Bo Li

Welcome to my website!

I am a Postdoctoral Fellow in Finance at Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology. I obtained a Ph.D. in Finance at Arizona State University in May 2024.

Profile: Link to my CV

Email: bli96@gatech.edu

Website: https://sites.google.com/view/boli-finance

https://bolifinance.github.io

https://www.boli-finance.com （backup）

Research Interest:

Primary: Real Estate Finance, Household Finance, and Banking

Secondary: Business Cycle and Inequality

Teaching Interest:

FinTech \& Crypto Currencies, Banking \& Crisis, Real Estate, Corporate Finance, Asset Pricing (Investment \& Derivatives), Empirical Methods

Georgia Tech Advisor:

Sudheer Chava. Website. Email: sudheer.chava@scheller.gatech.edu

ASU Dissertation Committee:

Laura Lindsey (chair). Website. Email: laura.lindsey@asu.edu

Oliver Boguth. Website. Email: oliver.boguth@asu.edu

Rawley Heimer. Website. Email: rawley.heimer@asu.edu

JMP: A Unified Credit Expansion Theory of the Housing Cycle with Causal Evidence (SSRN Link)

Three facts about the 1999–2019 U.S. housing cycle present a puzzle: during the boom, income growth and mortgage growth correlate negatively across ZIP codes within metros but positively across metros, and metros with the worst busts recover fastest. I develop a unified credit expansion theory explaining within- and cross-metro patterns across the prior, boom, bust, and recovery periods, with new “double differences” hypotheses. Using a gravity-model instrumental variable, I show credit expansion in private-label mortgages, rather than government-sponsored enterprise mortgages, drives the boom– bust across metropolitan areas. This view, largely independent of speculation, explains the puzzle alongside long-run local fundamentals.

Presentation: ASU PhD Seminar, ASU Browbag, 2024 Eastern Finance Association, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2024 Econ Graduate Students' Conference at WashU, 2025 Financial Management Association Annual Meeting, 2025 Southern Finance Association Annual Meeting, 2026 Southwestern Finance Association Annual Meeting, 2026 Econometric Society North American Summer Meeting.

Bo Li

Research Interest:

Teaching Interest:

JMP: A Unified Credit Expansion Theory of the Housing Cycle with Causal Evidence (SSRN Link)

Space