Research

Research Areas

Corporate Governance, FinTech, Financial Institutions, Hedge Funds

Publications

“Influencing Control: Jawboning in Risk Arbitrage,” with Wei Jiang and Danqing Mei, (2017). Journal of Finance 73(6), December 2018.

“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.

“Activist M&A Arbitrage in Acquirers,” with Wei Jiang and Danqing Mei (2018), Finance Research Letters, forthcoming

“The Value of Access to Rail Transit in a Congested City: Evidence from Housing Prices in Beijing,” (2017). Real Estate Economics, forthcoming

Working Papers

“Cryptocurrency Pump-and-Dump Schemes,” with Donghwa Shin and Baolian Wang (2018).

  • Presentations: FDIC

“The Wisdom of Crowds in FinTech: Evidence from Initial Coin Offerings,” with Jongsub Lee and Donghwa Shin (2018).

“The Benefits of Friendship in Hedge Fund Activism,” with Ellen He (2018).

  • Presentations: 4th Conference on Recent Advances in Mutual and Hedge Fund Research (Humboldt & ESMT), EFA, 9th Annual Hedge Fund Research Conference, CEPR Annual Spring Symposium in Financial Economics (Imperial College), Consortium on Institutional Investing and Hedge Funds (Cambridge University), The Role of Hedge Funds and other Collective Investments in the Modern World (Manchester), FMA, FMA Europe
  • Coverage: Seeking Alpha

“Picking Friends Before Picking (Proxy) Fights: How Mutual Fund Voting Shapes Proxy Contests,” with Alon Brav and Wei Jiang (2017), Columbia Business School Research Paper No. 18-16.

  • Presentations: AFA, NBER Corporate Finance Summer Institute, 10th Annual Hedge Fund Research Conference, GSU CEAR-Finance Conference, FTSE World Investment Forum, University of Connecticut Risk Conference, Columbia Law School, Columbia Business School
  • Coverage: Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance

“Investor Ideology,” with Patrick Bolton, Enrichetta Ravina, and Howard Rosenthal (2018), Columbia Business School Research Paper No. 18-21.

 “Seeking Out Non-Public Information: Sell-Side Analysts and the Freedom of Information Act,” with April Klein and Bobo Zhang (2018). R&R at The Accounting Review

  • Presentations: TAU Finance Conference, LBS Accounting Symposium, EFA, American Accounting Association

“Acquiring and Trading on Complex Information: How Hedge Funds Use the Freedom of Information Act,” with April Klein (2015). This paper was 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
  • Winner for the 2015 EFMA Conference Best Paper Award
  • Semi-finalist for the 2015 FMA Conference Best Paper Award
  • Coverage: Barclay’s Insider Report

Fellowships and Honors

  • Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence on the MBA Program, Warwick Business School, 2015
  • INQUIRE Europe Award (€10,000), “Hedge Fund Activism and Big Bears: The Role of Large Short Positions Disclosures.”
  • 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 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 (2018) by Mario Gabelli (Gabelli Partners), with Kate Welling

Selected Media Citations