On June 24, 2025, at 14:30 pm, the 48th Forum on Digital Technology and Economic Finance Frontiers was successfully held. The theme of the lecture was "Government Information Disclosure and Implicit Bond Pricing", and the guest speaker was Assistant Professor Rong Hu from the City University of New York. The lecture was chaired by Associate Professor Ling Jin from the Finance School and the Innovation and  Talent Base for Digital Technology and Finance. More than 30 students attended the lecture.

At the beginning of the lecture, Associate Professor Ling Jin briefly introduced relevant information of Assistant Professor Rong Hu to the participants and expressed his sincere gratitude for his availability to give a lecture at our college despite her busy schedule.

First, Assistant Professor Rong Hu began by examining the phenomenon of implicit guarantees in China's local government financing platform (LGFV) bond market, pointing out that the relationship between government information transparency and bond pricing remains unclear in traditional research. She emphasized that this study uses the implementation of China's information disclosure regulations in 2019 as a quasi-natural experiment, innovatively constructs a research framework, and focuses on analyzing the impact mechanism of government information transparency on implicit bond pricing.

Second, Assistant Professor Rong Hu noted that the strengthening of local government information disclosure has significantly increased the issuance costs of implicit bonds. She deeply analyzed a dual-driving mechanism: on the one hand, improved transparency weakens investors' expectations of implicit government guarantees, bringing bond risk premiums back to their true levels; on the other hand, reduced government financial subsidies to LGFVs lower the platforms' debt repayment capabilities, further exacerbating the rise in premiums. Additionally, Assistant Professor Hu Rong particularly emphasized that although increased financing costs constrain LGFVs' fundraising capabilities in the short term, from a long-term perspective, information disclosure substantially enhances bond market pricing efficiency by eliminating valuation uncertainties.

Next, Assistant Professor Rong Hu proposed optimization paths for regulation. First, continuously improve government information disclosure standards to block distortions of market pricing by implicit guarantees; second, construct a market-oriented financing support system to address LGFVs' financing cost pressures, balancing short-term stability with long-term reform. These findings provide important theoretical support for regulatory decision-making and investor risk assessment.

Finally, teachers and students on-site engaged in in-depth exchanges on topics such as the applicability of information disclosure in resolving regional financial risks and how digital technology can optimize government disclosure efficiency. Participants expressed that they had benefited greatly, noting that the lecture content deepened their understanding of the relationship between government information disclosure and the bond market, and provided significant inspiration for academic research and policy analysis. With this, the lecture concluded successfully.

Speaker Introduction

 Rong Hu is an Assistant Professor in the field of real estate finance at Baruch College, City University of New York. Her primary research areas include real estate finance and economics, empirical corporate finance, and banking. Her research papers have been presented at various international academic conferences on finance and real estate, and published in top journals such as American Economic Review, Management Science, and Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis.

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.