Working Papers

1. Measuring Firm-Level Currency Exposure

with Zhenkai Ran

SSRN

Presentation: Monash-Paris-Warwick-Zurich-CEPR Text-as-Data Workshop, 3rd AI in Finance Conference (Dresden University of Technology), KAIST/Korea University K Virtual Finance Seminar, 2026 New Zealand Finance Meeting, 2nd International Workshop on Macroeconomics and Finance, University of Cambridge, Boston University

Abstract: We develop DoEx, a firm-quarter measure of currency exposure, built from how intensively managers and analysts discuss the currency environment—exchange-rate levels, volatility, and the dollar's direction—on quarterly earnings conference calls for 8,294 U.S.-listed firms over 2007–2024. DoEx tracks every major dollar episode of the period and rises with firms' real international footprints, and carries information well beyond alternative currency-exposure proxies, including foreign-sales ratios and return-based FX betas. Firms with higher exposure experience equity-price declines when the dollar appreciates, and they act on this exposure by using more FX derivatives and tilting their borrowing toward non-USD-denominated debt.

Keywords: Currency Exposure, Exchange Rates, Conference Calls, Textual Analysis, Hedging

JEL Classifications: F31, G14, G15, G32.

2. Transmission of Tariff Shocks via Institutional Investors

Second-year Paper, Sole-authored

SSRN

Presentation: CES Annual Conference 2026; MRS 2026 International Risk Conference; IBEFA-WEAI Summer Meeting 2026; Boston University

Abstract: This paper studies whether institutional investors transmit tariff shocks across U.S. firms. I combine dated tariff announcements with pre-announcement shipment links, customer-supplier relationships, institutional holdings, stock returns, and firm-quarter outcomes from 2016 to 2025. Tariff shocks are priced immediately: firms affected through customer spillover effects experience cumulative abnormal returns of -2.51% over [-1,+1] and -5.71% over [0,+5]. Institutional investors subsequently reduce their holdings of these firms. Price-based net flow falls by about 48 million at tariff-announced quarter t, 62 million at t+1, and 60 million at t+2 for customer-spillover firms. The flow response also predicts later firm outcomes. A one-standard-deviation institutional outflow is associated with a 0.028 decline in Tobin's q at t+2 and a 0.008 log-point decline in sales at t+3. Financing adjusts on different margins: firms facing institutional outflows rely more on bank loans, while equity issuance and public bond issuance appear weaker and less systematic. The evidence is strongest for customer spillover effects and more muted for supplier spillover effects. These findings indicate that the transmission of tariff shocks extends from product markets and supply chains to institutional investor demand, with consequences for firm performance and financing beyond the announcement window.

Keywords: U.S. tariff shocks, institutional investors, supply chain, spillover effect, asset prices, firm outcomes

JEL Classification: F13, G11, G15, F14

More papers will come soon! 

Awards & Honors

• Doctoral Fellowships, Questrom School of Business, 2024–2029
• Henry Fok Foundation Fellowship, 2020, 2021
• Rector's Honor List of MUST, 2022
• Outstanding Prize in Macau Economic Paper Competition, 2021
• First Ranking Prize and Fellowship of MUST, Ranking 1/742, 2020, 2021
• Outstanding Graduate of MUST, 2022
• Dean's Honor List, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
• Bloomberg Market Concepts, 2020
• Certificate for First Aid, Faculty of Medicine, MUST, 2019