SPEAKER：Chi-Yang Tsou（曼彻斯特大学 助理教授）

TIME/DATE：2026.5.11  12:00-13:00

CLASSROOM：A505

TENCENT：894174384

PW：723253

LINK：https://meeting.tencent.com/dm/YtzLQjYEwRns

ABSTRACT：

Abstract: This paper studies how financial frictions shape firms’ use of purchase obligations and their implications for equilibrium insurance. Purchase obligations—legally binding, non-cancelable commitments to procure inputs—allow firms to hedge input price risk by stabilizing costs, but also crowd out borrowing capacity by competing for pledgeable resources. We develop a dynamic general equilibrium model in which firms choose capital, borrowing, and purchase obligations under financial constraints and input price uncertainty. The model highlights a trade-off between the insurance value of purchase obligations and their financing cost, and shows that financial frictions generate an endogenous insurance channel. Empirically, we exploit staggered mandatory disclosure of purchase obligations, collateral shocks, and exogenous supply chain disruptions. The evidence supports the model’s predictions: purchase obligations crowd out borrowing capacity, increase with input price uncertainty, and respond less strongly among financially constrained firms.

GUEST BIO：

Chi-Yang Tsou is an Assistant Professor of Finance at Alliance Manchester Business School. He holds a PhD degree from University of Hong Kong. Prior to joining Manchester, he worked at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology as a Postdoctoral Fellow. His research interests are in the areas of theoretical and empirical asset pricing, macro-finance, firm dynamics, and sustainable finance. Overall, his research agenda is to study how corporate finance decisions affect the real economy and financial markets. He has presented his research at all major global finance conferences, including the American Finance Association (AFA) meetings, European Finance Association (EFA) meetings, Financial Intermediation Research Society (FIRS) meetings, Midwest Finance Association (MFA) meetings, SFS Cavalcade meetings, and the Western Finance Association (WFA) meetings. He has published papers entitled “The Pollution Premium” in the Journal of Finance and “Learning and the Capital Age Premium” in the Journal of Monetary Economics.