Yan Lau is a Professorial Lecturer in the Department of Finance and Real Estate in Kogod School of Business at American University.
His research focuses on applied microeconomics, consumer finance, economics of education, and public policy.
He earned his Ph.D. in Economics at Princeton University in 2013 and his B.A. in Economics at Cornell University in 2008.
Prior to joining American University in 2025, he managed research projects and rulemaking initiatives in the Office of Research at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (2022-2025), worked on consumer protection issues in the Bureau of Economics at the Federal Trade Commission (2017-2022), and taught in the Economics Department at Reed College (2013-2017). Originally from Hong Kong, Yan has lived (at various points in time) in Seattle, Singapore, New York, New Jersey and Oregon as well. In his free time, he enjoys attempting new recipes, swimming, vacuuming, and playing with his son.
Does Racial Diversity Improve Academic Outcomes? A Natural Experiment in Higher Education Classrooms
Labour Economics, 2022, Vol. 78, October, Article 102254
[ Also SSRN Working Paper #4173227 ]
Economics at the FTC: Multi‑level Marketing and a Coal Joint Venture (with Marta Wosińska, David Givens, Doug S. Smith, Christopher Taylor & Benjamin Wallace)
Review of Industrial Organization, 2021, Vol. 59, pp. 629-650
The Dragon Cohort of Hong Kong: Traditional Beliefs, Demographics, and Education
Journal of Population Economics, 2019, Vol. 32, Issue 1, pp. 219-246
Are Universities Becoming More Unequal? (with Harvey S. Rosen)
The Review of Higher Education, 2016, Vol. 39, No. 4, pp. 479-514
[ Also NBER Working Paper #21432 ]
Does Standardized Testing Hurt Student Learning? Causal Evidence from a Natural Experiment
Presented at Econometric Society 2017 Asian Meeting
Tournament Incentives Structure and Effort, or The Art of Carrot Dangling
Presented at Society of Labor Economists Annual Conference 2014
Access to Retirement Savings and its Effects on Labor Supply Decisions
Presented at IZA / RIETI Workshop: Changing Demographics and the Labor Market
The Effectiveness of Cram Schools as Inputs of Education Production
Presented at Hong Kong Economic Association 9th Biennial Conference
Accounting for International Differences in Education Inequality
Presented at Western Economics Association 89th Annual Meeting
A Brief Primer on the Economics of Targeted Advertising
FTC Economic Issues Papers, January 2020
Twitter-derived Measures of Sentiment Towards Minorities (2015–2016) and Associations with Low Birth Weight and Preterm Birth in the United States (with Thu T. Nguyen, Hsien-Weng Meng, Sanjeev Sandeep, Matt McCullough, Weijun Yu, Dina Huang & Quynh C. Nguyen)
Computers in Human Behavior, 2018, Vol. 89, pp. 308-315
Discordance in National Estimates of Hypertension Among Young Adults (with Quynh C. Nguyen, Joyce W. Tabor, Pamela P. Entzel, Chirayath Suchindran, Jon M. Hussey, Carolyn T. Halpern, Kathleen M. Harris & Eric A. Whitsel)
Epidemiology, 2011, Vol. 22, Issue 4, pp. 532-541