Abstract:Alternative data has reshaped financial markets, yet it arises outside traditional disclosure channels, beyond market participants’ control. We exploit Apple's App Tracking Transparency as a privacy-driven shock to alternative data generation, revealing a previously overlooked vulnerability in financial markets. The policy weakens the predictive power of mobile traffic for firm performance and mutual ...

Abstract:We study how government venture capital (GVC) investment affects the financial and investment decisions of funded firms using firm-level data from a large commercial bank in China. We find that GVC funding is associated with higher bank borrowing and real investment for funded firms (crowding in rather than crowding out). We do not find the same results for private venture capital (PVC) investment....

Abstract:We investigate the self-serving attributions of negative firm performance (negative earnings surprise) to country risk by the CEOs of cross-listed companies. The SEC’s risk disclosure requirement, introduced to serve the host country investors’ information demand, inadvertently provided an institutional arbitrage opportunity for cross-listed company CEOs to present the country risk as an excuse for ...

Abstract:We study how firms shape on-the-job training along the development path. Using data from over 100 countries, we document that smaller firms consistently offer fewer training opportunities to their workers. Administrative data from China and Mexico show that differences in productivity and labor shares are key determinants of this pattern. We then develop a general equilibrium model in which firm heterogeneity ...

Abstract:This talk explores the opportunities and challenges brought by AI-infused information ecosystems. As online spaces become increasingly saturated with text, images, audio, and synthetic media, understanding how multimodal signals reshape communication is more urgent than ever. In this talk, I discuss recent advances in computational and multimodal analysis in the age of generative AI, and report findings ...