The 290th Wenlan Financial Forum

Abstract：

Professor Xiaping Cao, a finance professor at the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, is a leading expert in the field of financial technology, ESG, and technological innovation. He holds a Ph.D. in Finance from Boston College and is concurrently serving as the Chief Advisor for the Hong Kong Education Association, the Chief Advisor for a Singapore green technology company, and the Independent Director for a Nasdaq-listed company. His main research areas are financial technology, ESG, and technological innovation. In recent years, he has published several papers in important academic journals such as the Journal of Financial Economics, Management Science, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Corporate Finance, and Journal of Business Ethics. He also serves as the Associate Editor of the Economic Modelling journal and a guest reviewer for multiple academic journals such as Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Corporate Finance, Review of Finance, and Journal of Finance. His research results have been quoted and reported by Business Week, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, among others.

Speaker Introduction：

We document a cross-border peer effect in corporate investment across two key economies, China and the US. Results show that investment by Chinese firms lags US peers without feedback in the otherdirection. This association is stronger for Chinese firms in manufacturing, with innovative US peers, or experiencing trade pressure, and is robust to diagnostic tests using trade, competitive, and business cycle conditions. Furthermore, Chinese firms respond to domestic competition by learning from US peers. Information acquisitionand managerial career concerns partly explain the peer effect. Our work illustrates how decision-makers in China’s rapidly-growing economy have learned from foreign peers.