The Resurgence of the State in the Chinese Economy?

PIIE experts assessed the degree of resurgence of the state in the Chinese economy at an event held on February 7, 2017. Senior Fellows Caroline Freund and Nicholas R. Lardy presented their respective new analyses of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs), state assets, and their implications for global competition. Visiting Fellow Rory MacFarquhar gave his perspective on negotiating with China over SOEs and their impact based on his experience serving the Obama administration.

Caroline Freund, senior fellow at the Institute since May 2013, works primarily on long-run economic growth and international trade, and their interaction. She was chief economist for the Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank from 2011 to 2013. Prior to that she was lead economist from 2009 to 2011 and senior economist from 2002 to 2009 in the research department of the World Bank. She was also senior economist at the International Monetary Fund 2006 to 2007 and economist at the Federal Reserve Board from 1997 to 2003. Her book, Rich People, Poor Countries, broke new ground in the understanding of the role of creative destruction and business leadership around the world, including China.

Nicholas R. Lardy is the Anthony M. Solomon Senior Fellow at the Institute, and one of the world’s leading experts on Chinese economic development. He joined the Institute in March 2003 from the Brookings Institution, where he was a senior fellow from 1995 until 2003. Before Brookings, he taught at the University of Washington, where he was the director of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies from 1991 to 1995. From 1997 through the spring of 2000, he was also the Frederick Frank Adjunct Professor of International Trade and Finance at the Yale University School of Management. His latest book is the widely-cited Markets over Mao: The Rise of Private Business in China.

Rory MacFarquhar joined the Institute as a visiting fellow in February 2016. For the preceding six years, he worked in the Obama administration and most recently served as special assistant to the president and senior director for global economics and finance in the White House National Security Council and National Economic Council. At the White House, he led policy teams on a wide range of international economic and trade issues, including US-China economic relations and addressing global economic vulnerabilities. Before entering the US government, he worked for eight years at Goldman Sachs in Moscow, most recently as managing director and director of economic research for Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.