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Justin Lin
Professor & Dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University
Justin Lin
Professor & Dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University
Biography
Professor Justin Yifu Lin is a professor and dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics, dean of the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development, and honorary dean of the National School of Development at Peking University.
In 1994, he founded the China Center for Economic Research at Peking University (now the National School of Development at Peking University) and served as its director. In 2008, he was appointed as the chief economist of the World Bank and senior vice president in charge of development economics, becoming the first person from a developing country to hold this important position.
In 2012, after his tenure at the World Bank ended, he returned to Peking University and continued his teaching and research work. Justin Yifu Lin is currently a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and deputy director of its Economic Committee. He previously served as a counselor of the State Council and vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.
He was a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from the seventh to the tenth terms, deputy director of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in the tenth term, a deputy to the 11th National People's Congress, a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and deputy director of the Economic Committee in the 12th and 13th terms, and deputy chairman of the expert committee for the 13th Five-Year Plan and the 14th Five-Year Plan.
He holds concurrent positions in multiple committees and leading groups related to development policies, agriculture, and poverty reduction at home and abroad. He was elected as a fellow of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (formerly the Third World Academy of Sciences) and a foreign fellow of the British Academy. He has also received honorary doctorate degrees from ten universities in Britain, France, the United States, Canada, and Hong Kong.
His major works include more than 20 volumes such as On China's Economy, Beating the Odds, Going Beyond Aid, Quest for Prosperity, Demystifying the Chinese Economy, New Structural Economics, Against the Consensus, Benti and Changwu, Sufficient Information and State-owned Enterprises Reform, and The China Miracle. He has also published more than 300 papers in academic journals at home and abroad.
Speaker Videos
Lin Yifu Zhang Weiying: Thoughts on Industrial Policy
Interview to Profesor Justin Yiu Lin from Peking University
China's Economic New Era under Escalating Trade Friction
Speech Topics
Demystifying the Chinese Economy
China’s economic development has been miraculous since the transition from a planned economy to a market economy in 1979. This article provides answers to six related questions: Why was it possible for China to achieve such extraordinary performance during its transition? Why was China unable to attain similar success before its transition started? Why did most other transition economies fail to achieve a similar performance? What costs does China pay for its extraordinary success? Can China maintain dynamic growth in the coming decades? What should other developing countries do to achieve similar success?
The Prospect of China's Future Growth Amid the Global Change Unseen in a Century
The year 2021 was the year in which China was to achieve its First Centenary Goal, 1 start the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan and the Long-Term Goal for 2035 and move towards its second centenary goal of the Chinese nation’s great rejuvenation. In 2018, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee and President of China Xi Jinping declared the world was facing a great change unseen in a century, and in 2020 he proposed a new development paradigm to serve China’s future economic development. In this chapter, I will discuss the following four questions: Why is the world undergoing a great change unseen in a century, and how will this evolve? What is the new development paradigm and how should it be implemented? What is China’s future development potential? What reforms are necessary for China to tap into this future potential?
The Rise of China & Its Implications for Economics & Other Developing Countries
China’s economic development has been miraculous since its transition from a planned to a market economy in 1979. This article provides answers to six related questions: Why was it possible for China to achieve such extraordinary performance during its transition? Why was China unable to attain similar success before its transition started? Why did most other transition economies fail to achieve a similar performance? What costs does China pay for its extraordinary success? Can China maintain dynamic growth in the coming decades? And what are the implications of China’s experience for other developing countries and for economics?
Industrial Policies for Avoiding the Middle Income Trap: A New Structural Economics Perspective
Economic development is a process of structural transformation with continuous technological innovation and industrial upgrading, which increases labor productivity, and accompanied improvements in infrastructure and institution, which reduces transaction costs. The middle-income trap is a result of a middle-income country’s failure to have a faster labor productivity growth through technological innovation and industrial upgrading than high-income countries. Industrial policy is essential for the government of a middle income country to prioritize the use of its limited resources to facilitate technological innovation and industrial upgrading by overcoming inherent externality and coordination issues in structural transformation. The industries in a middle-income country may be classified into five different types, depending on their distance to the global technology frontier: catching-up industries, leading-edge industries, comparative advantage-losing industries, short innovation cycle industries, and comparative advantage-defying strategic industries. Industrial policy should be designed accordingly.
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