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Prof. James Si Zeng

Associate Professor

Director, Research Postgraduate Programme

J.S.D. (Yale Law School)
LL.M. (Yale Law School)
LL.M. (Peking University)
LL.B. (Peking University)
B.A. in Economics (Peking University)

Biography

Prof. Zeng works on Corporate Law and Law and Finance in China. His independently authored works have appeared or will appear in highly selective peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Law and Economics, American Journal of Comparative Law, American Business Law Journal, American Bankruptcy Law Journal, International Review of Law and Economics, European Business Organization Law Review, Journal of Environmental Law,  Journal of Corporate Law Studies, Peking University Law Journal(中外法學), Global Law Review(環球法律評論), Political Science and Law(政治與法律), and Hong Kong Law Journal, as well as leading student-edited law reviews such as the Columbia Journal of Asian Law, N.Y.U. Journal of Law and Business, University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, Berkeley Business Law Journal, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, and Review of Banking and Financial Law. His doctoral dissertation, State Ownership as a Substitute for Costly Regulation, was supported by the Oscar M. Reubhausen Fund at Yale Law School and has been published by Cambridge University Press. He has also conducted research on Chinese corporate law supported by the Early Career Scheme and General Research Fund of the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong, China. He is interested in supervising Ph.D. students in the fields of Chinese corporate law, law and economics, and empirical legal studies in China.

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Selected Publications

Selected Conference Articles

  • Judicial Incentives and the Settlement–Litigation Choice in a Hierarchical Legal System: Evidence from China, Journal of Law and Economics (2026 forthcoming).
  • Law and  Algorithm-Dominated Firms, European Business Organizational Law Review (2026 forthcoming).
  • A Legal Theory of State-Owned Enterprises, Cambridge University Press (2026).
  • Judicial Reform and Privatization of State-owned Enterprises: Empirical Evidence from China’s Public-Private Partnership Market, 26 European Business Organization Law Review 623 (2025).
  • Rules Versus Standards in Shareholder Protection Under Chinese Law: A New Taxonomy And Empirical Analysis, 73 American Journal of Comparative Law 536 (2025).
  • Law and Industrial Policy: The East Asian Experience, 58 Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 197 (2025).
  • Regulating Conflict-of-Interest Transactions through Share Buyback Rights(論股東回購請求權對利益衝突交易之規制功能), 4 環球法律評論[Global Law Review] 90 (2024).
  • “Do State-Owned Institutional Investors Care more about ESG? Evidence from China,” Finance Research Letters (2024): 105865. Available at  https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1jYFx_Z7jEuud-.(with Shaoxiang Jiang)
  • Can Chinese Corporate Law Introduce Injunctive Reliefs(我國公司法能否構建禁制令制度), 中國社會科學報[Chinese Social Sciences Today ], Jan. 24, 2024. (reprinted by China Social Science Excellence(人大複印報刊資料)).
  • Structured Judicial Decision-Making and Minority Protection, N.Y.U. Journal of Law and Business (2024 forthcoming)
  • Competing with Leviathan: Law and government ownership in China’s public-private partnership market, 76 International Review of Law and Economics 106166 (2023).
  • Environmental Policy and Compensation in China: An Empirical Analysis of Article Eight of the Chinese Administrative License Law, 34 Journal of Environmental Law 287 (2022).
  • The Faces of Securities Regulation and State Authority: A Comparison between the United States and China, 59 American Business Law Journal 559 (2022).
  • The Case for Disregarding Entity Shielding, 19 Berkeley Business Law Journal 221 (2022).
  • Theoretical Foundation and Legal Design of Enhanced Obligation of Financial Holding Companies(金融控股公司加重責任的理論基礎與制度完善), 319 政治與法律[Political Science and Law] 92 (2021).(reprinted by China Social Science Excellence(人大複印報刊資料))
  • Responsive Regulation of Related-Party Transactions of Listed Corporations(上市公司關聯交易的回應型規制), 33 中外法學[Peking University Law Journal] 1599 (2021). (reprinted by China Social Science Excellence(人大複印報刊資料))
  • Does Regulation of Defensive Tactics with Mandatory Rules Benefit Shareholders? Evidence from Event Studies in China, 66 International Review of Law and Economics 105988 (2021).
  • Entity Shielding and the Rule of “Debts-Follow-Assets” in China: An Empirical Law and Economics Analysis, 95 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 243 (2021).
  • Legal Personality and the Evolution of the Rule of “Debts-Follow-Assets” in China: Complicating the Theory of Interest Group, 50 Hong Kong Law Journal 1133 (2020).
  • The Theoretical Basis for the Rule of “Debts-Follow-Assets”: An Empirical Analysis of Enterprise Investment Cases(“債隨物走”規則的理論基礎是什麼——以企業轉投資案例為焦點的實證研究), 300 政治與法律[Political Science and Law] 116 (2020). (reprinted by China Social Science Excellence(人大複印報刊資料))
  • The Calculus of Shareholders’ Consent: A Constitutional Economics Theory of Corporate Charter Amendment Rules, 41 University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law 429 (2019). Available at:  https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/jil/vol41/iss2/4.
  • The Economic Functions and Legal Restrictions on Partitioning Enterprise Assets (資產分割理論下的企業財產獨立性：經濟功能與法律限制), 31 中外法學[Peking University Law Journal]1357 (2019)(China). (reprinted by China Social Science Excellence(人大複印報刊資料))
  • Regulating Draconian Takeover Defenses with Soft Law: Empirical Evidence from Event Studies in China, 20 European Business Organization Law Review 823 (2019).
  • State Ownership and Regulatory Costs: A Law and Economic Analysis of State-Owned Enterprise in China, 31 Columbia Journal of Asian Law 1 (2017).
  • Internal and External Shareholder Liability in the Financial Industry: A Comparative Approach, 37 Review of Banking and Financial Law 285 (2017).
  • Establishing Land Assembly Districts: A Proposal to Chinese Law on Rural Land Takings, 10 Frontier of Law in China 690 (2015).
  • The Role of Debts Covenants in Creditor Protection under the Law of the United States(美國法上的限制性債務契約制度評析), in 24 公司法評論[Review on Corporate Law] 152, (2014)(China).
  • Defining Equity and Debt Investments Made by Related Parties under Chinese Tax Law(關聯方股權性投資與債權性投資的稅法認定), 4 稅法解釋與判例評註[Tax Law and Case Review] 381 (2013) (China).
  • Comments on EU’s ban on Naked Short CDS(歐盟無實體CDS禁令的法理評析), 85 金融法苑[Financial Law Forum] 233 (2012)(China).
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  • Protection of Private Enterprises under a Developmental Non-Liberal State: The Case Of China, 2022 Annual Conference of American Law and Economics Association (ALEA), Columbia Law School.  
  • Competing with Leviathan: Law and Government Ownership in China’s Public–Private Partnership Market, 2023 Annual Conference of American Law and Economics Association (ALEA), Boston University School of Law.  
  • Algorithm-Owned Firms, 2024 Annual Conference of American Law and Economics Association (ALEA), University of Michigan Law School.
  • Contracting Institutions, Credible Commitment, and Firm Value, 2025 Annual Conference of American Law and Economics Association (ALEA), New York University Law School, 2025 Conference on Empirical Legal Studies (CELS), Georgetown University Law Center. 
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