Finance PhD | Cornerstone Research | Washington D.C.

yaxuan.wen@cornerstone.com

I am an Associate at Cornerstone Resesarch. We provide economic and financial analysis in commercial litigation and regulatory proceedings.

I hold a PhD in Finance with a research focus in entrepreneurial finance, financial regulation, and securities issuance. Topics of my papers span venture capital, SPACs, IPOs, and treasury auctions. I am trained in finance/micro/macroeconomic theories, financial econometrics, and causal inference methods. I am proficient in Python, SQL, R, Stata, and SAS. I am a certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM).

I would love to connect about my work and ways to collaborate.

Interests
  • Entrepreneurial finance
  • Financial regulation
  • Securities issuance
Education

  • PhD in International Economics and Finance @ Brandeis, 2018-2023

  • BA in Mathematics, Economics @ Bryn Mawr College, 2016

Research

Publications

Retail Investors and the Going Public Decision: SPACs vs. IPOs

        (with Debarshi Nandy) May 2025, Review of Corporate Finance. (link)

Working Papers

How Do Venture Capital Funds Raise Capital? [Best PhD Paper Award FMCG 2023]

         August 2022 (Job Market Paper). (link)

Is Going Public via SPAC Regulatory Arbitrage? A Textual Analysis Approach

        (with Mengnan Zhu) March 2022. (link)

Why Pension Funds Underperform in Treasury Auctions

        (with Patrick Herb) May 2021. (abstract) Draft available upon request.

Teaching

Instructor

Teaching Assistant

  • Transfer Pricing
  • Fixed Income Securities
  • Computer Simulations and Risk Assessment

Email