管理科学系学术讲座（6月19日）

时   间：2025年6月19日（周四） 15:00-16:30

地   点：管理学院思源楼524室

主题：From Red Tape to RegTech: How Do Online Platforms Facilitate Trade Policies?

主讲人：王芷涵 伦敦商学院助理教授

主持人：田林 复旦大学管理学院教授

Abstract: Although the impact of digital services on individual and micro entity decision-making has been well documented, empirical evidence on the effect of digital platforms on the macroeconomy is still rare. Leveraging transaction-level custom data from 2013 to 2017, we quantify the impact of a regulatory technology (RegTech) platform that facilitates value-added tax (VAT) rebates on regional exports in China. Our causal identification relies on the roll-out of the platform and a staggered treatment design. Our empirical results show that the availability of the RegTech platform directly increases regional aggregate export value, the number of transactions, as well as the value per transaction. Further, we utilize the variations in VAT rebate rates for different products to show that RegTech facilitates international trade by reducing the waiting time for VAT rebates. Comparing our estimation result with results in the literature, we find the time delay of VAT rebates accounts for 8-10% loss of the policy effectiveness. Our findings highlight the critical role of RegTech in facilitating cash flows under inefficient public policy implementation.

Bio:

Dr. Zhihan Wang received her PhD from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and will join London Business School as an Assistant Professor in the Management Science and Operations department in August 2025. Her research interests lie at the intersection of empirical operations management, business analytics, and applied microeconomics. Her work spans a variety of application areas, including public sector operations, education, healthcare, and service operations, employing data-driven methods such as causal inference, field experiments, applied machine learning, and natural language processing. Her recent research focuses on identifying and addressing inequities and inefficiencies in education technology, artificial intelligence, childcare, and child welfare systems, with the aim of improving the well-being of younger generations. Prior to her doctoral studies, she received a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Fudan University.