Liqian Ren, Ph.D., joined WisdomTree as Director of Modern Alpha in 2018. She leads WisdomTree’s quantitative investment capabilities and serves as a thought leader for WisdomTree’s Modern Alpha® approach. Liqian was previously at Vanguard, where she worked for 12 years, most recently as a portfolio manager in the Quantitative Equity Group managing Vanguard’s active funds and conducting research on factor strategies. Prior to joining Vanguard, she was an associate economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Liqian received her bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Peking University in Beijing, her master’s in Economics from Indiana University—Purdue University Indianapolis, and her MBA and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Liqian co-hosts a podcast on China and Asian markets with Jeremy Schwartz, WisdomTree’s Global Head of Research, and she is a co-host on the Wharton Business Radio program Behind the Markets on SiriusXM 132.
If narratives are how human beings make sense of world, then narratives are how most people made sense of China in 2021. But like many, the 2021 narratives to come from China require context. Liqian Ren helps investors to sort through which narratives they should focus on.
For India and China, 2021 is a tale of two equity markets. But when it comes to energy—particularly coal-generated electricity—the two countries are remarkably similar. Liqian Ren discusses the potential impact of this reliance on India and China’s economic growth.
As countries like New Zealand abandon their Zero-COVID-19 policies, China again becomes the last remaining holdout. Liqian Ren discusses her outlook on how this policy could impact the Chinese markets going forward.
The financial world seems fixated on Evergrande, the Chinese real estate company with a larger-than-life CEO and larger-than-average debt burden. Liqian Ren analyzes this latest event’s potential impact on the Chinese equity market.
China lacks a definitive index like our S&P 500. The three main players—the S&P China 500 Index, the MSCI China Index and the MSCI China A Index—offer wildly divergent exposures to A-shares and state-owned companies. Liqian Ren and Aneeka Gupta explore the differences and reveal our recommended sweet spot for A-share allocation.
VIE (variable interest entity) default risk is almost unavoidable when it comes to investing in China. Liqian Ren discusses how investors can assess and limit their exposure to VIE in their emerging markets portfolio.
