Research

Research Areas

Banking, Financial Stability, Household Finance

Published and Accepted Papers

Reducing Racial Disparities in Consumer Credit: Evidence from Anonymous Loan Applications
(with Poorya Kabir)
Management Science, accepted for publication.
Paper

Anonymous loan applications reduce racial disparities in access to credit by increasing lender reliance on objective credit risk measures.
Non-technical summary: World Bank All About Finance Blog

Digital Payments and Consumption: Evidence from the 2016 Demonetization in India
(with Sumit Agarwal, Pulak Ghosh, and Jing Li)
Review of Financial Studies, 2024.
RFS Open Access Article | Internet Appendix

Digital payments increase consumer spending due to subdued endowment effects.

Nonperforming Loan Disposals Without Resolution
(with Ben Charoenwong and Meng Miao)
Management Science, 2025.
MS Article | Working Paper

Banks conceal non-performing loans from regulators by devising transfers to designated resolution specialists and yet remaining exposed to the hidden risks.
Replaces “Hidden Non-Performing Loans in China”
Non-technical summaries: World Bank All About Finance Blog | ABFER Research Digest | Twitter Thread
Media coverage: The Economist (1, 2) | The Indian Express | Epsilon Theory

Transient Customer Response to Data Breaches of Their Information
(with Sumit Agarwal, Pulak Ghosh, and Yunqi Zhang)
Management Science, 2024.
MS Article | Working Paper

Consumers react modestly to multiple data breaches we examined, implying that the perceived benefit of convenience overweighs the cost of privacy leakages.
Replaces “Privacy versus Convenience: Customer Response to Data Breaches of Their Information”
Non-technical summary: Twitter Thread

Measuring the probability of a financial crisis
(with Robert F. Engle)
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019.
PNAS Open Access Article | Appendix | Data & Code

We highlight the global externality in the origins of financial crises.
Replaces “How Much SRISK Is Too Much”
Media coverage: Quartz

Selected Working Papers

Size-Based Regulation and Bank Fragility: Evidence from the Wells Fargo Asset Cap
(with Siddharth Vij, updated October 2024)
Paper

Post-GFC heightened regulation on large banks contributed to the rise in fragility of smaller banks revealed by the 2023 regional bank crisis.
Non-technical summary: Twitter Thread
Media coverage: Reuters

Supporting Seniors: How Low-Income Elderly Individuals Respond to a Retirement Support Program
(with Sumit Agarwal, Wenlan Qian, and Bernard Yeung, updated March 2023)
Revise and Resubmit, Management Science
Paper

The Silver Support Scheme, a means-tested elderly support program in Singapore, leads to beneficial additional spending and no strategic behaviors.

Do Saving Tax Incentives Work? Evidence from Home Equity Accumulation and Consumption Responses
(with Sumit Agarwal, Souphala Chomsisengphet, Pulak Ghosh, Changcheng Song, and Man Zhang, substantially revised in January 2025)
Paper

Saving tax incentives increase net private savings by inducing households to cut consumption to fund voluntary savings.

The Economics of Shadow Banking: Lessons from Surrogate Intermediaries in China
(updated March 2018)
Paper

Entrusted loans made by Chinese listed firms to other firms fill the regulation-induced gap in bank loan supply.