Topic: Sharing Economy and Entrepreneurship

Speaker: Yifei Mao, Assistant Professor of Finance, SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University

Time: 10:00am-11:30am, June 5

Location: 4-101

Abstract:

Our paper shows that Airbnb—a sharing economy pioneer—has led to the creation of new, local businesses, which have higher survival rates and better performance both at the creation and in the long-run. Airbnb appears to spur new business creations by increasing passive income for landlords and by boosting tourists spending in the local region, leading to higher local income and the creation of more jobs. Our empirical strategy exploits the staggered arrival of Airbnb across counties, an instrumental variable approach for Airbnb penetration, and a case study using the short-term rental restriction in New York.

Speaker Biography:

Yifei Mao is an assistant professor of finance at the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan University School of Hotel Administration. Her research interests focus on issues in empirical corporate finance, particularly topics related to venture capital, entrepreneurship, and innovation. Her research has been published in Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Accounting and Economics, and Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. She has given presentations and held discussions at conferences such as the NBER Summer Institute, the Western Finance Association (WFA) meetings, the American Finance Association (AFA) meetings, the SFS Cavalcade Conference, and others.

Mao received her BA in economics from School of Economics and Management in Tsinghua University, her master's degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and her PhD in finance from Kelley School of Business in Indiana University.