Ta-Chung Liu (; October 27, 1914 – August 14, 1975) was a

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans have ancestors from mainland China, Hong Kong ...

economist and econometrician. He was a professor of economics at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

and

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

. During his time at Cornell, he mentored Robert F. Engle, an econometrician who later won the

Nobel Prize in Economics The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (), commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics(), is an award in the field of economic sciences adminis ...

. He was also an influential advisor to the Taiwanese government on economic policy. He was awarded the

Order of Brilliant Star Order of Brilliant Star () is a civilian order of the Republic of China (Taiwan) recognizing outstanding contributions to the development of the nation. The order is instituted in 1941 and can be awarded to both domestic and foreign nationals. ...

, second rank, for his contributions to the country's development.

Biography

Born in

Peking Beijing, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's most populous national capital city as well as China's second largest city by urban area after Shanghai. It is l ...

on October 27, 1914, he earned a degree in

civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

from the Chiao Tung University () in 1936. He initially went to

to study railway engineering. Influenced by

Fritz Machlup Fritz Machlup (; ; born Friedrich Eduard Machlup; December 15, 1902 – January 30, 1983) was an Austrian-American economist known for his work in information economics. He was President of the International Economic Association from 1971 to 19 ...

, he switched to economics. Liu earned a PhD degree in 1940 under Donald English. His dissertation was titled ''A Study in the Theory of Planning by the Individual Firm under Dynamic Conditions''. In 1947 he went back to Peking to work as professor of economics at

National Tsing Hua University National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) is a public research university in Hsinchu, Taiwan. It was first founded in Beijing. After the Chinese Civil War, president Mei Yiqi and other academics relocated with the retreating Nationalist government to ...

. He left China again in 1948 to avoid the

communist revolution A communist revolution is a proletarian revolution inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism. Depending on the type of government, the term socialism can be used to indicate an intermediate stage between ...

and

Chinese Civil war The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

. He was a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University until 1958. In the 1950s and 60s, Liu criticized the "

Cowles Commission The Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics is an economic research institute at Yale University. History It was created as the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics at Colorado Springs in 1932 by businessman and economist Alfred Cow ...

method" of structural equation modelling and advocated

reduced form In statistics, and particularly in econometrics, the reduced form of a simultaneous equations model, system of equations is the result of solving the system for the endogenous variables. This gives the latter as functions of the exogenous variables, ...

estimation instead, foreshadowing

Christopher Sims Christopher Albert Sims (born October 21, 1942) is an American econometrician and macroeconomist. He is currently the John J.F. Sherrerd '52 University Professor of Economics at Princeton University. Together with Thomas Sargent, he won the N ...

' VAR method of 1980. Both Liu and his wife committed suicide in 1975. He died at the Tompkins County Hospital in Ithaca, New York on August 14, 1975. A book, ''Quantitative Economics and Development: Essays in Memory of Ta-Chung Liu'', was published in his honor by his colleagues.

Taiwanese economics

Liu had a close working relationship with the government of Taiwan, and high ranking members of politics consulted him on economic policy. He served for several years as President Chiang Kai-shek's chief economic adviser in the 1960s. Together with his colleague at Cornell Sho-Chieh Tsiang, he advocated against central planning and for creating an environment that encouraged private enterprises to compete on world markets. Liu took a leave from Cornell University in the 1969 academic year to serve as chairman of the Commission for Tax Reform for the Taiwanese Government. He also helped establish the first PhD program in Economics at

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; zh, t=國立臺灣大學, poj=Kok-li̍p Tâi-oân Tāi-ha̍k, p=, s=) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. Founded in 1928 during Taiwan under J ...

Works

Books

* ''Analysis of stresses in railway track'', 1937 * ''Manufacturing Production Functions in the United States'' (with George H. Hildebrand), 1957 * ''The Economy of the Chinese Mainland'' (with Kung Chia Yeh) * ''Economic Trends in Communist China''

References

https://finance.sina.cn/sa/2007-01-08/detail-ikftssap1009212.d.html

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Ta-Chung 1914 births 1975 deaths 20th-century Chinese economists Cornell University alumni Johns Hopkins University faculty Cornell University faculty Fellows of the Econometric Society Educators from Beijing Writers from Beijing Economists from Beijing 1975 suicides Chinese emigrants to the United States Joint suicides Suicides in New York (state)