staff Roundtable on the Proxy Process,” U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, November 1, 2018.
- “The Rise of Activist Arbitrage,” with Wei Jiang, and Danqing Mei, Chazen Institute Research Brief, Columbia Business School, August 24, 2018.
- “The Wisdom of Crowds in Initial Coin Offerings,” with Jongsub Lee, and Donghwa Shin, Duke Law School FinReg Blog, July 24, 2018.
- “Activist Arbitrage in M&A Acquirers,” with Wei Jiang, and Danqing Mei, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, April 6, 2018.
- “Investor Ideology,” with Patrick Bolton, Enrichetta Ravina, and Howard Rosenthal, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, March 14, 2018.
- “Picking Friends Before Picking (Proxy) Fights: How Mutual Fund Voting Shapes Proxy Contests,” with Alon Brav, and Wei Jiang, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, February 12, 2018.
- “Outsourcing Corporate Governance,” Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, September 18, 2016.
- “Influencing Control: Jawboning in Risk Arbitrage,” with Wei Jiang, and Danqing Mei, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, May 30, 2016.
- “Reforming the Delaware Law to Address Appraisal Arbitrage,” with Wei Jiang, Danqing Mei, and Randall Thomas, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, May 12, 2016.
- “Conflicts of Interest within the Proxy Advisory Industry,” Ethical Boardroom Magazine (London), Winter Edition 2014, pp 94-95.
- “Conflicts of Interest and Competition in the Proxy Advisory Industry,” Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog, December 18, 2013.
Book Review
Merger Masters: Tales of Arbitrage (2018) by Kate Welling and Mario Gabelli (GAMCO Investors, Inc.)
Selected Media Citations
- “GameStop FOMO Inspires a New Wave of Crypto Pump-and-Dumps.” WIRED, May 13, 2021.
- “Big Cat Rescue’s Carole Baskin announces new cryptocurrency and NFTs. Here’s what that means.” Tampa Bay Times, May 6, 2021.
- “Large Short Sellers in the Area? Activist Campaigns Are More Likely to Succeed?” Institutional Investor magazine, April 7, 2021.
- “Should Cryptocurrency “Pump-and-Dump” Schemes be Regulated?” The Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, December 2020.
- “Conflicts of Interest Among Proxy Advisors,” London Business School Centre for Corporate Governance, February 18, 2019.
- “Pump-and-dump schemes detrimental to cryptocurrencies and investors, UF Warrington research finds,” Warrington Newsroom at University of Florida, November 20, 2018.
- “Crypto Pump and Dump Schemes Analyzed by Academics in New Paper,” The Crypto Updates, October 27, 2018.
- “An Academic Study: Dumb Money is Getting Scammed By Cryptocurrency Pump & Dump Schemes,” EconomicPolicyJournal.com, October 31, 2018.
- “University Researchers Analyze Cryptocurrency Pump and Dump Schemes,” Bitcoin Exchange Guide, October 26, 2018.
- “Pump-And-Dump Schemes Pervasive In Cryptocurrency: Scholars Report,” XBT Network, October 26, 2018.
- “Scholars Analyze The Impact of Pump And Dump,” NakamotoJedi.com, October 26, 2018.
- “Arnaques: ces manipulations qui sévissent sur les cryptomonnaies,” Les Échos, October 26, 2018.
- “Anatomy of Pump and Dumps Revealed in a New Study,” Bitcoin News, October 25, 2018.
- “Academics Analyze Crypto Pump and Dump Schemes in New Paper,” CCN, October 25, 2018.
- “Study: Hedge Funds That Break Deals Rather Than Make Deals Make The Big Bucks,” Benzinga, October 7, 2018.
- “Hedge funds in the business of breaking up deals see big payoff, study finds,” CNBC, October 2, 2018.
- “The implications of investor ideology for Delaware’s shareholder ratification doctrine,” Stephen Bainbridge’s Blog on Law, Religion, Politics, and Culture, UCLA School of Law, July 11, 2018.
- “Can Wisdom of Crowds Replace Analysts And Experts During An ICO?” Investopedia, June 29, 2018.
- “Investor Ideology,” International Centre for Pension Management, March 2018.
- “Hedge funds face ‘game over’ for buyout strategy,” Financial Times, December 28, 2017.
- “Appraisal rights: non-traditional shareholder activism,” Aberdeen Asset Management, October 13, 2017.
- “Conflicts of Interest Among Proxy Advisors,” “Access to Finance” blog, Alex Edmans, London Business School, June 18, 2017.
- “Claims from hedge funds cause rise in appraisal actions,” Research News at Vanderbilt University, June 7, 2017.
- “The Powerful Private Regulator and the Effects of Conflicts of Interest,” Pro-Market blog, Stigler Center at Chicago Booth, May 3, 2017.
- “Judges second-guess value established in competitive M&A process,” Financial Times, March 27, 2017.
- “A Judge Decides Fair Value for Dell,” New York Times, page B1, June 7, 2016.
- “Del. Merger Proposals Would Reduce Appraisal Claims: Study,” Bloomberg, May 26, 2016.
- “Delaware Effort to Protect Shareholders May Hurt Them,” New York Times, page B3, May 25, 2016.
- “Hedge Fund Activists Need Friends,” Seeking Alpha, September 9, 2016.
- “Will Appraisal ‘Reform’ Be Successful?” Appraisal Rights Litigation Blog, June 30, 2016.
- “Is Bill Ackman a Good or Bad Activist Investor?” Agenda (Financial Times), May 16, 2016.
- “Appraisal Rights and ‘Risk Arbitrage’” Appraisal Rights Litigation Blog, January 20, 2016.
Conference Committee Service
- Member of the Program Committee for the UF Research Conference on Machine Learning in Finance, 2022
- Member of the Program Committee for the 2022 Crypto and Blockchain Economics Research (CBER) Conference
- Member of the Program Committee for the inaugural Hogeg Blockchain Research Institute Conference, 2021
- Member of the Program Committee for the inaugural Crypto and Blockchain Economics Research (CBER) Conference, 2021
- Member of the Program Committee for the 2021 Florida Finance Conference
- Member of the Best Paper Award Review Committee for the 2020 FMA Conference
- Member of the 2020 Midwest Finance Association Program Committee
- Member of the Program Committee for the 2019 FMA Consortium on Factor Investing
- Member of the 2018 Eastern Finance Association Program Committee
- Member of the Program Committee for the 2018 FMA Consortium on Trading Strategies and Institutional Investing
- Member of the 2017 EFA Program Committee
- Member of the 2017 FMA Program Committee
- Session chair, 2017 Shanghai Fintech Conference
- Member of the Program Committee for the 2014 Frontiers of Finance Conference