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Zheng Sun

Zheng Sun

Professor, Paul Merage School of Business

Biography

Zheng Sun, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine. Sun served as Faculty Director of the Master of Finance program from 2017 to 2023. Sun's research focuses on institutional investors and fixed income markets, examining topics such as mutual fund behavior in corporate bond markets, hedge fund performance, and the intersection of investor behavior with market dynamics.

Sun has published in journals including the Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and Management Science. Sun's research has examined institutional demand pressure in loan markets, hedge fund strategy distinctiveness and performance persistence, mutual fund illiquidity in corporate bond markets, and investor learning in asset management. Recent work has explored topics including partisan investment behavior during the pandemic, the role of generative AI in asset management, and the effects of sleep and mental alertness on stock market trading.

Sun received a Ph.D. in Finance from the Stern School of Business at New York University in 2007. Sun has presented research at conferences including the American Finance Association, European Finance Association, and the NBER Summer Institute, and has served on program committees for the Western Finance Association, Northern Finance Association, and Financial Management Association conferences. Sun teaches courses in derivatives and managerial finance at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.

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Education

  • Ph.D. in Finance, Stern School of Business, New York University, 2007
  • M.A. in Economics, Ohio State University, 2001
  • B.A. in Economics, Peking University, 2000
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Distinctions

  • Finalist for the 2006 Lehman Brothers Fellowship for Research Excellence in Finance, 2006
  • New York University Alumni Fellowship, Stern School of Business, 2006-2007
  • Doctoral Fellowship, Stern School of Business, New York University, 2001-2006
  • University Fellowship, The Ohio State University, 2000-2001
  • Excellence in Teaching Awards in MFIN program, Paul Merage School of Business, 2018-2025
  • Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award, UCI, 2011, 2016-2017
  • Student Excellence in Teaching Award, Stern School of Business, 2005
  • Council on Research, Computing & Library Resources (CORCL) Awards, 2011-2012, 2014, 2020-2023, 2025
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Areas of Expertise

  • Financial Markets and Institutions
  • Hedge Fund Performance Persistence
  • Mutual Fund Behavior Patterns
  • Corporate Bond Market Liquidity
  • Generative AI in Asset Management
  • Geopolitical Risk and Equities
  • Passive Investing Market Dynamics

Recent Publications

  • Zheng Sun, Jinfei Sheng, Wanyi Wang, “Partisan Return Gap: The Polarized Stock Market in the Time of a Pandemic”, Management Science, vol. 70, pp. 4953-5625, 2024.
  • Zheng Sun, Lin Sun, Lu Zheng, “The Start Matters: Time-Varying Investor Demand, Hedge Fund Inceptions, and Performance”, Review of Finance, vol. 28, pp. 729-768, 2024.
  • Zheng Sun, Chris Schwarz, “How Fast Do Investors Learn? Asset Management Investors and Bayesian Learning”, Review of Financial Studies, vol. 36, pp. 2397-2430, 2023.
  • Zheng Sun, Hao Jiang, Yi Li, Ashley Wang, “Does mutual fund illiquidity introduce fragility into asset prices? Evidence from the corporate bond market”, Journal of Financial Economics, vol. 143, pp. 277-302, 2022.
  • Zheng Sun, Clemens Sialm, Lu Zheng, “Home Bias and Local Contagion: Evidence from Funds of Hedge Funds”, Review of Financial Studies, vol. 33, pp. 4771-4810, 2020.
  • Zheng Sun, Hao Jiang, “Reaching for Dividends”, Journal of Monetary Economics, vol. 115, pp. 321-338, 2020.
  • Zheng Sun, Ashley Wang, Lu Zheng, “Only Winners in Tough Times Repeat: Hedge Fund Performance Persistence over Different Market Conditions”, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, vol. 53, pp. 2199-2225, 2018.
  • Zheng Sun, Michael Ho, Jack Xin, “Weighted Elastic Net Penalized Mean-Variance Portfolio Design and Computation”, SIAM Journal on Financial Mathematics, vol. 6, pp. 1220-1244, 2015.
  • Zheng Sun, Hao Jiang, “Dispersion in Beliefs among Active Mutual Funds and the Cross-Section of Stock Returns”, Journal of Financial Economics, vol. 114, pp. 341-365, 2014.
  • Zheng Sun, Ashley Wang, Lu Zheng, “The Road Less Traveled: Strategy Distinctiveness and Hedge Fund Performance”, Review of Financial Studies, vol. 25, pp. 96-143, 2012.
  • Zheng Sun, Victoria Ivashina, “Institutional Demand Pressure and Cost of Corporate Loans”, Journal of Financial Economics, vol. 99, pp. 500-522, 2011.
  • Zheng Sun, Victoria Ivashina, “Institutional Stock Trading on Loan Market Information”, Journal of Financial Economics, vol. 100, pp. 284-303, 2011.
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Contact Information

Email: zhengs@uci.edu

Phone: (949) 824-6907

Address: 340 School of Business 2, Paul Merage School of Business

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This profile was created with the help of AI.

Last updated on 4/10/2026.