Technology and Economics in AI-assisted Markets
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/112441
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Item type: Item , Toward Effective AIGC for Marketing: A Theory-Driven System Design and Empirical Evaluation(2026-01-06) Yang, Bruce; Huang, Junjing; Li, Xiaofan; Qiao, DandanThis paper introduces a theory-driven AIGC (AI-generated content) system for marketing image generation, grounded in visual marketing theory and implemented through structured prompt engineering, AI-based image generation, and a LLM-guided evaluation and selection process. The system employs a multi-agent architecture—comprising prompting, generation, and evaluation agents—to ensure content diversity, product authenticity, and theoretical alignment. Empirical evaluations across Meta Ads and Prolific show that the system significantly outperforms baseline AIGC—which lack theoretical grounding—in marketing effectiveness, and performs competitively with professionally generated content (PGC)—exceeding it in ad engagement while trailing in perceived effectiveness. The system also supports scalable theory validation through automated, controlled image generation. This work offers a practical and theoretically grounded framework for enhancing the reliability, adaptability, and research utility of generative AI in both commercial and academic contexts.Item type: Item , Trade Wars and Digital Transformation: Evidence from China(2026-01-06) Yang, Xinjun; Liu, Haoyuan; Dong, John Qi; Gopal, AnandasivamThis study examines whether geopolitical uncertainty from trade wars, such as the 2018–2019 U.S.–China trade war, motivates firms to undertake digital transformation, and identifies key stakeholders driving this response in China. The research exploits the 2018–2019 trade war as a natural experiment and applies a difference-in-differences analysis on data from publicly listed Chinese firms. The trade war significantly increased firms’ digital transformation efforts. In addition, beyond top management and boards, provincial political leaders with technical backgrounds (technocrats) play a pivotal role in encouraging digital initiatives under geopolitical uncertainty. This study is among the first to link geopolitical uncertainty with increased digital transformation. It introduces a novel text-based measure of digital transformation and highlights the influence of political stakeholders in shaping firm strategy under uncertainty.Item type: Item , Introduction to the Minitrack on Technology and Economics in AI-assisted Markets(2026-01-06) Lee, Gene Moo; Han, Sang Pil; Rui, Huaxia