Difang Huang

Welcome to my homepage!

• I am an Associate Professor at the Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a Global Affiliate at the HKU Jockey Club Enterprise Sustainability Global Research Institute. Before joining the Chinese Academy of Sciences, I served as a Research Assistant Professor at The University of Hong Kong from 2022 to 2024, working with Prof. Chen Lin. I received my PhD from Monash University in 2022, advised by Prof. Jiti Gao.
• My research focuses on behavioral and experimental economics and finance, with special interest in (1) the risk management of financial intermediation, and (2) human-algorithm interaction in decision-making.

Representative Publications

(1) Risk management of financial intermediation

• A Tale of Two Banks: When Credit Loss Models Meet Economic Crises (w. Chen Chen)
  • Journal of Accounting Research, 2026, 64: 1645-1684.
  • [SSRN] [Internet Appendix] [VoxChina]
• Gender differences in reactions to loan collection mechanisms: A large-scale natural field experiment (w. Leo Bao)
  • Journal of Financial Intermediation, 2026, 67: 101184.
  • [SSRN] [Internet Appendix]
• Effects of lockdowns in shaping socioeconomic behaviors (w. Leo Bao, Jingcun Cao, Lata Gangadharan, and Chen Lin)
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 2024, 121(43): e2405934121.
  • [SSRN] [Replication Files]
  • [Mirage News] [National Tribune] [PHYS] [World Education News]
• How did small business respond to unexpected shocks? Evidence from a natural experiment in China (w. Muzi Chen, Yunlong Wang, Xiaoguang Yang, and Ye Zhou)
  • Journal of Corporate Finance, 2024, 84: 102528.
  • [SSRN] [LSE Business Review]
• Shadow Banking in a Crisis: Evidence from FinTech During COVID-19 (w. Zhengyang Bao)
  • Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 2021, 56(7): 2320-2355.
  • JFQA High Impact Article
  • [SSRN] [Internet Appendix]
  • [JFQA COVID Symposium] [Patrick T. Harker’s Speech] [VoxChina Article] [VoxChina Video]

(2) Human-algorithm interaction in decision-making

• “经济-社会-物理-信息”强耦合系统演化与治理 (与杨晓光合作)
  • 管理科学学报, 2026+.
• 信息-物理-社会系统与数智时代社会治理 (与蔡世民，郝俊，李建平，刘志新，吕琳媛，王芳，王重阳，杨晓光，朱欣怡合作)
  • 中国科学：信息科学, 2026+.
• A large-scale comparison of divergent creativity in humans and large language models (w. Haipeng Shen, Brian Uzzi, and Dawei Wang)
  • Nature Human Behaviour, 2026, 10(3), 531–540.
  • [PsyArxiv] [Replication Files]
  • [ScienMag] [Psychology Today]
• Can Artificial Intelligence Improve Gender Equality? Evidence from a Natural Experiment (w. Leo Bao and Chen Lin)
  • Management Science, 2026, 72(1), 474-494.
  • Special Issue on The Human-Algorithm Connection
  • [SSRN] [Internet Appendix]
  • [LSE Business Review] [The Engineer] [VoxDev]
• Measuring gender and racial biases in large language models: Intersectional evidence from automated resume evaluation (w. Jiafu An, Chen Lin, and Mingzhu Tai)
  • PNAS Nexus, 2025, 4(3): pgaf089.
  • PNAS Nexus High-Impact Research
  • [arXiv] [Replication Files] [VoxDev]
• Reform scientific elections to improve gender equality (w. Zhengyang Bao)
  • Nature Human Behaviour, 2022, 6(4): 478-479.
  • [SSRN] [Replication Files]
  • [Elephant in the lab] [Times Higher Education]

(3) Inference methods for complex and large-scale data

• Bitcoin price extremes and implications for financial regulation (w. Li Chen and Shouyang Wang)
  • Fundamental Research, 2026+.
• Salient air pollution mobilizes bottom-up green engagement: Evidence from the world’s largest green mobile program (w. Jiafu An, Jiawen Huang, Chen Lin)
  • PNAS Nexus, 2026+.
• Semiparametric single-index estimation for average treatment effects (w. Jiti Gao and Tatsushi Oka)
  • Econometric Reviews, 2025, 44(6): 843–885.
  • Chapter 2 of my PhD thesis, Monash University
  • [arXiv] [SSRN]
• Estimating contagion mechanism in global equity market with time-zone effect (w. Boyao Wu and Muzi Chen)
  • Financial Management, 2023, 52(3): 543–572.
  • [arXiv] [SSRN]

Grants

• Principal Investigator, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Excellent Young Scientists Fund, 01/2027-12/2029.
• Principal Investigator, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Young Scientists Fund, 01/2026-12/2028.
• Principal Investigator, Ministry of Science and Technology of China, International Talent Program, 01/2026-12/2028.

Professional Services

• Editorial Board Member: Journal of Business Research / China Finance Review International