On July 1, 2024, at 3:00 pm, the 33rd Forum on Digital Technology and Economic Finance Frontiers was successfully held. The theme of the lecture was "Does Literacy and Language Education Matter for Career Outcomes? Evidence from Sell-Side Security Analysts", and the guest speaker was Professor Hanwen Sun from the School of Management, University of Bath, UK.The lecture was chaired by Professor Yongbin Lv, Vice Dean of the Finance School and Deputy Director of the Innovation and Talent Base for Digital Technology and Finance. More than 30 teachers and students from the School of Finance participated in this lecture.

First, Professor Yongbin Lv, on behalf of the teachers and students of the School of Finance, extended a warm welcome to Associate Professor Hanwen Sun and briefly introduced Associate Professor Sun and her research directions in related fields.

The lecture officially began with Associate Professor Hanwen Sun emphasizing that individual literacy and language education background have a profound impact on personality shaping and social skills. She further pointed out that this influence also extends to career development. By analyzing data from China's syllabus reform, Associate Professor Sun used the difference-in-differences estimation method to reveal an interesting phenomenon: analysts who underwent the reform received more frequent and rapid promotions.

Then, Associate Professor Sun delved into her research findings. She discovered that analysts with improved language abilities used richer vocabulary in their reports, demonstrating more distinctive personality traits, suggesting that enhanced language abilities contribute to better writing skills. The market reacted more strongly to the revised recommendations of these analysts, further confirming the importance of language proficiency in the field of financial analysis. In addition, Associate Professor Sun noted that analysts from southern provinces in China, where Mandarin differs significantly from local dialects, experienced more significant positive impacts on their professional performance due to the syllabus reform.

In summary, Associate Professor Sun Hanwen's lecture not only provided the audience with profound insights into the relationship between language proficiency and the career development of financial professionals but also offered new perspectives and clues for understanding the unintended consequences of language proficiency enhancement for financial professionals. Her research not only enriches our understanding of the importance of language education but also provides valuable references for talent cultivation and career development in the financial industry.

Speaker Introduction

Hanwen Sun is a tenured associate professor in the Department of Accounting and Finance at the School of Management, University of Bath, UK. Her research interests are concentrated on corporate finance and capital markets, encompassing insider trading, short selling, corporate innovation, and information intermediaries. Her research findings have been published in international journals such as Research Policy, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Empirical Finance, and Journal of Accounting and Public Policy. Her research project on insider trading has received funding from the British Academy and other prestigious institutions.

Frontier Forum for Digital Technology and Finance introduction

Recent years have witnessed a dramatic acceleration in a digital revolution in economic sectors and a rapid adoption of the new generation of information technologies, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, big data, etc. These technologies effectively set off the digital economy. It has become a key driving force in creating global economic growth, improving the modernization level of governance capabilities, and promoting high-quality economic development in China. In particular, digital finance is the most important part of the digital economy. To explore the development direction of the cross-integration of digital technology and finance, the Innovation and Talent Base for Digital Technology and Finance is hosting the “Frontier Forum for Digital Technology and Finance”, in collaboration with the School of Finance, Wenlan School of Business, Economics School, School of Information and Safety Engineering, School of Statistics and Mathematics, School of Public Finance and Taxation of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law (ZUEL). This lecture series will invite the well-known scholars at home and abroad in digital technology, digital economy, digital finance, and other related fields as guest speakers, providing an open and cutting-edge academic exchange platform for interdisciplinary research on digital technology and finance.