Executive Roundtable with Hongbin Li
On May 7, Asia Society Northern California hosted an Executive Roundtable with Hongbin Li at Sidley Austin's Silicon Valley office.
Hongbin Li is the James Liang Director of the China Program at the Stanford Center on Global Poverty and Development. He obtained a PhD in economics from Stanford University in 2001 and joined the economics department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he became a full professor in 2007. He was also one of the two founding directors of the Institute of Economics and Finance at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He taught at Tsinghua University in Beijing from 2007 to 2016 and was C.V. Starr Chair Professor of Economics in the School of Economics and Management. He also founded and served as the executive associate director of the China Data Center.
Throughout his presentation, Hongbin highlighted with decision-making re-centralized and profit/growth incentives for local officials removed due to the anti-corruption movement, government officials no longer care about economic growth. At the same time, the Chinese government still controls many resources but have little incentive to use them efficiently. In addition, Hongbin explained that his model helps us to understand why there are so many social issues associated with China’s growth. The Chinese government, which is supposed to provide public goods, has been acting like a private firm. For decades, officials have focused almost exclusively on growth, ignoring social issues such as education, health, inequality, pollution, and corruption. Now, with China enriched, these issues are finally coming to light.
About Our Roundtables: Asia Society Northern California hosts private Executive Roundtable Briefings with industry leaders every month in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Program topics are around headline news, business analysis, and critical issues coming out of Asia. These monthly briefings, launched in September 2017, have grown in popularity to generate wait-lists quickly. Most events are off-the-record to encourage open debate and discussion.