Time: Apri 30th 2019, Tuesday, 12:00-13:00

Venue: Tongji Building A Room 201

Topic: Life is Too Short? Bereaved Managers and Investment Decisions

Speaker: Dr. Clark (Yue) Liu（School of Finance，Tsinghua University, Assistant Professor）

Abstract：

We examine whether bereavement affects managerial investment decisions. In two separate samples of actively managed mutual funds and publicly traded firms, we find managers take significantly less risk after deaths in the family. Mutual funds managed by bereaved managers exhibit smaller tracking errors, lower active share measures and higher portfolio weights on larger stocks after bereavement events. Firms managed by bereaved CEOs exhibit lower capital expenditures, fewer acquisitions, and lower CEO ownerships after bereavement events. These long-term effects cannot be explained merely by short-term distraction. The risk-shifting patterns of bereaved managers have negative implications on the performance of mutual funds and firms they manage.

Speaker Introduction：

Dr. Clark (Yue) Liu is currently an Assistant Professor at PBC School of Finance, Tsinghua University and the Deputy Director of Financial Big Data Research Center of Institute for FinTech Research.  He received his bachelor’s degree in economics and finance from the University of Hong Kong and a PhD degree in finance from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.  His main research interests are theoretical and empirical asset pricing, with a focus on trading behavior and market frictions around the world. He also works on several corporate finance topics, including Chinese political economy and corporate governance. His research has been published in leading economics and finance journals including Journal of Empirical Finance, Economics Letters et al.