Zhiyuan Qi

PhD Student in Economics · North Carolina State University

Research

Publications

Do Facial Images Matter? Understanding the Role of Private Information Disclosure in Crowdfunding Markets

Zhiyuan Qi, Dongyu Chen, Jennifer Xu

Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 2022, vol. 54, article 101173.

Abstract

The advancement of the crowdfunding market blurs the boundary of individuals' private and public spheres, but how privacy concerns affect an individual's revealing of private information and how others judge such information revealing is still under limited study. The rapid growth of the debt-based crowdfunding market has provided us with a precious opportunity to examine this problem. Using data collected from debt-based crowdfunding platforms, we find that borrowers of lower socioeconomic status are more likely to disclose their facial image, and those revealing the facial image in their profiles are less likely to default. Voluntary disclosure of private information leads to a lower funding probability in the Chinese debt-based crowdfunding market, while in the US market, we obtain different results. Our results extend the literature on information disclosure by discovering the adverse effect of information revealing on trust-building, suggesting that special caution should be paid when designing information disclosure mechanisms in crowdfunding platforms.

Working Papers

Who Pays for Growth? Evidence from Data Centers and the Grid

Robyn Meeks, Jacquelyn Pless, Zhiyuan Qi, Zhenxuan Wang

2026 · MIT CEEPR Working Paper WP-2026-13

Abstract

Artificial intelligence is driving rapid growth in electricity demand through the expansion of data centers. Meeting this demand requires complementary infrastructure investment, but who pays for that investment depends on the institutions that finance, regulate, and allocate its costs. We study this question by linking facility-level data on data center entry to utility-level data on retail electricity prices, infrastructure investment, operational outcomes, and regulatory rate case proceedings across the United States. Data center entry between 2010 and 2024 increases average retail electricity prices by 2.7%, with effects of 2.1% for residential customers, 2.8% for commercial customers, and 4.2% for industrial customers. These effects are concentrated among investor-owned utilities, where average retail prices rise by 5.6%, while effects are much smaller among publicly-owned utilities and absent among cooperatives. Price increases are also larger in states with deregulated electricity generation. To explain these patterns, we examine utility investment, operations, and rate case outcomes. Data center entry induces real infrastructure and operational responses, including construction work in progress, generation investment, transmission spending, and larger authorized rate bases. But pass-through depends on regulatory environment: vertically integrated utilities in regulated states appear to absorb load growth partly through improved utilization, while utilities in deregulated states exhibit more active cost recovery and greater exposure to system constraints. The results show that the incidence of infrastructure-intensive technological change depends not only on the technology itself, but also on the institutions governing complementary infrastructure investment and cost recovery.

Works in Progress

Zoning the Cloud: The Spatial Incidence of Local Data Center Restrictions

with Zhenxuan Wang

Built to Adapt? Industrial Policy and Resilience to Trade Shocks

Workshops & Conferences

Dec 2026

CESifo-TransforM Workshop on the Economic and Societal Impacts of AI

Oct 2026

Southeastern Workshop on Energy & Environmental Economics & Policy (SWEEEP)

Jun 2026

Nottingham International Trade Summer School

Research Experience

2022 – 2024

Mutual Fund Livestreaming and Investor Behavior

Research Assistant · National School of Development, Peking University & Ant Group

2022 – 2023

COVID-19 Shocks, Consumer Behavior and Micro Businesses

Group Member · Ant Group, Young Leaders in Digital Finance Program

2021

The 14th Five-Year Science and Technology Development Plan of Gusu District

Group Member · Gusu District People’s Government, Suzhou & Soochow University

2020

The Adoption of AI-related Digital Technology and Firms’ Investment Efficiency

Group Member · Soochow University