The Echoes of Muted Political Speech in Financial Speech

The John Gokongwei School of Management invites you to a Brown Bag Session on “The Echoes of Muted Political Speech in Financial Speech". Our presenter is Professor Utpal Bhattacharya, Chair Professor of Finance at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

This will be held on Friday, 17 October 2025 from 12:00 - 1:30PM at the Cabochan Room, SOM 307 and online via Zoom. Please register here: https://bit.ly/jgsombrownbag17oct2025

Brief Description of the Topic:

Does impairment of political speech affect financial speech? We exploit the introduction of the National Security Law (NSL) in Hong Kong in June 2020 to answer this question. We find that after the NSL enactment, compared to foreign analysts covering the same firms, local analysts self-censor their reports. Specifically, when firm-specific bad news hits, local analysts shade up their forecasts, use vaguer language, and respond more slowly to earnings announcements. This pattern is more pronounced for central state-owned enterprises, as negative opinions on their poor performance may be deemed unpatriotic. Markets seem aware of this self-censorship and respond accordingly.

About the Speaker:

Professor Utpal Bhattacharya is Chair Professor of Finance, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong. His research is about the dark side of financial markets. He believes, with apologies to Thomas Jefferson, that "the price of capitalism is eternal vigilance." He has been invited to present his research in more than 250 institutions in 38 countries in 5 continents, and his papers have been featured more than a hundred times in various media across the world, including six times in the Economist. He teaches in a different country or region every summer. He has taught at top universities in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Russia, Taiwan, Turkey, UK, USA (Chicago, Duke and MIT) and Vietnam. His goal is to spread the gospel of honest finance to every corner of the globe.