Lirong Liu, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Economics

Lirong Liu is an associate professor of economics at A&M-Commerce and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee. Liu’s research areas include environmental economics, international services trade and economic impact evaluations. She has experience in developing economic models and evaluating the impact of invasive species and diseases related to agriculture. Recently, Liu has conducted several economic impact analyses with foot-and-mouth disease, invasive leafhopper and feral swine. Her research has appeared in various high-impact peer-reviewed journals, including Ecological Economics and the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.

A Conversation with Dr. Liu

What has been your favorite course to teach?

“My favorite courses to teach are quantitative, both at the undergraduate level and graduate level. I am passionate about numbers. I love how the use of statistics can help with decision-making in all areas, including but not limited to business, social science and science. “

Tell us about a project you are currently working on or recently completed.

“I am currently working on evaluating the impacts of feral swine, including the economic impact of feral swine in Texas and the major diseases that feral swine can carry. The project is sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture. It is a cooperative work with them. Such research work can provide an important message for policymakers to know how to better manage and allocate resources for the feral swine issues.”

Educational Background

• Ph.D., Economics, University of Tennessee, 2008
• M.S., Statistics, University of Tennessee, 2008
• M.A., Economics, Kent State University, 2003
• B.A., International Finance, Jilin University, China, 2000

Awards and Honors

• Grant awarded, Cemetery/Golf Course Feral Swine Damage Proposal, USDA-APHIS-Wildlife Services, 2019
• Faculty Fellowship, College of Business, Texas A&M University-Commerce, 2017-2019

Research Interests

• Environmental Economics
• International Economics
• Invasive species and diseases

Selected Publications

• Lirong Liu and Zhou Yang, 2020. Leveraged Enforcement under the EPA's High Priority Violation Policy, Empirical Economics, 58, 179-1304.
• Frannie Miller, Lirong Liu, Steven Shwiff, Stephanie Shwiff, 2019. Macroeconomic impact of foot-and-mouth disease vaccination strategies for an outbreak in the Midwestern United States: A computable general equilibrium, Transboundary, and Emerging Diseases, 66(1), 156-165.
• Lirong Liu, Shiyou Li, Michael Opara, 2018, Corporate Social Responsibility and Company Strategic Behavior: CVS Health's Discontinuation of Tobacco Products, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Environmental Management, 25 (6), 1293-1305.
• Lirong Liu, Srinivas Nippani, and Zhou Yang, 2018, Does Being Placed on the EPA Watch List Impact a Firm’s Stock Market Returns? Southwestern Economic Review, Vol. 45(1), 105-124.

Featured Courses

• ECO 595 Applied Business Research
• ECO 309 Economic Forecasting