SDSU Finance Professor Finds Collegial Support as He Researches Partisan Bias Among Investment Firms
SDSU finance professor, Yaoyi Xi.
Research conducted by Yaoyi Xi, finance professor at San Diego State University’s Fowler College of Business and M. Babajide Wintoki of the University of Kansas uncovered evidence indicating that some mutual fund managers tend to put more of their clients’ investment monies into companies who share their political viewpoints. The resulting paper, titled “Partisan Bias in Mutual Fund Portfolios,” appeared in the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis in August 2020 and was recently named as a “High Impact Article” by the journal based on its altmetric scores. “The altmetric score measures the attention a scholarly research article receives,” said Xi who joined SDSU in 2018. “This can include, but is not limited to, attention from other researchers, media coverage or other interest from a broad audience.”
This research is one of numerous papers for Xi that have been published or are in the review process focusing on how the personal characteristics of financial managers or their networks impact their professional decisions. “I became interested in these topics in 2016 when I saw some survey results from the Pew Research Center that found that partisan views significantly influence decisions individuals make in their daily lives,” he said. “To me, finance and economics should be analyzed without partisan bias and this should be especially true among money managers whose job is to objectively form the best investment portfolios for their clients. These findings from the Pew Research Center made me question whether money managers could set aside their political ideologies when investing their clients’ money and — more importantly — what is the implication for the clients when their partisan bias interferes with their professional judgements.”
Xi pointed out that one of the best parts of his job was the support for his research and teaching he receives from his Fowler colleagues which became particularly significant during the pandemic when the classroom experience was moved online. “I found that I shared research interests not only with the faculty in the finance department but also with colleagues in other departments and I’ve been working on projects with them,” said Xi. “The collegial environment became even more important in recent months when we had to move our classes online. I felt entirely comfortable jumping into Zoom question and answer sessions hosted by various Fowler College of Business faculty and staff to ask colleagues for ideas and suggestions about best practices for the virtual delivery of classes.”
Xi has some suggestions of his own to students regarding the best path to success in his classes. “Finance can be a difficult subject, especially for those who are in their first finance course. But I always try to apply topics discussed in class and in the textbook to real-life situations to make my lectures more fun,” he said. “Students who try to do the same thing will become more interested in the topic and they’ll find classes to be more relatable and they’ll learn more efficiently. Many of the students find that classes become much easier once they get a good grasp of basic finance concepts.”
More than anything else, Xi finds that it’s the sharing of knowledge with students that is the most satisfying part of his job. “It’s always so rewarding to hear students telling me how my classes helped them in their careers,” said Xi. “I’m excited to share my knowledge of finance with my students to prepare them for their future endeavors.”
