Panel Presentation "Demystifying the Chinese Economic Miracle"

May 26th, 2014 – UBC
Featured Speaker: Dr. Justin Yifu Lin received his PhD in economics (University of Chicago, 1986) and served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank between 2008 and 2012. Before joining the Bank, Dr. Lin acted as the Founding Director and professor of the China Centre for Economic Research (CCER) at Peking University. Dr. Lin is known for his knowledge and experience in development economics, agricultural economics and economic reforms in China.
Panel:
Chair: Dean Robert Helsley, Sauder School of Business
Celestin Monga, Senior Advisor to the Chief Economist and Senior Vice President, The World Bank
Wei Shao, Partner, Dentons Canada LLP
Yves Tiberghien, Executive Director, UBC China Council and Director, Institute of Asian Research
Hao Li, Professor, Vancouver School of Economics
Overview:
Leading economist Justin Yifu Lin explained China’s economic miracle in a panel presentation to a packed room of UBC faculty and students at the Liu Institute for Global Issues on May 26, 2014. Please find a link to the video and photos here. The presentation followed Dr. Lin’s Honorary Degree ceremony, which can be viewed online. The talk was sponsored by The Vancouver School of Economics and the UBC China Council.
Dr. Lin is China’s most prominent economist and a provocative thinker on why some countries develop more successfully than others and on his own country’s remarkable path to economic superpower. The widely published author and former Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank has pushed the frontiers of global thinking on economic development and the role of government in promoting economic growth. His predictions on China’s economy have repeatedly been proven correct. He is one of his government’s most influential advisers on economic policy and reform.
Dr. Lin shared with us that the Chinese economy grew at 9.8 per cent over the past 35 years. He described how China performed well once reforms were implemented, compared to other developing countries. However, China paid a price for its high economic growth rate: income disparity and corruption. Dr. Lin spoke of China’s advantage in capital-intensive industries, such as automobile and equipment manufacturing, and its potential to have another 20 years of sustained high growth of 8 per cent per year, with structural reforms. “Of course, continuing to invest in infrastructure is key,” says Dr. Lin on increasing liveability as well as economic and social return in China.