Yumeng Gao
Yumeng Gao is an Assistant Professor of Finance in the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics at California State University, Northridge. She holds a Ph.D. in Finance from University College Dublin and previously served as Research Director at the Yale Initiative on Sustainable Finance. Her research connects sustainability and corporate finance, centering on whether capital markets price corporate conduct. She studies how a firm's environmental and social behavior shapes its cost of raising capital, and what that behavior means for the returns investors earn by holding it. Her approach is empirical, drawing on large-scale corporate and market data. At CSUN she teaches FIN 359 Quantitative Finance and FIN 491C Seminar in Financial Analysis, with a focus on socially responsible investment and sustainable portfolios.
Education
- Ph.D. 2022, University College Dublin
- M.S. 2016, University of Reading
- B.A. 2015, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Areas of Expertise/Research
- Sustainable Finance
- Responsible Investing
- Climate Risk in Financial Markets
- Corporate Finance
- Cryptocurrency and Derivatives
Selected Publications
- "The ESG Disclosure Premium." The Journal of Portfolio Management, 52(4), 2026, 176–197. https://doi.org/10.3905/jpm.2025.1.805
- "Weathering the Storm: Financial Shocks and Inflationary Pressures from Climate Extremes." Land Economics, 101(4), 2025, 521–549. https://doi.org/10.3368/le.101.4.060723-0051R
- "Do Investors Care About Offsetting Carbon Risk?" The Journal of Portfolio Management, 51(7), 2025,153–173. https://doi.org/10.3905/jpm.2025.1.709
- "Responsible Investing: Upside Potential and Downside Protection?" International Review of Financial Analysis, 97, 2025, 103754. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irfa.2024.103754
- "Virtues of Impact Financing: Do Financial Institutions Benefit from Considering the Environmental Impact on Financing Decisions?" Journal of Environmental Management, 354, 2024,120259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.120259
Honors and Awards
- 2023, Southwest Airlines & Yale University Climate Change Initiative Grant ($50,000).
- 2023, Best Full Paper Award, Financial Management, British Academy of Management Annual Conference.