Thought Leadership

Key Takeaways Net-zero portfolios (NZPs), managing over $130 trillion USD in assets, align financial performance with climate goals. These portfolios reward firms that actively reduce emissions while excluding those lagging behind, driving market incentives for decarbonization. The study introduces distance to exit (DTE), a forward-looking metric that measures a firm’s risk of exclusion from NZPs based on its carbon footprint and decarbonization efforts. Firms with higher DTEs—seen as safer from exclusion—tend to have higher valuations but lower expected returns, highlighting the market’s pricing of carbon-transition risks. DTE serves as both a risk measure and a catalyst for action, incentivizing firms to accelerate decarbonization to remain in NZPs, while enabling portfolios to achieve up to 95% reductions in carbon intensity without sacrificing sector diversification. Source Publication: 

Key Takeaways The agricultural export value of Brazil has quadrupled over the last two decades due to rising global demand. Brazil’s agricultural export boom drives deforestation: between 1997 and 2019, trade-induced agricultural expansion led to the loss of 3.6 million hectares of forest. Trade-induced deforestation causes severe health consequences: it results in over 700,000 premature deaths, primarily from cardio-respiratory diseases linked to pollution from deforestation in upwind areas. The economic cost of these deaths is estimated at $513 billion USD—about 18% of Brazil’s total agricultural export value during the same period. These findings highlight the negative health impacts of trade-induced deforestation and the resulting regional inequality, because mortality costs and economic benefits are not always shared by the same populations. Source Publication: 

Key Takeaways This study develops a theoretical framework to explore how carbon taxes and financial market tools (e.g., sustainability-linked loans and bonds) interact in reducing carbon emissions. Carbon taxes remain the most effective tool for achieving emission reductions and increasing welfare but are often politically constrained. Carbon-contingent financing provides an alternative incentive for standard agents to adopt green technologies, but its effectiveness depends on the financial resources of environmentally motivated agents who are funding the transition. Although carbon taxes and market-based solutions can coexist, carbon-contingent financing may undermine political support for taxes, potentially reducing their overall effectiveness in addressing emissions. The model’s predictions emphasize the need for a balanced climate strategy, whereby carbon taxes and financial market solutions complement each other by targeting different regions or sectors with distinct characteristics. Source Publication: 

While computer languages may sound alien to economics, I aim to showcase that good programming skills are conducive not limited to economic research, it can also open up endless career possibilities for you in the business world.

As a teacher, I will push myself to understand the expectations of local employers' and the market dynamics of Hong Kong.

As a science person, I am impressed by our students' strong business acumen. But as a teacher, other than teaching them how to use quantitative tools to make scientific claims, I also hope that I can encourage them to continue to stay inquisitive about the world and apply their classroom knowledge for the betterment of the society.

Introducing independent directors into the boards of listed companies is a common practice in international capital markets and is also an important component of corporate governance for A-share listed companies.

This year marks Hong Kong's official entry into the era of the "First Five-Year Plan (2026–2030)." Amid the transition from old to new, this article aims to review the different development paths of the Four Asian Tigers, providing insights and lessons for Hong Kong.

Gambling tax tends to return to the spotlight whenever public finances come under pressure. In this HKEJ column, the authors argue that gambling mainly transfers wealth rather than creating it. A HK$100 lottery ticket produces no new goods or services, and the money could otherwise have been spent on dining or retail. The Hong Kong Jockey Club returned HK$39.3 billion to society in 2025/26, yet research suggests that lower-income groups spend a larger share of their income on betting. The authors conclude that gambling policy should be judged by its net social benefit, not the size of its tax revenue.

A single product photo and a brief text description can now be turned into a short advertising video complete with camera movement, character actions, and background audio. Generative AI for video is reshaping how content is produced, while also giving more small and medium-sized enterprises the chance to experiment with visual creativity that was once prohibitively expensive.

After more than a decade of rapid expansion, China's new energy vehicle industry has maintained the world's leading position in production and sales. However, structural overcapacity has become increasingly prominent.

When “Colleague.skill” went viral in April 2026, it showed how a departing employee’s chats, documents and emails could be distilled into an AI “digital double”. In an article for FT Chinese, Prof. Ping Yu, Associate Professor in Economics, and Dr. Yifei Zhang, Senior Lecturer in Economics at HKU Business School, argue that this overturns a core assumption of labour economics: that human capital leaves with the worker. Once codifiable skills can be copied at near-zero cost, wages will reflect only the tacit judgement that cannot be distilled, and bargaining power weakens. Their advice: work out how much of your pay rewards each, and invest in the latter.

A single product photo and a brief text description can now be turned into a short advertising video complete with camera movement, character actions, and background audio. Generative AI for video is reshaping how content is produced, while also giving more small and medium-sized enterprises the chance to experiment with visual creativity that was once prohibitively expensive.

After more than a decade of rapid expansion, China's new energy vehicle industry has maintained the world's leading position in production and sales. However, structural overcapacity has become increasingly prominent.

Introducing independent directors into the boards of listed companies is a common practice in international capital markets and is also an important component of corporate governance for A-share listed companies.