Dear Faculty and Fellow Ph.D. Students,

I cordially invite you to attend my dissertation proposal presentation scheduled for Monday, April 15th, at 3:15PM EST. Location details will be provided once confirmed.

You are also welcome to join remotely via Zoom: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/8196185181.

An overview is included below, and copies of the proposal will be made available upon request.

Best regards,

Fred Hu

Area: Finance

Committee Members: Dr. Sudheer Chava (Chair), Dr. Manasa Gopal, Dr. Rohan Ganduri (Emory University), Dr. Nikhil Paradkar (University of Georgia)

Title: Essays on FinTech, Household Finance and Small Businesses

Dissertation Overview:

Essay 1: Gambling on Crypto Tokens?

We proxy retail investor attention through Google Trends and find that fungible and non-fungible crypto tokens generate greater attention from high-gambling propensity regions.  Crypto attention is higher for more lottery-like tokens and decreases after sports gambling is legalized. Higher token attention is associated with higher fundraising and first-day returns. However, high-attention tokens experience worse long-run returns and are more susceptible to crypto-exchange de-listing. Moreover, consumer credit defaults spike after periods of high crypto attention, especially in the subprime segment. Our findings highlight the characteristics of investors more likely to face crypto losses and underscore a potential role for regulation.

Essay 2: Do Bank Branches Matter for Small Businesses? Evidence from Bank Branch Closings

Using unique small business transaction data, we study how banks’ physical branch presence impacts local small business performance. We instrument exogenous bank branch closings using census tract level exposure to merger-induced branch consolidation. We find that branch closings lead to a decline in local small business sales, lower entry and more exits. The effect is associated with a decline in local small business lending and concentrated in retail and dining services. More importantly, the effect on small business entry diminishes as the number of branches recovers to pre-shock level while the effects on sales and exits last much longer. Our findings shed light on the importance of banks’ physical presence in acquiring soft information and potentially reducing local small business lending friction.

Essay 3: Contagious effect of retail chain bankruptcy on local small businesses during COVID-19 pandemic

This paper studies how bankrupt firms could adversely impact nearby small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using proprietary small merchant transaction data and liquidation events of large retail chains, we find that retail chain closures lead to a higher decline in sales and a higher likelihood of closure of nearby small businesses. Such contagious effect of bankruptcy is associated with a decline in foot traffic and could not solely be explained by deterioration in local economic condition or higher COVID-19 impact. More importantly, the effect lasts for at least one year after COVID-19 lockdown. The effect is more pronounced for smaller firms in retail businesses than food services and is concentrated in economically weaker areas.