Yang Fan

Yang Fan is an economist interested in corporate finance, financial economics, and microeconomics. His scholarship focuses on the intersection of innovation, business strategy, and corporate finance, particularly in investigating how knowledge transfers across companies via informal channels such as shared corporate board members. These hidden channels of knowledge flow often shape how firms innovate, differentiate, and compete, yet they are often overlooked in models of knowledge transfer. Fan also explores board composition, selection of chief executives, and CEO compensation. Recent scholarship investigates the relationship between diversity of board expertise and investment and firm performance, and how firms position themselves in technological space, manage R&D spillovers, and deploy intellectual property strategically. Beyond his scholarship, Fan successfully secured donor funding for Colby’s Wall Street Prep training program so students do not have to pay out of pocket to attend. 

Fan earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in economics from the University of Washington, an M.A. in economics from San Francisco State University, and a B.A. in economics from the University of California, San Diego.