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Professor Zhiwu Chen is Chair and Cheng Yu-Tung Professor in Finance at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). Professor Chen currently serves as director of both Hong Kong Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (HKIHSS) and Centre for Quantitative History (CQH). His research covers finance theory, the sociology of finance, economic history, quantitative history, emerging markets, as well as China’s economy and capital markets. Professor Chen was a former Professor of Finance at Yale University (1999-2017) and a Special-Term Visiting Professor at Peking University (School of Economics) and Tsinghua University (School of Social Sciences).
Professor Chen started his career by publishing research papers in top economics and finance journals on topics related to financial markets and theories of asset pricing. Around 2001, he began to expand research beyond mature markets by investigating market development and institution-building issues in the context of China’s transition process and other emerging markets. He successfully led efforts to construct historical financial and social databases from China’s historical archives and has written on economic/social history topics. In 2013, he started the annual Summer School for Quantitative History cum International Symposium on Quantitative History at Tsinghua University and continues to organize them at Peking University, with the goal of promoting quantitative historical research in China and beyond. In 2022, Professor Chen’s Quantitative History of China project was awarded HK$67.32 million (over US$8.5 million) under the Areas of Excellence (AoE) Scheme, marking a new record high for government funding raised for the HKU Business School since its establishment.
Professor Chen has been a member of the HKU Council since November 2018. He is on the board of directors of Noah Holdings, Bairong Inc., and GigaCloud Tech. He also served on the International Advisory Board of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) (2012-19), the Expert Advisory Board for the formation of the China Investment Corporation (2007), and on the board of directors as an independent non-executive director at IDG Energy Investment (2016-18) and Bank of Communications (2010-18); as an independent director at PetroChina (2011-17) and Lord Abbett China (2007-15). He was on the Board of Trustees of the Yale China Association, the 12th and 13th Five-Year Plan Advisory Commission to the Beijing Municipal Government, and the Chief Academic Advisor to two 10-episode CCTV documentary series, “Wall Street” and “Money”. He was a co-founder and partner of Zebra Capital Management from 2001 to 2011. In Burson-Marsteller’s 2012 “G20 Influencers” report, Professor Chen was listed as one of the top ten political influencers in China.
Professor Chen is a frequent contributor to media publications in China on topics of economic policy, market development, institutional reform, and historical research. His work has been widely published and regularly featured in major newspapers and magazines in the United States, Hong Kong, China and many other countries. His Chinese books include: How Is Wealth Created? (2005), Media, Law and Markets (2005), Why are the Chinese Industrious and Yet Not Rich (2008), Irrational Overconfidence (2008), The Logic of Finance (2009), 24 Wealth Lectures (2009), Assessing China’s Economic Growth of the Past 30 Years (2010), On the China Model (2010), The Logic of Finance 2: Path to Individual Freedom (2015), Introduction to Finance (2018) and Introduction to Investment (2019). He has recently published a two-volume long history book in Chinese titled Logic of Civilization, that explores a number of human innovations, including mythology or magic and supernatural beliefs, technologies, social structures, cultural norms, religions, financial markets, and the welfare state. He has received research awards including the Graham and Dodd Award (2013), the Pacesetter Research Award (1999), the Merton Miller Prize (1994), and the Chicago Board Options Exchange Competitive Research Award (1994). He has also received a number of book awards in China and Hong Kong, among which are 23 awards for The Logic of Finance in China and Hong Kong, and the best book award from hexun.com for Why are the Chinese Industrious and Yet Not Rich.
Professor Chen received his PhD in financial economics from Yale University in 1990; MS in systems engineering from Changsha Institute of Technology in 1986; and BS in computer science from Central-South University in 1983. He was Assistant Professor of Finance at University of Wisconsin – Madison (1990-95); Associate Professor of Finance at Ohio State University (1995-99); and Professor of Finance at Yale University. He has been an endowed professor since joining HKU in July 2016. In July 2019, Professor Chen was conferred the title of Chair Professor of Finance in recognition of his contribution to finance.
“The November election pressure may force Biden to be more aggressive on the US-China trade front, as this is one issue that American politicians can win easy points,” said Chen Zhiwu, the chair professor of finance at the University of Hong Kong, after Yellen and her Chinese counterparts failed to address some major issues.
To lessen market volatility, Chinese regulators began implementing measures that affected quantitative trading strategies. These included rejecting requests to short sell, conducting on-site reviews of trading operations, and temporarily halting transaction capabilities for some firms. The restrictions had a negative impact on funds that relied on algorithmic models as they prevented executions, recalled loaned shares, and introduced unpredictability that computer systems had not anticipated. As a result, these funds experienced performance disparities when compared to wider benchmarks. Prof. Zhiwu Chen, Chair Professor of Finance at HKU Business School, shared his views on A-share market regulation in an interview with Bloomberg.
Chen Zhiwu, chair professor of finance at the University of Hong Kong, compared China’s new housing strategy to the way Beijing uses its so-called “national team” of state funds to buy equities to try to prop up the depressed stock market. Such efforts have often failed to sustainably bolster the market. Using government money to buy up distressed real estate would be no different, he said, given the country’s demographic challenges and supply glut. Government interventions could also raise uncomfortable questions about social fairness, he said. Buying properties from existing homeowners or developers when the market is weak would amount to using national resources to subsidize owners who have the flexibility to sell, when others don’t, he said. “It turns into an issue of wealth distribution,” he said. “Not everyone in China owns multiple apartments, nor are they ready to sell.”
Chen Zhiwu, chair professor of finance at the University of Hong Kong, said “The biggest deflation factor is the high sense of insecurity among businesspeople, private firms and officials”. He said “No one feels really secure about tomorrow.”
Chen Zhiwu, a chair professor of finance at the University of Hong Kong, said headwinds such as risks of a global recession and US-China tensions would continue to exert “extraordinary pressures” on China’s hi-tech push. “The US tech war has largely thwarted Chinese tech companies’ [initial public offering] opportunities. Even if these tech manufacturers succeed in going public, the potential sanctions would affect their market valuations,” said Chen. He added China’s weak economic momentum is also weighing on the market’s overall willingness to invest, with hi-tech manufacturing just one element. “The rapid development of hi-tech industries over the past 20 years has provided China with a massive boost to its economic boom, this was partly due to the impact of a stable external environment on investor confidence,” Chen said.
Chen Zhiwu, chair professor of finance at the University of Hong Kong, said restoring confidence would be key, but that it would take much more than just talk. “The really useful and meaningful way to boost household and private business confidence is to depoliticise both economic policymaking and the business sector,” he said. “Otherwise, the ‘3D’ challenges – deflation, debt and deleveraging – will continue.”
出书，演讲，评论，他观察中国，也参与中国，溶金融逻辑于中国水土。在资本的海洋中，他俯身细看数字背后的人文，用简洁的经济学语言，解释文明演进与社会建构。他谈理想宏愿，唯万家灯火，是其经济学思想的倒影，仍未倦，且驻讲台，传道授业解惑。在东西方思想交汇处，他笃定，做两者的桥梁。
China only entered the investment banking and fund management game in the 1990s, more than two centuries after Wall Street, said Chen Zhiwu, chair professor of finance at the University of Hong Kong.
Chen Zhiwu, chair professor of finance at the University of Hong Kong, said the pause by the US Federal Reserve, and possible cuts, could be positive for China’s exports but not its financial markets. “The news means more US stock market and bond market upsides in the coming years, possibly luring more capital out from China,” said Chen, adding the US economy could continue to cool further but is unlikely to slip into a serious recession.
"It's definitely in the government's interest to ensure maximum data reliability" said Chen Zhiwu, a finance professor at the University of Hong Kong.
