The End of China’s Economic Miracle

For the past four decades, the word “miracle” was widely used to describe China’s spectacular economic growth. As the world re-opened after the COVID pandemic, the hopes and expectations for China’s economic rebound were high as well. But in 2023, this long-awaited “surge” has not materialized and Chinese economy is today facing the most consequential slowdown since the reform era of the 1980s.

Adam Posen, President of the Peterson Institute of International Economics, will discuss his provocative Foreign Affairs essay “The End of China’s Economic Miracle” as a springboard to examine why Chinese economy has not yet bounced back, and why it may not for several years. He argues that China has caught “economic long COVID” from a reversion to the economic interventions of authoritarian governments, which the Chinese leadership may not be able to reverse. Yet for those who see China’s growth as a threat, Posen warns that a less stable Chinese economy will have consequences for the U.S. and the world, and argues for opening America to outflows of people, capital, and ideas likely to mount.

Join us for a conversation on the future of China’s political economy, what China’s slowdown means for the global economy, and the U.S.-China relationship.

Speakers

Adam Posen is President of the Peterson Institute for International Economics.  He is a former central banker, the author of several widely cited studies of macroeconomic policy, and active in the public debates around globalization and U.S. foreign economic policy.  He was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, with Neck Ribbon and Gold Rays, from H.M. the Emperor of Japan in 2021 for service to Japanese economic policy and to Japan-U.S. relations.  He received his A.B. and Ph.D. from Harvard University, and has received fellowships from the American Academy in Berlin, the Bank of England, the Brookings Institution, the National Science Foundation, and the Robert Bosch Foundation supporting his research in political economy.

***Moderator TBC***

This program is part of the new Asia Executive Briefing, a series of public programs and private briefings with economists, policymakers, and business leaders, taking the pulse of Asia’s dynamic economies.