Meet Our Rising Stars – Professor Zou Xin, School of Business
Professor Zou Xin, an Associate Professor in the Department of Accountancy, Economics and Finance, is a recipient of the University Grants Committee’s Early Career Scheme and the General Research Fund. Her research on household finance, e-commerce, sustainability, and digitalisation has been published in leading journals such as the Journal of Financial Economics and Management Science.
The Research Office (RO) sat down with her to discuss her enthusiasms and insights.
RO: Give us a quick overview of your current project
Zou: My current key project, supported by the University’s Rising Star Research Fund, uses reliable monthly panel data to track individuals’ carbon footprints in order to identify the causal impact of a nationwide plastic restriction policy in Chinese Mainland, which bans non-degradable plastic bags and mandates their replacement with biodegradable alternatives that are 67% –-167% more expensive.
Currently, empirical evidence on the effectiveness of plastic bag restrictions remains limited and mixed, largely due to data constraints and the localised nature of most policy interventions. This project contributes to the literature by providing irrefutable evidence of the effectiveness and underlying mechanisms of a national-level plastic bag restriction policy.
RO: What led you to focus on household finance and sustainability?
Zou: My focus on household finance and sustainability has evolved from a long-standing interest in understanding human behaviour. During my undergraduate studies, I pursued psychology alongside economics—a combination that shaped my perspective on how cognitive and behavioural factors influence economic decision-making.
An additional motivation is the rapid digitisation of economic activity, and the growing availability of high-frequency, individual-level data. These developments make it possible to study household behaviour at scale using real-world field data, enabling more precise vb identification of causal mechanisms.
RO: How do you see digitisation and e-commerce changing the landscape of household finance in the coming years?
Zou: Digitisation and e-commerce have already transformed household financial decision-making and will continue to do so in efficient ways. First, they are reshaping the broader economic environment and altering household habits, preferences, and behaviours. The widespread adoption of mobile wallets, QR-code payments, and digital marketplaces changes how households consume, save, and transact, leading to crucial new research questions.
Second, digitisation has dramatically improved the availability and granularity of household- and individual-level data, enabling researchers to move beyond surveys and study real-world financial behaviour using high-frequency, large-scale datasets, and significantly advancing empirical household finance research.
Third, governments, financial institutions, and merchants are actively adapting to and promoting digital technologies. These institutional responses generate improved policy and market settings that allow us to study household behaviour intensively and evaluate the welfare implications of digital financial innovations.
RO: How has HKBU supported your research?
Zou: HKBU provided strong institutional support at an early stage of my career, including internal funding and protected research time, which enabled me to conduct ambitious, data-intensive projects. As my research agenda developed, HKBU continued to offer expanded support through competitive internal grants such as the Rising Star Research Fund, and substantial assistance with external grant applications.
At the School of Business, access to core financial databases and statistical software, frequent academic seminars, and research recognition create a research-friendly environment. HKBU’s professional research communication teams also promote relevant publications to the media, helping extend the impact of my work beyond academia to the general public.
RO: What is the quality you most value in your research team?
Zou: A defining quality of my research team is their intense curiosity, which drives us to identify important and timely questions. We also seek opportunities to access valuable and novel datasets, recognising that high-quality data are foundational to credible empirical research.
In addition, the team fosters a culture of collaboration, rigour, and mutual support. Frequent research discussions, seminars, and informal exchanges provide constructive feedback at multiple stages of a project, which helps to formulate identification strategies and give a more correct interpretation of results. This collegial and intellectually open environment continually motivates me to pursue research that is both academically valuable and methodologically stringent.
RO: Your advice to aspiring researchers?
Zou: Read widely, communicate clearly with other scholars, and think deeply about your projects. At the same time, maintain confidence and a positive mindset. Focus on your own progress and move forward step by step. Above all, take good care of yourself, as your own long-term well-being underpins meaningful, sustainable research.