Ivy Liu

Assistant Professor of Public Policy Leadership

Email:
sliu7@olemiss.edu
Office Location:
110 Odom Hall
Phone:
662-915-7347
Website:
Google Scholar

Research Interests

Dr. Liu conducts research and teaching in public policy and management, with an overarching focus on public sector innovation for economic development and community building.

Drawing on her expertise in statistics and economics, she uses quasi-experimental and experimental methods to study how state and local governments learn, adopt, evaluate, and terminate policies that support these goals. Her work also incorporates advanced network analysis and spatial econometric models to understand how executive leadership fosters innovation and policy learning across U.S. governments.

In addition, she investigates how governments enhance efficiency and responsiveness during natural disasters—such as hurricanes and floods—and public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, further highlighting her commitment to improving policy effectiveness in times of crisis.

Biography

Dr. Ivy Liu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Policy Leadership at the University of Mississippi. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management from The Ohio State University, with graduate minors in economics and statistics.

Her research explores how governments learn, innovate, and respond to complex challenges across areas such as public health, economic development, and intergovernmental collaboration. Her scholarship has appeared in a range of peer-reviewed journals, including Public Administration Review and Public Administration. Her recent projects—supported by the CDC’s Public Health Extreme Events Research (PHEER) initiative—investigate disaster relief allocation and the role of digital signals in shaping emergency response.

Dr. Liu is also an engaged educator who teaches undergraduate courses in policy design, public policy analysis, and research methods. In addition, she actively contributes to the academic community through manuscript review for leading journals and service on the American Political Science Association’s Section on Public Policy committee.

Professional Affiliations

American Political Science Association
American Society for Public Administration
Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management
Public Health Extreme Events Research Center
Public Management Research Association

Publications

Policy Studies

Employing Synthetic Control Method to Examine Whether State Corporate Tax Rate Reductions Grow Manufacturing Employment

This study examines the impact of reductions in Indiana's corporate income tax rate beginning in July 2012. It employs the synthetic control method to construct a counterfactual, or “synthetic Indiana,” using quarterly manufacturing employment data from 23 states that did not change their tax rates during the 2003–2018 study period.

Liu, I. S., & Yi, H. (2024). Member duality and policy tourism: Learning in interlocal policy networks. Public Administration.

Wang, C., & Liu, I. S. (2024). Unraveling the politics-science nexus: diverse strategies in US states’ termination of mask policies. Policy Studies, 1-28.

Yi, H., & Liu, I. (2022). Executive Leadership, Policy Tourism, and Policy Diffusion among Local Governments. Public Administration Review, 82(6), 1024-1041.

Liu, S., & Christensen, T. (2020). All roads lead to Rome? The contingency factors of institutional integration: a comparative case study on environmental institutional reform in Guangdong, China. International Public Management Journal, 23(3), 338-357.