Professor Liu is an applied microeconomist. His research interests include the role of human capital, technology, and institution in economic growth and development, returns to and investment in human capital (externalities, health, and early childhood development), and economics of crime. His recent studies focus on the causal effects of children’s education on parental health, technology-assisted instruction and learning on student performance, and family environment on cognitive and non-cognitive development and labor market outcomes.  He is a Special-term Professor at the China Center for Human Capital and Labor Market Research, Central University of Finance and Economics. He previously served on the editorial board of China Economic Review and the board of directors of the Chinese Economists Society. Professor Liu also served as the Director of the University at Buffalo Confucius Institute (2017-2021).

• PhD, University at Buffalo
• MBA, University at Buffalo
• BS, Tianjin University

• “Productivity Growth and Firm Ownership: An Analytical and Empirical Investigation” (with I. Ehrlich, G. Gallais-Hamonno, R. Lutter) Journal of Political Economy (1994)
• “Earnings, Education, and Economic Reforms in Urban China” Economic Development and Cultural Change (1998)
• “Sensitivity Analyses of the Deterrence Hypothesis: Let’s Keep the Econ in Econometrics” (with I. Ehrlich) the Journal of Law and Economics (1999)
• “Institution and Inequality: the Hukou System in China” Journal of Comparative Economics(2005)
• “The External Returns to Education: Evidence from Chinese Cities” Journal of Urban Economics(2007)
• “Foreign Direct Investment and Technology Spillovers: Theory and Evidence” Journal of Development Economics (2008)
• “Human Capital Externalities in Cities: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Firms” Journal of Economic Geography (2014)
• “The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment and Human Capital on Economic Growth: Evidence from Chinese Cities” (with Y. Su) China Economic Review (2016)
• “The Role of Entrepreneurial Human Capital as a Driver of Endogenous Economic Growth” (with I. Ehrlich and D. Li) Journal of Human Capital (2017)
• “Children’s Education and Parental Health” American Journal of Health Economics (2021)