Working papers:

Peer Effect in the Cost of Debt (Job market paper)
Presentations:
  • American Finance Association Ph.D. student poster session (scheduled), Atlanta, Jan. 4-6. 2019
  • CEBRA Annual Meeting 2018 poster session, Frankfurt, Aug. 20-21. 2018 
  • Econometric Society Australasian Meeting, Auckland, July. 4-7. 2018 
  • 2018 Greater China Finance Conference, Xiamen, June. 23-24. 2018 
  • 2018 China Meeting of the Econometric Society, Shanghai, June. 15-17. 2018 
  • Finance Brown Bag, Goethe University Frankfurt, Nov.17. 2017
Abstract: Firms obtain lower syndicated loan rates when borrowing from banks that lent to their peers in previous years. The benefit in loan rates increases with firm and peer group similarity and with firm opacity. To establish a causal interpretation of peer effect in loan pricing, I use class action litigation records and find the benefit diminishes when peers committed financial fraud. The effect is limited only to firms borrowing from banks that had previously lent to fraudulent peers and concentrates on firms that are harder to switch banks, indicating the possibility that banks use peer information deterioration to extract rent.


Local Spillover Effect and Corporate Investment (with Martin Götz)
Abstract: We examine how a firm’s investment behavior affects the investment of a neighboring firm. Economic theory yields ambiguous predictions regarding the direction of firm peer effects and consistent with earlier work, we find that firms display similar investment behavior within an area using OLS analysis. Exploiting time- variation in the rise of U.S. states’ corporate income taxes and utilizing heterogeneity in firms’ exposure to increases in corporate income tax rates, we identify the causal impact of local firms’ investments. Using this as an instrumental variable in a 2SLS estimation, we find that an increases in local firms’ investment reduces the investment of a local peer firm. This effect is more pronounced if local competition among firms is stronger and supports theories that firm investments are strategic substitutes due to competition. 


Board Gender Diversity and Firm Performance: Evidence from Chinese Firms (with Di Lu)
Presentations:
  • American Economic Association poster session (scheduled), Atlanta, Jan. 4-6. 2019 
  • The 1st Global Young Scholars Conference, Shanghai, May. 23-24. 2018
Abstract: This paper exploits a unique historical episode to study the effect of board gender diversity on firm performance using Chinese listed firms. Our identification is based on the differential effect of the education system disruption during China’s Cultural Revolution and the subsequent resumption of national college entrance exam on the supply of male and female directors. Moreover, the Great Chinese Famine and a subsequent baby boom reinforce the differential effect. We employ the evidence that females were more affected during that time and build an instrument variable for board gender diversity. We identify a positive causal effect of gender diversity on firm performance.