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. His research spans corporate finance and financial development, with a particular focus on how historical legacies, institutional structures, and social dynamics shape modern economic and financial systems. His recent work examines how trust, culture, and governance influence financial inclusion, innovation, and inequality, drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives from finance, economics, and the social sciences. His research has been published in Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Financial Intermediation, Journal of Corporate Finance, European Journal of Operational Research, Journal of Economic Behaviour & Organization, Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, and Energy Economics, among others. He also 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 is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) and Member of the Academia Europaea (MAE). He 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–April 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–July 2025), an Oxford-based Q1 journal (TMCD, University of Oxford) focusing on sustainable development and UN SDG 17. He also holds an Honorary Professorship at the University of Cape Town. He received his PhD from Manchester Business School and worked at Durham University before joining the University of Edinburgh in 2012.

Professor Hou’s research focuses on how financial systems evolve within their institutional and cultural contexts. He connects corporate finance with comparative development, exploring how law and social norms influence firms' access to finance and their responses to technological and environmental change. 

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.

Potential areas for PhD and MSc/MA supervision include:

• Historical influences on finance – The impact of past socio-political events on corporate finance, financial markets, and development.
• Sustainability and ESG finance – Climate risks, carbon markets, ESG factors, and their role in corporate strategy and investment.
• Fintech and digital finance – AI, digital currencies, alternative finance, and their implications for financial markets.
• Investor behaviour and corporate governance – Institutional ownership, and leadership structures affecting market outcomes.