Wenxuan Hou

• Course Leader for Shareholder Value and ESG (MSc), Financial Development (MSc) and the Dissertation Module (MSc).

Professor Wenxuan Hou (Wen) is Chair and Professor of Corporate Finance at the University of Edinburgh, a position he has held since 2016. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) and Member of the Academia Europaea (MAE). His research examines how historical legacies and institutional structures shape economic governance and political order. He has published on corporate finance, financial development and the institutional determinants of firm behaviour, with work appearing in the Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Financial Intermediation, Journal of Corporate Finance, European Journal of Operational Research, and Journal of Economic Behaviour & Organization, among others. His work also engages the political and civilizational foundations of authority and legitimacy. He has published several books and received multiple awards for teaching and mentorship, including the Award for Excellence in Doctoral Supervision and several Best Teaching Awards.

Professor Hou previously served as Co-Chair of the Young Academy of Scotland (2018-2021) and 30th President of the Chinese Economic Association (UK/Europe). He was Co-Editor of The British Accounting Review (2021–2025), the flagship journal of the British Accounting and Finance Association (ranked top four in Business Finance and top one in Accounting by the 2024 Impact Factor), and Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies (2020–2025), an Oxford-based Q1 journal on sustainable development. He also holds an Honorary Professorship at the University of Cape Town. He received his PhD from University of Manchester and worked at Durham University before joining the University of Edinburgh in 2012.

Professor Hou's research focuses on how institutional, historical, and civilizational structures shape economic governance and collective life. He connects corporate finance with comparative development, exploring how law, culture, and social norms influence firms' access to finance and their responses to technological and environmental change. His work also engages questions of authority, legitimacy, and collective self-understanding across distinct political configurations.

Recent Publications:

• Lu, J., Hou, W., & Main, B. G. (2025). The cultural legacy of historical ethnic violence: The impact on access to finance and innovation. Journal of Financial Intermediation, 61, 101119.
• Liu, X., Hou, W., & Main, B. G. (2024). Military experience and subsequent effectiveness as a director. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 222, 144-176.
• Hou, W., Li, M., Main, B. G., & Liu, X. (2023). Pandemics and financial development: A lesson from the 1918 influenza pandemic. Journal of Corporate Finance, 83, 102498.
• Liu, X., Hou, W., & Main, B. G. (2022). Anti-market sentiment and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from anti-Jewish pogroms. Journal of Corporate Finance, 76, 102260.
• An, J., Hou, W., & Lin, C. (2022). Epidemic disease and financial development. Journal of Financial Economics, 143(1), 332-358.

Professor Hou considers PhD applications in corporate finance, financial development, and related questions concerning the political and institutional foundations of economic order.