Qian Wang

Biography

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Finance at the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue University. My research interests span empirical corporate finance, household finance, real estate finance, and their intersections. I pay special attention to how financial technology and AI applications influence the financial industry and consumer decisions. I am currently on the job market and seeking for a tenure-track position beginning in Fall 2026.

Education

• Ph.D. in Management (Finance), Purdue University, 2019–2026 (expected)
• M.S. in Economics, Purdue University, 2019–2021
• Master of Finance, University of California, Riverside, 2017–2018
• B.A. in Economics, Sun Yat-sen University, 2010–2014

Research Interests

Empirical Corporate Finance, Cost of Capital, Capital Structure, Small Business, Financial Intermediation, Bankruptcy, Corporate Governance, Household Finance, Real Estate Finance, FinTech, AI in Finance

Working Papers

• Negative Capital Shock, Overseas Buyers, and Housing Market (Job Market Paper) SSRN Link
  Abstract: In this paper, I explore the implications of a negative capital shock from China on local housing markets. By leveraging China's implementation of stricter foreign exchange purchase quota management for its citizens as an exogenous negative demand shock on foreign Chinese buyers in the US single-family homes market, my analysis reveals substantial effects on local housing assets. Not only did the volume of house transactions by foreign Chinese buyers significantly decline compared to other foreign ethnicities (Indian and Russian), but house prices also significantly dropped in neighborhoods that are popular among Chinese buyers. However, the magnitude of the price drop is smaller than expected, especially when compared to positive demand shocks of similar magnitude reported in the literature. Additionally, the elasticity of housing supply, as implied by such a negative demand shock, is higher than that reported in existing literature. My findings explain why cross-border restrictions on capital inflows have had limited effects on local house prices and indicate that capital withdrawals by large corporate investors similarly may exert limited impact.
  Selected Presentations: FMA (2025), AREUEA National (2025), MFA (2025), AFA PhD Student Poster Session (2025)

• Where Do Small Firms Get Debt Financing? (with Sergey Chernenko)
  Revise & Resubmit, Journal of Financial Intermediation
  Abstract: We use detailed claim-level data from bankruptcy filings to study the types and sources of debt financing used by small firms. About half of firms in our data borrow from multiple lenders; 29% borrow from both bank and nonbank lenders. Only 29% of firms borrow exclusively from banks. We report detailed descriptive statistics on the types of debt used by small firms: credit cards, lines of credit, receivables financing, equipment financing, mortgages, and term loans. The smallest firms rely more on credit cards, receivables and equipment financing, while larger firms rely more on mortgages and lines of credit. Only half of the loans in our data are associated with UCC financing statements, calling for caution in using UCC filings as a proxy for small business lending. We examine the association between the structure of the local banking markets and the composition and sources of small business debt financing. Deposit concentration is associated with significantly lower share of bank debt, especially credit cards. Firms in counties with high deposit concentration appear to substitute to receivables financing and to mortgages from nonbank lenders. In counties with larger banks, small firms also substitute from bank to nonbank lenders. Finally, we investigate the presence of racial disparities in the utilization of different types and sources of debt financing. Black-owned firms rely significantly less on credit cards and receivables financing and more on mortgages. Asian-owned firms are significantly less likely to get their debt from banks than observably similar white-owned firms.
  Selected Presentations: FMA (2025), FDIC Bank Research Conference (2025), Florida State University Truist Seminar (2024)

• Racial Disparities in Home Sales to Large Investors (with Sergey Chernenko)
  Abstract: By matching self-reported race from voter registration data to property deed records, we find that Black, Hispanic, and Asian homeowners are significantly more likely than White homeowners to sell directly to large buy-to-rent institutional investors. However, only Black homeowners exhibit a higher propensity to sell to iBuyers, while Hispanic and Asian homeowners do not. We also show that access to Black real estate agents in one's neighborhoods mitigates this racial disparity among Black sellers. Moreover, Black homeowners who face larger price discounts in home sales are more inclined to transact directly with both types of large investors. Finally, even after controlling for the cash payment method, both institutional investors and iBuyers pay premiums to minority home sellers, suggesting that their algorithmic pricing strategies help narrow racial price gaps in the housing market, especially for Black sellers.