The Department of Economics at Ming Chuan University was established in August 1991. Rooted in decades of business and management education in a down-to-earth manner, the Ming Chuan [Commercial Junior] College [for Women] (predecessor of Ming Chuan University) had earned its reputation by the tradition of “Disciplined Learning and Dedicated Teaching”. As economics is the foundation of business and management studies, soon after Ming Chuan [Commercial Junior] College [for Women] became Ming Chuan College [of Management ], and began admitting students through the Joint Entrance Examination of Universities and Colleges in 1990, the Department of Economics was established at the College to offer a four-year bachelor's degree program in Taipei.

As the nation was transforming and developing into a new stage, the government promoted many kinds of policies to develop the economic competitive power of the nation by further decentralizing and internationalizing the economy in the era of integration and globalization. With this, in 1999, the Department of Economics established a master's program to cultivate economic and business professionals and leaders in line with the national economic policies and direction.

With financial and technological innovations, the financial sector and the real sector become more and more intertwined after the so called “Fintech” emerges and is broadly applied in many ways. The Department of Economics moves with the trend in order to cope with the need of times. In 2016, the department was renamed as the Department of Economics and Finance. With the new name, the department has goal to cultivate professionals and leaders who are equipped with strong theoretical foundation and practical ability in the economic and financial fields.

Professor Lee Sung-Ching was the founding Department chair. Under his leadership, the Department was expanded to include a night division. And the Department moved from Taipei to Taoyuan campus in September 1998. With more resources available, the Department added a master’s program in 1999 and an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) program in 2002. The night division was subsequently renamed as the second division. The growth of this Department thus entered a new stage. In February 2020, Professor Wang Kuang-Hsien was selected as the new chair. Over the twenty years of development, the Department now has both local and foreign teachers with Ph.D.'s, several of whom have practical working experience in the United States and Taiwan. The teachers and students in our department have worked together for continual improvement of teaching methods and academic research capabilities.