Jiaqi (Jacky) Yang
Dual PhD Candidate
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
University of Surrey
Research Interests
About
I am a dual PhD candidate at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Surrey Business School, University of Surrey, expected to finish in 2027. My supervisors are Dr Fei Hao and Dr Neil Hengyun Li at PolyU, and Dr Erin Chao Ling and Dr Jason Li Chen at Surrey.
I study how digital technology and public policy change tourism and hospitality markets. I work with three kinds of tools: causal inference for policies that roll out in stages, time-series models, and large language models used as measurement instruments for text, validated before the results are trusted. My PhD looks at how self-service technology changes hotel operations and the guest experience. In 2026 our papers won Best Paper Awards at IATE and CHME.
Before the PhD I earned an MSc in Applied Statistics from Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, a BEcon in Finance from Shanghai University, and a Bachelor of Business with Distinction from the University of Technology Sydney.
I am on the 2026–27 job market for academic positions and for research, data science and quantitative roles in industry. CV: academic · industry. I am happy to hear from you by email.
Publications
View All →The green push: How does China's carbon-emissions trading drive corporate green transformation?
Yang, J., Lai, L.†, Hsu, S.-C., & Wei, H.-H.
Coverage by the carbon market raised firms' green transformation index by about 7% of its sample mean, partly through upgraded human capital and more R&D; the effect was larger for non-state-owned firms and for firms in central and western China.
Working Papers
View All →Beyond tourism boom: Demand-side tourism promotion policies and housing prices
Wang, J., Hao, F., Yang, J.†, & Song, H.
Housing prices rose where the policy applied; the effect appeared only after a few years and worked partly through exposure to tourist flows.
Destination sentiment climate and tourist demand: LLM-based aspect sentiment, avoidance signals, and time-series evidence
Hao, F., Wang, K., Yang, J., & Qiu, X.
Shifts in online sentiment came before changes in how often people said they would avoid the destination, and those came before changes in arrivals.
News
Our paper on China's carbon-emissions trading and corporate green transformation was published in the Journal of Cleaner Production (first author).
Guest seminar on using AI for study and research for Research Methods (MANM386), Surrey Business School, in three sessions for MSc Tourism and Hospitality students.
Added a page on how I use AI in research and software, including the mistakes it makes without any error message (see AI Workflow).
Released open code for the methods I use in research: an econometrics toolkit and a validated LLM text-measurement pipeline (see Projects).
Best Paper Award at IATE 2026, University of Palermo, for “Policy-Induced Tourism Shocks and Local Real Estate: Causal Evidence from Visa Liberalization Policy”.
Overall Best Paper Award and Hospitality Management Best Paper Award at CHME 2026 for “Talking Digitalization: The Automation–Augmentation Paradox in the Tourism Industry”.
Taught a session on AI in digital marketing at the ODOS Digital Summer Camp, Surrey Business School.
Runner Up Award, Surrey Business School PGR Poster Showcase.