Abstract
Before the 18th century, China was the largest and one of the most advanced economies in the world. But it declined precipitately and degenerated into one of the world's poorest economies by the late 19th century. Despite generations of efforts for national rejuvenation, China did not reverse its fate until it introduced market-oriented reforms in 1979. Since its resurgence, China has been the most dynamic economy in the world. In this talk, the speaker will provide a consistent framework to analyze the causes behind those dramatic changes in China and draw some lessons from the Chinese experiences for other developing countries. His perspectives challenge many tenets of conventional neoclassical theory and show how naive applications of some of its principles had catastrophic consequences for many transition economies.
About the speaker
Justin Yifu Lin is a world renowned development economist and an authority on the Chinese economy. He has been the Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank since June 2008. In his current position, Prof Lin guides the Bank's intellectual leadership and plays a key role in shaping the economic research agenda of the institution. Prior to joining the Bank, Prof Lin served for 15 years as Founding Director and Professor of the China Centre for Economic Research (CCER) at Peking University. He had also been teaching at HKUST from 1995 to 2005.
Prof Lin received his PhD in economics from the University of Chicago in 1986 and is the author of 18 books, including The China Miracle: Development Strategy and Economic Reform and Economic Development and Transition: Thought, Strategy, and Viability. He has published more than 100 articles in refereed international journals and collected volumes on history, development, and transition. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy.
Prof Lin was a deputy of China's People's Congress, Vice Chairman of Committee for Economic Affairs of Chinese People's Political Consultation Conference and Vice Chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. He served on several national and international committees, leading groups, and councils on development policy, technology, and environment.
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