Professor Lawrence Lau received his BS degree (with Great Distinction) in Physics from Stanford University, and his MA and PhD degrees in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. He joined the Department of Economics, Stanford University in 1966, becoming Professor of Economics in 1976, and later the Kwoh-Ting Li Professor in Economic Development in 1992.

He retired from Stanford University in 2006 and was appointed the Kwoh-Ting Li Professor in Economic Development, Emeritus. He served as the Vice-Chancellor (President) of The Chinese University of Hong Kong from 2004 to 2010, and the Chairman of CIC International (Hong Kong) Co., Limited from 2010 to 2014. Since 2007, he has been serving concurrently as the Ralph and Claire Landau Professor of Economics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
 
Professor Lau is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, an Academician of Academia Sinica, and an Honorary Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He is also a member of the Currency Board Subcommittee of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Exchange Fund Advisory Committee, Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen) Finance Institute, Vice-Chairman of Our Hong Kong Foundation, and a member of the Board of Directors of Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange, Taipei.