Assistant Professor Liang Zhong is a Professor of Economics at HKU Business School. He completed his undergraduate studies in Mathematics at Zhejiang University, before earning his Master’s and PhD in Economics from Boston University.

Drawn to logical thinking and problem-solving, he enjoys seeing how strategic, game-theory-like decisions play out across society, even in popular culture like in his favourite film, The Dark Knight.

Prof. Zhong’s research sits at the intersection of economic theory, statistics, and data science. His work has two main focus areas, which include developing new statistical tools to address data analysis challenges in economics and examining strategic behaviour to generate actionable policy insights. He believes that while big data is a powerful resource, it must be guided by sound theory to yield meaningful conclusions.

In his current projects, Prof. Zhong integrates economic theory with advanced data methods such as machine learning to study issues including crime, discrimination, and online privacy.

In one of his studies, he used machine learning to analyse more than 7,000 films to analyse racial discrimination in the US movie industry. Study findings showed that “non-white” movies can actually generate higher revenues, offering important insights for stakeholders and policymakers seeking to promote fair representation in the entertainment sector.

In the classroom, Prof. Zhong sees teaching as much more than delivering knowledge. He aims to spark curiosity and empower students to think critically. His priority is to make complex ideas accessible while maintaining a challenging and supportive classroom environment. He blends theory with real-world examples and adopts a hands-on approach so that students can actively apply what they learn and build confidence in their own reasoning.

His advice to students is to take learning one step at a time, keep asking questions, seek help when needed, and engage with professors and other classmates.