Lawrence Lau Juen-yee,
GBS,
JP (; born 1944) is a
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
economist and the former
Vice-Chancellor
A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system.
In most Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and former Commonwealth n ...
of the
Chinese University of Hong Kong
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public research university in Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong, formally established in 1963 by a charter granted by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It is the territory's second-oldest university an ...
. He was a non-official member of the
Executive Council of Hong Kong
The Executive Council of Hong Kong (ExCo) is the cabinet of the Government of Hong Kong, acting as a formal body of advisers to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong that serves as a core policy-making organ assisting the Chief Executive. It is ...
from 2009 to 2012. Before joining CUHK he was an economics professor at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
.
Personal life
Lau was born on 12 December 1944 in
Zunyi
Zunyi () is a prefecture-level city in northern Guizhou province, People's Republic of China, situated between the provincial capital Guiyang to the south and Chongqing to the north, also bordering Sichuan to the northwest. Along with Guiyang an ...
,
Guizhou
Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...
, Republic of China. His maternal grandfather was famed calligrapher and
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
leader
Yu Youren
Yu Youren (); (April 11, 1879 – November 10, 1964) was a Chinese educator, scholar, calligrapher, and politician.
Early life
He was born on April 11, 1879, in the town of Hedaogang (), Sanyuan County (north of Xi'an), Shaanxi Province, Qing Chin ...
of
Shaanxi
Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichu ...
Province. He received his secondary education from
St. Paul's Co-educational College in Hong Kong, his B.S. degree in Physics and Economics, with Great Distinction, from
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
in 1964, and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Economics from the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
in 1966 and 1969 respectively. He joined the faculty of the Department of Economics of Stanford University in 1966 and was promoted to Professor of Economics in 1976.
Academic career
In 1992, Lau was named the first
Kwoh-Ting Li
Li Kwoh-ting (; 28 January 1910 – 31 May 2001) was a Taiwanese economist and politician best known as the "Father of Taiwan's Economic Miracle" and referred to by the New York Times as the "Godfather of Technology" in Taiwan for his work in tra ...
Professor of Economic Development at Stanford University. From 1992 to 1996, he served as a Co-Director of the
Asia-Pacific Research Center
Stanford University has many centers and institutes dedicated to the study of various specific topics. These centers and institutes may be within a department, within a school but across departments, an independent laboratory, institute or center ...
of Stanford University. From 1997 to 1999, he served as the Director of the
Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
The Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) is a nonpartisan economic research institution housed at Stanford University. It was founded in 1982 as a way to bring together economic scholars from different parts of the University.
...
(SIEPR) of Stanford University. His specialized fields are Economic Development, Economic Growth, and the Economies of East Asia, including
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. He developed one of the first econometric models of China in 1966, and has continued to revise and update his model since then.
Lau has been elected a member of
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
, a member of
Tau Beta Pi
The Tau Beta Pi Association (commonly Tau Beta Pi, , or TBP) is the oldest engineering honor society and the second oldest collegiate honor society in the United States. It honors engineering students in American universities who have shown a ...
, a Fellow of the
Econometric Society
The Econometric Society is an international society of academic economists interested in applying statistical tools to their field. It is an independent organization with no connections to societies of professional mathematicians or statisticians. ...
, an Academician of
Academia Sinica
Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...
, a Member of the Conference for Research in Income and Wealth, an Overseas Fellow of
Churchill College, Cambridge
Churchill College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but still retains a strong interest in the arts and humanities.
In 1958, a trust was establish ...
, England, an Honorary Member of the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is a Chinese research institute and think tank. The institution is the premier comprehensive national academic research organization in the People's Republic of China for the study in the fields of ...
and an Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences. He has been awarded the degree of Doctor of Social Sciences, honoris causa, by the
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is a public research university in Clear Water Bay Peninsula, New Territories, Hong Kong. Founded in 1991 by the British Hong Kong Government, it was the territory's third institution ...
. He has been a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow and a Fellow of the
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) is an interdisciplinary research lab at Stanford University that offers a residential postdoctoral fellowship program for scientists and scholars studying "the five core social a ...
. He is the author or editor of five books and more than one hundred and sixty articles and notes in professional publications.
Lau is active in both academic and professional services. He is an Honorary Research Fellow of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Shanghai; an Honorary Professor of the Institute of Systems Science,
Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republ ...
,
Jilin University
Jilin University (JLU; ; often abbreviated JLU or ) is a leading national research university located in Changchun, China. It is under the direct jurisdiction of China's Ministry of Education. It is a Chinese Ministry of Education Class A Doub ...
,
Nanjing University
Nanjing University (NJU; ) is a national public research university in Nanjing, Jiangsu. It is a member of C9 League and a Class A Double First Class University designated by the Chinese central government. NJU has two main campuses: the Xianl ...
,
Renmin University
The Renmin University of China (RUC; ) is a national key public research university in Beijing, China. The university is affiliated to the Ministry of Education, and co-funded by the Ministry and the Beijing Municipal People's Government.
RUC ...
,
Shantou University
Shantou University (; abbreviated STU), a key comprehensive university under the provincial Project 211 program in Guangdong, was founded in 1981 with the approval of the State Council. It is the only public university that receives funding from ...
,
Southeast University
Southeast University (SEU, ) is a public research university located in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. It was formed from one of the oldest universities and the first coeducational university in China, and designated as a member of the Double First C ...
, and the School of Economics and Management,
Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...
, Beijing; an International Adviser, National Bureau of Statistics,
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and a member of the Board of Directors of the
, Taipei.
He moved back to Hong Kong in 2004 to take up the position of Vice-Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Lau is currently the Ralph and Claire Landau Professor of Economics, the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
In 2015, Lau suggested that students who stormed the University of Hong Kong council meeting should be imprisoned.
2019–20 Hong Kong protests
In 2019, Lau criticised
Hong Kong protests. He wrote: "To find a way forward, one must recognise that the current disturbances reflect deep-rooted, but until now largely latent, anger and discontent among lower-income groups in Hong Kong, especially younger people. The discontent and perceived lack of hope provided the environment for domestic and foreign agitators to succeed."
Other activities
In January 2009, Lau was named a non-official member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong by Chief Executive
Donald Tsang
Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen (; born 7 October 1944) is a former Hong Kong civil servant who served as the second Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2005 to 2012.
Tsang joined the colonial civil service as an Executive Officer in 1967, occupyi ...
. He
renounced his United States citizenship to take up the position. Later that year, he became a member of the International Advisory Council of the Chinese
sovereign wealth fund
A sovereign wealth fund (SWF), sovereign investment fund, or social wealth fund is a state-owned investment fund that invests in real and financial assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such ...
China Investment Corporation
China Investment Corporation (CIC) (Chinese: 中国投资有限责任公司; pinyin: ''zhōngguó tóuzī yǒuxiàn zérèn gōngsī'') is a sovereign wealth fund that manages part of the People's Republic of China's foreign exchange reserves. C ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lau, Lawrence J.
1944 births
Living people
Hong Kong economists
Members of Committee of 100
Members of Academia Sinica
People from Zunyi
Stanford University alumni
Stanford University Department of Economics faculty
University of California, Berkeley alumni
Vice-Chancellors of the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Scientists from Guizhou
Members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
Former United States citizens
Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2012–2017
Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2017–2021
Alumni of St. Paul's Co-educational College
Fellows of the Econometric Society
CITIC Group people
21st-century American economists
Economists from Guizhou
Educators from Guizhou