A rule designed to protect investors may encourage managerial short-termism, to the detriment of firms. This sobering finding comes from a study led by HKUST’s Yan Xiong. According to Xiong and a U.S. colleague, the American government is tying firms’ hands with the requirement to disclose managers’ pay offers. The paper shows how managers become more myopic ... Read More

Is green coffee bean extract a miracle cure for obesity? Are raspberry ketones or saffron extract magic weight loss ingredients? Regardless of the veracity of these claims, the celebrity physician Dr. Mehmet Oz has endorsed those and many products to the viewers of The Dr. Oz Show. This has created “the Oz effect” of increased interest—and may perhaps have ... Read More

Advertising is central to e-commerce. In a world of choice, ads drive consumption by informing consumers about available products. New insights into the influence of online advertising on e-shopping behavior come from a study led by Ralf van der Lans of HKUST. The team used eye-tracking experiments to probe how ad features and site design can help or hinder ... Read More

When confronted with a choice between a lettuce with a “best before” date falling in two days’ time and one in four days’ time, a supermarket customer will typically plump for the latter. This choice puts the product remaining on the shelf one step closer to a clearance sale, or even to the bin. “Waste is substantial in retailing,” note HKUST’s Qing Li and ... Read More

Sell-side financial analysts produce, acquire, and disseminate information, playing an important intermediary role in capital markets. Such analysts typically work alongside other analysts in brokerage houses. However, there is only limited understanding of how they collaborate, as most studies have treated financial analysts as isolated figures. HKUST ... Read More

Gone are the days of small-scale investment - the rise of institutional investors has changed the game completely. In 1950, only 6% of publicly traded US companies were owned by institutional investors, but fast forward to 2017 and that number has skyrocketed to 65%. The "Big Three" - BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street Global Investors - hold a ... Read More