Topic: Sustainable Finance Under Regulation

Speaker: Shiyang Huang, Associate Professor of Finance, The University of Hong Kong

Time: 10:00am-11:30am, March 6

Location: 4-101

Abstract:

We build a model analyzing optimal environmental regulation in the presence of socially responsible investors. Investors care about sustainability of their portfolios but cannot fully resolve the pollution externality. Regulations, such as pollution tax and subsidies to clean firms, reduce dirty firms’ size but also reshape firms’ shareholder compositions. Under the regulations, dirty firms’ shareholders become on average less averse to holding polluting shares and hence these firms are less willing to adopt green technologies. We show that pollution can increase with regulation stringency. Optimal regulations do not always fully correct the externality and can deviate from the Pigouvian benchmark.

Speaker Biography:

Dr. Shiyang HUANG received his Ph.D. degree in finance from the London School of Economics in 2015. He also holds a master degree and a bachelor degree in economics from Tsinghua University. He joined The University of Hong Kong in 2015.

Shiyang’s research agenda focuses on financial economics and empirical asset pricing. He has published research papers in several academic journals including Journal of Financial Economics, Management Science and Journal of Economic Theory. He also won the best paper awards at academic conferences, including Best Paper Award at 7th Melbourne Asset Pricing Meeting, Conference Best Paper Award at China International Conference in Finance of 2019, Best Paper Award at 14th Annual Conference in Financial Economics Research by Eagle Labs (IDC) of 2017, Yihong Xia Best Paper Award at hina International Conference in Finance of 2015, Conference Best Paper Award at Paris December Finance Meeting of 2014, IdR QUANTVALLEY / FdR Quantitative Management Initiative Research Award of 2013.