Financial Strategy

Implementing financial sector policies that promote financial inclusion and growth is one of the key goals of developing economies. However, the outcomes are often spatially and temporally uneven. Yan Ji of HKUST and co-researchers develop an innovative model to examine the economic impacts of such policies across space and time, taking as a case study the ... Read More

Historically, businesses with the largest cash flows and capital reserves were the biggest investors—but this is no longer the case. Economists have long struggled to explain why the relationship between corporate investment and cash flow has weakened and even disappeared in the last few decades. Thanks to the pioneering work of HKUST’s Chu Zhang and co ... Read More

Determining the ratio of product price to the marginal cost of production, otherwise known as the markup, is a key question in economics. In terms of the overall economy, markup variation affects the dynamics of inflation, the fluctuation of output and employment over business cycles, and the transmission of macroeconomic policies. At the firm level ... Read More

In general, people lived longer than expected in the last century, largely as a result of economic development and improvements in healthcare. Nevertheless, changes in life expectancy can be rather volatile, with negative shocks occurring from economic recessions, epidemics, natural disasters, wars, and social and political disturbances. In the United States ... Read More

Before providing individual investors with any investment advice or recommendations, financial consultants would usually conduct risk assessments for them in face-to-face meetings. Nevertheless, with the advancement of Fintech, coupled with the enforcement of social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a new trend of having contact-free advising ... Read More

Research at HKUST informs the debate about the benefits of uniform financial regulation across countries and looks into the effects of the financial intermediation in facilitating international trade. By Associate Professor Alminas ZALDOKAS (left) and Assistant Professor Emilio BISETTI, Department of Finance at HKUST Business School International trade ... Read More

Crowdfunding—collecting small donations from a large number of investors—is an increasingly popular way of raising capital, particularly for creative projects. With the rise of crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo, entrepreneurs and small businesses have secured billions of dollars to develop their innovative ideas. However, we still know ... Read More

Currency carry trading is an investment strategy whereby traders invest in high-interest rate currencies and fund in low-interest rate ones. Historically, this trade has generated substantial returns. Typical analysis of the trade has focused predominantly on currencies that yield high interest rate differentials, as the Australian dollar on the long side ... Read More

Debt covenants are an important monitoring mechanism that govern cash-flow rights and control rights between borrowers and lenders. Although it is believed that enforcement and property rights are primary determinants of a firm’s ability to write comprehensive contracts, there is currently little evidence supporting if or how these legal institutions affect ... Read More

Value creation depends on the flexibility which corporate managers have to invest in growth opportunities and to make adaptation under adverse economic conditions. In his talk, Professor Peter Chen will discuss his findings in a cross-country study on how a country’s level of economic freedom affects corporate investment efficiency and shareholders’ wealth ... Read More