Speaker:Dr.Feng Xiangyu, Associate Professor (Gregory and Paula Chow Institute for Studies in Economics, Xiamen University)
Moderator:Dr.Xie Cong, Assistant Professor (China Institute for Economic Research, Liaoning University)
Guest Introduction: Dr.Hou Shangdi, Assistant Professor (China Institute for Economic Research, Liaoning University)
Time:10:00–11:30 (Beijing Time), Friday, April 17, 2026
Venue:First Floor Conference Room, Wuzhouyuan, Chongshan Campus, Liaoning University
Online Access:Tencent Meeting: 536-371-556
Language: Chinese/English
Abstract:This paper examines the impact of demand shocks on firms' technology adoption decisions. Empirically, I document that in economies experiencing permanent positive demand shocks, capital vintages incorporating more advanced technologies diffuse more slowly than older vintages. This finding is difficult to reconcile with standard theories featuring either exogenous adoption costs or endogenous costs arising from production disruption. I then propose a general framework with binary-state Markovian idiosyncratic demand shocks and profit realization lags. Because of the lags in profit realization, adoption costs emerge endogenously when firms choose the optimal timing of adoption to balance short-term loss in profits with expected long-term gains. Under this setup, an asymmetric aggregate demand shock that favors the high-demand state disproportionately increases adoption costs relative to benefits for firms in the high-demand state, creating a disincentive for adoption and enabling the model to generate aggregate technology diffusion patterns that are consistent with the empirical evidence.
Speaker Profile:
Dr. Feng Xiangyu holds a Ph.D. in Economics and is currently an Associate Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the Gregory and Paula Chow Institute for Studies in Economics, Xiamen University. He also serves as an editorial board member of China Economic Issues. His research draws on rich micro-level data, combining rigorous empirical tools with structural models, with a particular focus on the impact of the macroeconomic environment on heterogeneous economic agents. He has produced a series of influential research outcomes. In recent years, Dr. Feng has published multiple papers in internationally renowned journals such as the Journal of Public Economics, The Economic Journal, and the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics. In addition, he has led or participated in several national-level research projects.
