On January 8, 2024, Faculty of Finance at City University of Macau organized the ninth academic salon (2023-2024) at the Taipa campus. The seminar was hosted by Dr. Ji (George) Wu from Massey University (Albany), New Zealand. Dr. Wu delivered a lecture on his research paper titled "The Labour Market Friction Risk and the Cross-Section of Stock Return in China". The paper documents a robust positive relationship between labour friction beta and expected stock returns in Chinese listed companies from 2001 to 2019. This finding contradicts research results from the US stock market. Further investigation reveals that the positive effect of labour friction is more pronounced in regions with high labor productivity or marketization, due to the severe consequences of labor shortages. Additionally, companies in regions with a higher concentration of manufacturing enterprises exhibit a higher premium for labor friction. The paper demonstrates that labor friction significantly is priced in the returns of stock investment portfolios and enhances the explanatory power of traditional asset pricing models.

Dr. Wu is currently an Associate Professor of Finance at Massey University. His research interests include the Chinese capital market, financial anomalies, empirical asset pricing, and corporate social responsibility. He has published papers in academic journals such as the Journal of Banking & Finance, Energy Economics, Journal of Business Ethics, and Finance Research Letters. The academic salon hosted by Dr. Wu brought valuable academic exchange and discussion to Faculty of Finance at City University of Macau.

The Academic Salon organized by Faculty of Finance at City University of Macau serves as a platform for exchanging academic ideas and fostering academic awareness. With finance as the main focus, we invite senior scholars/experts from academia and the financial industry to engage in research discussions on cutting-edge topics and share industry development trends, aiming to provide a fresh academic experience and thinking model for CityU students and members of the Faculty. Through activities like the Academic Salon, we hope to offer graduate students a better academic platform, encouraging further exploration and research on academic issues.