Lizhi Liu
McDonough School of Business
Lizhi Liu is an assistant professor in the McDonough School of Business and a faculty affiliate of the Department of Government at Georgetown University. Her research interests include the political economy of development, digital economy, and emerging markets (especially China). She is a member of the Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues faculty committee.
Activities include:
- Author of From Click to Boom: The Political Economy of E-Commerce in China
- Currently serving as the guest researcher at the Alibaba Research Center for Rural Dynamics.
- Received research funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Weiss Family Program Fund, the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation, Stanford Center of International Development (SCID), and the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies (SEED), among others.
- Served as the Bradley Fellow and Huoshui Young Scholar of AliResearch.
- Published or conditionally accepted by Minnesota Law Review and American Economic Review: Insights.
Featured in:
March 20, 2026
News: Click Click Boom
In this interview with the U.S.-China Perception Monitor, Lizhi Liu discusses her recent monograph From Click to Boom: The Political Economy of E-commerce.
January 24, 2025
News: You Be the Judge: How Taobao Crowdsourced Its Courts
In this excerpt from Lizhi Liu’s new book, “From Click to Boom,” the author explores how Taobao tried to democratize its dispute resolution system.
December 2, 2024
News: Faculty Spotlight: An Interview with Lizhi Liu
The initiative sat down with professor Lizhi Liu to discuss her new book From Click to Boom: The Political Economy of E-Commerce in China and its contributions to understanding the rise of China’s e-commerce industry and China’s broader political…
November 24, 2024
News: Click, Trust, Prosper
The Wire China published an excerpt of Lizhi Liu's new book From Click to Boom: The Political Economy of E-Commerce in China discussing how China's e-commerce platforms play a critical role in China's political economy by providing market…
November 19, 2024
News: How Did China’s E-Commerce Model Become the Best in the World?
Lizhi Liu gives an interview with the China-Britain Business Council on her new book From Click to Boom: The Political Economy of E-Commerce in China.
October 29, 2021
News: Alibaba Supermarket Chain Promises to Upgrade Village Farms
October 26, 2021
News: China Targets Extreme Internet Fandoms in a New Crackdown
March 28, 2025
Technology and the Rise of Great Powers Event
When scholars and policymakers consider how technological advances affect the rise and fall of great powers, they draw on theories that center the moment of innovation - the eureka moment that sparks astonishing technological feats. In his new book…
November 19, 2024
From Click to Boom: The Political Economy of E-Commerce in China Event
Lizhi Liu discussed her new book publication From Click to Boom: The Political Economy of E-Commerce in China (Princeton University Press, forthcoming 2024) in a talk moderated by Abraham Newman. Liu's book examines the ways in which governments…
February 18, 2022
Outsourcing Repression: Everyday State Power in Contemporary China Event
How do states coerce citizens into compliance while simultaneously minimizing backlash? In this seminar, University of Toronto professor Lynette H. Ong discussed her latest book, Outsourcing Repression (2022). Ong examines how the Chinese state…
Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues Georgetown Unit
The Georgetown Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues is a university platform for engagement among scholars, students and practitioners to advance dialogue and promote solutions to global challenges ranging from climate change to peace…
Main Campus Georgetown Unit
The Main Campus is the administrative center of Georgetown University and home to six of its schools: the College of Arts & Sciences, the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, the McDonough School of Business, the McCourt School of Public…
McDonough School of Business Georgetown Unit
Founded in 1957, the McDonough School of Business offers a range of undergraduate, graduate, and executive business education programs.
Technology and the Rise of Great Powers Video
When scholars and policymakers consider how technological advances affect the rise and fall of great powers, they draw on theories that center the moment of innovation - the eureka moment that sparks astonishing technological feats. In his new book…
From Click to Boom: The Political Economy of E-Commerce in China Video
Lizhi Liu discussed her new book publication From Click to Boom: The Political Economy of E-Commerce in China (Princeton University Press, forthcoming 2024). Liu's book examines the ways in which governments strategically outsource tasks of…
Localized Bargaining: The Political Economy of China’s High-Speed Railway Program Video
China's high-speed railway network is one of the largest infrastructure programs in human history. Despite global media coverage, little is known about the political process that led the government to invest in the railway program and the reasons for…
Outsourcing Repression: Everyday State Power in Contemporary China Video
How do states coerce citizens into compliance while simultaneously minimizing backlash? In this seminar, University of Toronto professor Lynette H. Ong discussed her latest book, Outsourcing Repression (2022). Ong examines how the Chinese state…