Title: The Cultural Origin of Household Debt

Speaker: Li Xinming, Tenured Professor, School of Finance, Nankai University; Ph.D. Supervisor; Deputy Secretary of the Communist Youth League Committee; Director of the Academic Development Center; One of the "Top 100 Young Discipline Leaders"; Young Scholar of the Federal Reserve System and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS), USA; Regional Editor of "Research in International Business and Finance" (Banking Section); Editorial Board Member of "Corporate Governance: An International Review". His research fields include banking, corporate finance, financial stability, digital finance, and ESG. He has published more than 20 papers in journals such as "Journal of International Business Studies", "Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis", "Journal of Financial Intermediation", "Journal of Business Ethics", "Journal of Corporate Finance", "Journal of Banking and Finance", "Economic Research Journal" and "Journal of Financial Research". He has presided over and participated in 7 projects including Major Projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Major Projects of the National Social Science Foundation of China, General Projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and Projects of the Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation of the Ministry of Education.

Abstract: Using nationwide mortgage data, we examine how cultural origins influence household leverage in the US. We find that a household’s country of origin can explain up to a 5 percentage point difference in leverage. Using the Global Preference Survey (GPS) to measure cultural origins, we find that most of the GPS culture measures are significantly associated with household leverage. Further analyses of mortgage interest rates and performance suggest that these effects are not driven by supply-side factors. Focusing on census tracts with less than 1% foreign-born population, we find that the effect is not driven by people born outside the US, suggesting that the persistent, slow-moving component of culture drives the results.

Date & time: 25 June 2025, 14:00-16:00

Venue: B321, Zhixin Building, Central Campus, Shandong University