Overview
Background
Associate Professor Zigan Wang is an economist and interdisciplinary researcher whose work bridges economics, business, and computer science. His research focuses on applied microeconomics, international and environmental economics, political economy, econometrics, and emerging technologies such as computer vision and generative adversarial networks (GANs).
Dr. Wang earned his Ph.D., M.Phil., and M.A. from Columbia University, following a B.A. from Tsinghua University. He has published in leading economics and business journals including Management Science, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Review of Finance, Journal of Econometrics, Journal of International Economics, etc. and leading computer science conferences including CVPR and KDD. His recent work explores international economics, corporate finance, econometrics, statistics, computer vision and knowledge graph. His research has been recognized with multiple awards, including the Bureau van Dijk Prize in Corporate Finance at the UNSW Australian Finance and Banking Conference (2018, 2021) and the Faculty Research Postgraduate Supervision Award at The University of Hong Kong (2021, 2022). Dr. Wang has also secured competitive research grants, such as the Hong Kong General Research Fund (three times) and China National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars.
As an active member of professional societies like the American Economic Association, American Finance Association, European Finance Association, Econometric Society, ACM, and IEEE, Dr. Wang welcomes students interested in interdisciplinary research at the intersection of economics, business and computer science.
Besides his pipeline research on foreign exchange and corporate business management, Associate Professor Zigan Wang's current research interests are mainly as follows:
- Graphical neural network analysis of systematic financial risks in economic networks.
- Analysis of financial data security and privacy computing across financial institutions.
- Computational analysis of business- and genomics-related data.
Availability
- Associate Professor Zigan Wang is:
- Available for supervision
Research impacts
Associate Professor Zigan Wang's research has significantly influenced policy-making, corporate governance, and environmental regulation by providing empirical evidence that informs both public and private sector decisions.
Key Impacts:
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Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation: Dr. Wang's study on the "Real Effects of Share Repurchases Legalization" demonstrated that legalizing share buybacks can lead to reduced capital expenditures and innovation, while temporarily boosting stock prices. This research has been recognized by the Harvard Law School Program on Corporate Governance, highlighting its relevance to corporate policy debates.
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Environmental Policy Enforcement: In collaboration with Amanda Heitz and Youan Wang, Dr. Wang examined how corporate political connections influence environmental regulatory enforcement. The findings, published in Management Science, reveal that politically connected firms often receive more lenient enforcement, raising concerns about regulatory fairness and effectiveness.
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Financial Market Transparency: Dr. Wang's research on short sell disclosure regulations found that increased transparency can reduce information asymmetry in stock lending markets, leading to longer loan durations and decreased information leakage risks. These insights are valuable for regulators aiming to enhance market integrity.
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Technological Innovation and Currency Volatility: His work on the relationship between currency volatility and global technological innovation provides evidence that exchange rate fluctuations can impact R&D investment decisions, influencing innovation outcomes across countries.
Through rigorous empirical analysis, Dr. Wang's research offers actionable insights that aid in the development of more effective policies and business strategies, thereby contributing to economic stability and sustainable growth.
Works
Supervision
Availability
- Associate Professor Zigan Wang is:
- Available for supervision
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Media
Enquiries
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