Alan P. Kwan - HKU Business School

Prof. Alan P. KWAN

金融學

Assistant Professor

2859 1049

apkwan@hku.hk

KK 923

https://sites.google.com/site/alanpaulkwan

Academic & Professional Qualification

PhD, Cornell University
BA, Dartmouth College

Biography

Dr. Alan P. Kwan is an academic currently serving as an Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of Hong Kong. Dr. Kwan’s interest in finance was influenced by years working in the financial industry, including roles at a major global macro hedge fund and a quantitative trading firm specializing in energy markets.

His research focuses on two main themes: regulatory economics, and the economics of intangible capital. In regulatory economics, he aims to understand the implications of regulatory events and laws on financial market participants. His work on intangible capital aims to understand how a firm’s knowledge, technology, and information acquisition create value. To study these, he uses big data and machine learning techniques in collaboration with corporate partners with vast datasets.

He has published a variety of papers in outlets including American Economic Review, Management Science, Science Advances, and the Journal of Financial Quantitative Analysis. He has also presented his research at top selective conferences in his field, including the Western Finance Association, American Finance Association and National Bureau of Economic Research, winning several best prize awards.

Research Interest

Corporate finance
Innovation
Investments
Financial advice

Selected Publications

“Does Regulatory Jurisdiction Affect the Quality of Investment-Adviser Regulation?” with Ben Charoenwong and Tarik Umar, American Economic Review, 109(10), 2019, 3681-3712.
“Social Connections with COVID-19-affected Areas Increase Compliance with Mobility Restrictions” with Ben Charoenwong and Vesa Pursiainen, Science Advances, Nov 2020.
“Crowd-judging on Two-Sided Platforms: An Analysis of In-group Bias” with Alex Yang and Angela Zhang, Management Science, 2023.
“Stress Testing Banks’ Digital Capabilities: Evidence from the Covid-19 Pandemic” with Chen Lin, Mingzhu Tai and Vesa Pursiainen, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 2023.
“Capital Budgeting, Uncertainty and Misallocation” with Ben Charoenwong, Yosuke Kimura, and Eugene Tan, Journal of Financial Economics, Vol 53, 2024, 103779.
“Regtech: Technology-Driven Compliance and its Effects on Profitability, Operations, and Market Structure” with Ben Charoenwong, Zachary Kowaleski and Andrew Sutherland, Journal of Financial Economics, Vol 154, 2024, 103792.
“Bargaining power in the market for intellectual property: Evidence from licensing contract terms” with Gaurav Kankanhalli, Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 21(1), 2024, 109-173.
“The Paradox of Innovation Non-Disclosure: Evidence from Licensing Contracts” with Gaurav Kankanhalli and Kenneth Merkley, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, forthcoming

Recent Publications

1Oct

Prof. Alan P. KWAN

Does Regulatory Jurisdiction Affect the Quality of Investment-Adviser Regulation?

The Dodd-Frank Act shifted regulatory jurisdiction over “midsize” investment advisers from the SEC to state-securities regulators. Client complaints against midsize advisers increased relative to those continuing under SEC oversight by 30 to 40 percent of the unconditional probability. Complaints increasingly cited fiduciary violations and rose more where state regulators had fewer resources. Advisers responding more to weaker oversight had past complaints, were located farther from regulators, faced less competition, had more conflicts of interest, and served primarily less-sophisticated clients. Our results inform optimal regulatory design in markets with informational asymmetries and search frictions.

1 Oct 2019

American Economic Review

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