Research

Abstract: 

Addressing business transparency and disclosure is challenging in developing countries, where such traditional methods as increased enforcement budgets or relying on third-party reporting often fail due to institutional and resource limitations. I leverage a unique setting and a comprehensive administrative database to assess the effectiveness of two technological policy interventions to reduce underreported business income in a developing country. My results show that mandating online Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFDs), which provide regulators with real-time and accurate information on business transactions, increases firms' revenue reporting compliance to tax authorities by at least 13%, an effect that is particularly pronounced among firms that are more exposed to ex-ante regulatory monitoring and enforcement. I also examine the subsequent program, which established direct citizen communication with citizens via a mobile app, where monitoring information about firms’ compliance with technology usage can be shared in return for financial rewards, and find that this policy further increased firms' reported revenues by 34%. In contrast to EFD adoption, the efficacy of this program is concentrated among firms that were less exposed to ex-ante monitoring and enforcement. Taken together, my findings suggest that regulators can fill the oversight gap left by stretched enforcement resources and improve firm-level reporting by using technologies to monitor firms and use technology-enabled citizens as enforcement agents.

Presented at: 

AAA/Deloitte/J.Michael Cook Doctoral Consortium (2023), 35th Annual Accounting Research Conference in Memory of Nicholas Dopuch (2023), North East Universities Development Consortium (2023), Webinar series in Finance and Development - WEFIDEV (2023)

Abstract:

This paper provides evidence that social media exacerbates behavioral biases, induces retail trading more than other known traditional attention-grabbing factors, and is detrimental to investor performance. We document that retail investors underperform at both the transaction and portfolio levels from trades placed on days when a stock has abnormally high levels of discussion on social media. Additionally, we investigate the performance of social media investors in other asset classes, such as cryptocurrency, foreign exchange, and commodities, and find that they underperform across all asset classes. 

Awards: 

Co-winner of the $25,000 Call for Papers Contest by the Brandes Center at the UC San Diego Rady School of Management. Read more here.

Presented at: 

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (2022), Paris Financial Management Conference (2022), HBS Faculty Brownbag (2022), HBS Faculty Symposium Poster Session (2022), Transatlantic Doctoral Conference at LBS (2023), Economics of Financial Technology Conference (2023), the American Accounting Association Annual Meeting (2023), Helsinki Finance Summit (2023), 33rd Annual Conference on Financial Economics and Accounting (2023),  Hawaiʻi Accounting Research Conference (2024, scheduled), The American Finance Association Annual Meeting (2024, scheduled).

In this work in progress, I am exploring a new digital platform, which is reshaping the interaction between retail shareholders and the firms they invest in. This novel and growing interactive platform is integrated into the retail trading brokerage, meaning they verify each retail shareholder’s holdings before allowing them to enter the platform. Before participating firms’ earnings calls, the platform allows verified retail shareholders to pose questions in a simplified process and to vote on other shareholders’ questions. These questions can be answered by firm executives either directly on the platform in text form or during the conference call. Using a dataset encompassing various engagement metrics, first, I am studying determinants of firms’ voluntary inclusion in the platform to engage with retail shareholders. Additionally, I am studying management’s response to retail shareholder engagement and overall informativeness of retail shareholders’ engagement in capital markets. 

Stage: work-in-progress

Published in the  Journal of Government and Economics (2021)

Featured in: Harvard Business School Working Knowledge

Abstract:

We examine whether a country's management of the COVID-19 pandemic relates to the downward biasing of the number of reported deaths from COVID-19. Using deviations from historical averages of the total number of monthly deaths within a country, we find that the probability of underreporting of COVID-related deaths for countries with the most stringent policies was 58.6%, compared to 28.2% for countries with the least stringent policies. Countries with the lowest ex-ante healthcare capacity in terms of the number of available beds underreport deaths by 52.5% on average, compared to 23.1% for countries with the greatest capacity.