Finance Seminar（2018-15）

Topic: Spillovers in Asset Prices: The Curious Case of Haunted Houses

Time: Friday, 11 May, 12:10-13:40

Location: Room K01, Guanghua Building 2

Abstract:

Exploiting the unique institutional setting of Hong Kong’s real estate market, we uncover a curious ripple effect of haunted houses on the prices of nearby houses. Prices drop on average 20% for units that become haunted, 5% for units on the same floor, 3% for units in the same block, and 1% for units in the same estate. Our study makes two contributions. First, our results provide an estimate of a large negative spillover on asset prices caused by an idiosyncratic shock to the perceived quality of an asset. Second, since we observe that this ripple effect exists even if the haunted house is not sold, we can isolate the quality channel from the price pressure channel. We find that the quality channel contributes significantly to spillovers in asset prices.

Introduction:

Utpal Bhattacharya is a Professor of Finance in Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Prof. Bhattacharya received his Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, in 1980; an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, in 1982; and his Ph.D. in Finance from Columbia University in 1990. He joined HKUST in 2014.

Prof. Bhattacharya's research is about the dark side of financial markets. He believes, with apologies to Thomas Jefferson, that "the price of capitalism is eternal vigilance." Professor Bhattacharya is the Executive Editor of Financial Management, and was an Associate Editor of the Review of Financial Studies and the Journal of Financial Markets. His publications have appeared in all the top-tier finance journals (Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, The Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis and the Journal of Business), top-tier accounting journals like The Accounting Review, and top-tier economics journals like the Journal of Economic Theory, Journal of Law and Economics and the Journal of Monetary Economics.

Prof. Bhattacharya's research has been featured in full-length stories more than a hundred times in various media across the world, including five times in the Economist . He wrote a satire about the legendary fraudster Madoff in the New York Times . He has been invited to present his research in more than 225 institutions in 35 countries in 5 continents. He wrote a report for and served as a member of the "Task Force to Modernize Securities Regulation in Canada" in 2006. He and his report were featured in a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation investigative story titled "Who Is Guarding Your Money" on November 23, 2008. On December 2, 2008, legislators in Ontario, Canada, discussed this report. On May 16, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission of the U.S. invited him to present the findings of his Journal of Finance paper that documents cross-subsidies in mutual fund families. He is now an official whistleblower.

Prof. Bhattacharya is an excellent teacher. He has been nominated for the Trustee Teaching Award by Indiana University five years in a row. He won in 2004 and 2008. In 2006, Business Week recognized him as a "prominent faculty." Prof. Bhattacharya teaches in a different country every summer. He has taught at top universities in Argentina, Brazil, China, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Russia, Taiwan, Turkey and the USA (Chicago, Duke and MIT.)

Prof. Bhattacharya’s goal is to spread the gospel of honest finance to every corner of the globe.

//ihome.ust.hk/~ubhattac/

Your participation is warmly welcomed!