"Reframing China's Growth" with Yasheng Huang

We are hosting a discussion with Yasheng Huang, Professor of Global Economics and Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management at MERICS.

In his latest book, "Statism with Chinese Characteristics", Huang argues that much what we are told about Chinese economic growth is wrong: The origin of China's tremendous success lies not in government-directed industrial investments, but in rural reforms. It wasn't top-down expert policy-making from the Chinese Communist Party, but bottom-up initiatives that elites allowed (or couldn't stop) that were most important. And the future isn't as bright as scores of China enthusiasts are claiming, despite huge investments in AI.

Yasheng Huang is a prolific author and a leading expert on China's economy. His book "Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics" was named a Best Book of the Year by the Economist in 2008. Beyond his extensive academic research and writing for publications like the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times, Huang is deeply involved in policy work concerning US-China relations. He serves on multiple advisory councils, is a visiting fellow at the Kissinger Institute and president of the Asian American Scholar Forum.