Dr. Ming Liu is the Program Coordinator for the Global Business and Economics major at iCLA. The Global Business and Economics major has pathways in Finance, International Business, and Economics. Dr. Liu mainly teaches courses in the Finance pathway, with some economics focused courses. The courses he teaches in the 2024 Academic Year are Financial Management, Japanese Economy & Business, Investment, Money, Banking, and Financial Markets, Derivatives, and Economics of Sustainable Development (see Course Syllabi).
He has educational backgrounds in China and the US, and has over 12 years of experience teaching in universities in Japan. Dr. Liu has a PhD in Finance, and he is also a CFA charterholder. Before teaching at iCLA, he has taught graduate courses at the International University of Japan in Niigata and Doshisha University in Kyoto. He has experiences in both industry and academia, and applies his real-world experiences in the financial industry to his teachings in the classroom.
Read our Faculty Spotlight interview with Dr. Ming Liu:
Q: What was the initial spark that made you interested in studying Finance?
My undergraduate degree was in mathematics. At that time, I didn’t know what to do for my career. My master’s degree was in financial mathematics, and that was an interdisciplinary program. I took courses in the math, statistics, economics, and business departments. That’s also the first time I went to America to study as an international student. I remember I took four finance courses and I found that those finance courses were really interesting to me. At that time, I decided I wanted to work in the finance area.
I was very lucky to have good professors as well. I often asked questions to the professors. I was an international student at the time and the textbook was quite expensive, so I didn’t purchase it. I remember when I went in to ask questions at the professor’s office, the professor realized I didn’t have the textbook, so he took a book from his bookshelf and gave it to me. Another professor, every week I would stop in his office to ask questions and sometimes just chat. I really benefited from their teaching. I found the finance courses very interesting and not that difficult because of my mathematics background.
Also, in China at that time, the majority of the schools, except maybe a few top schools, didn’t teach the traditional modern finance concept. When I was first introduced to finance concepts, I was really interested in it.
Q: When did you know you wanted to pursue a life career in Finance?
At the time of my master’s degree studies, I decided to go into finance, but I was not clear whether I wanted to go into academia or industry. I was actually thinking industry. After my master’s degree, I tried to find a job on Wall Street in New York City. Eventually, I found a job with a financial software company near New York City. I worked there for about four years as a programmer, and that experience made me realize that I was more interested in finance than programming. So, I decided to go back to school to study finance. I was not sure whether I could finish my PhD but I wanted to try.
Q: Please tell me about your specific field of research.
My research is mainly on investment, particularly in the areas of international stock markets, behavioral finance, and mutual funds.
Q: What keeps you passionate about your work on a day-to-day basis.
I am interested in new things. I think the interesting thing about finance is that the financial market is driven by information. There’s news coming out every day and we have to try to keep updated. Both financial markets and academic research evolve quickly and are very competitive.
Q: What attracted you to teach finance, particularly here in Japan?
When I was a PhD student, I presented my paper at a conference, and one Japanese professor approached me. I sent him my paper after the conference for comments, and one year later, I was in the job market searching for jobs, and he was at International University of Japan. I saw his school’s job posting and I remembered him. I applied to IUJ and they gave me an interview.
Q: Is there something that particularly attracts you to Japan?
The life in Japan is very comfortable and convenient. In terms of work, we’ve got enough freedom to do research and teaching. And it is close to my hometown.
Q: How would you describe your class style? Is there anything you emphasize when you’re teaching students?
Well, it’s basically like a lecture, because there are many terms and concepts that students don’t know and we need to introduce them to students. On the other hand, there are many news about the financial market every day. I try my best to combine that concept with real time news.
Just an example, recently, someone tried to assassinate Donald Trump in the U.S., and there was a Chinese stock which increased a lot the next day. The reason is that the name of the Chinese company starts with a character that shared the same first character of the Chinese translation of Trump. The company has nothing to do with him and the business of the company has no American subsidiaries. I used that example to tell students how irrational and crazy sometimes the stock market can be. It’s totally driven by the behavioral or emotional reasons.
Q: Alright, so do you have any tips for students who want to pursue a career in economics, finance, or business?
One thing I want to mention is that finance, accounting, or business does require people to be a little bit sensitive to numbers. If one stock increased 10%, another stock increased 15%, and someone says, “Oh, there’s no difference to me” then he cannot be in this area, that’s obvious.
But on the other hand, the required math level is not that high. It doesn’t require people to be very good at mathematics and solve complicated equations. So, number one, don’t be afraid of the mathematics. If some people fear that finance and economics involve difficult mathematics, it may cause them to lose confidence before they even start learning. Second, it is good practice to try to follow some news. We have business and financial news every day, so try to watch the news, and try to read books too and see if those things are interesting to you. I think interest and passion are very important if you want to pursue this track and career.
