2024 Finch Lecture presented by Professor Shang-Jin Wei, Columbia University

Characterizing US and Chinese Industrial Policies

As industrial policy is on the rise around the world, this lecture reflects on some less well understood features of the policy practices in the largest two economies. Using AI research tools to review all US laws and Presidential executive orders from 1972-2023, we show that the United States has always had an active industrial policy agenda, typically rolling out multiple new policies in a year, regardless of which party is in power. We also report a detailed case study of China’s pro-innovation industrial policy. While it succeeds in accelerating the growth of new patents, we show that it likely has a negative social return in spite of the existence of a positive spillover in innovation activities. Overall, we argue that governments of all political stripes appear to love industrial policies, but making it socially productive is hard.

2024 Finch Lecture presented by Professor Shang-Jin Wei, Columbia University

Dr. Shang-Jin Wei is N.T. Wang Professor of Chinese Business and Economy and Professor of Finance and Economics at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business and School of International and Public Affairs.

During 2014-2016, Dr. Wei served as Chief Economist of Asian Development Bank and Director General of its Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department. He was ADB’s chief spokesperson on economic trends and economic development in Asia, advised ADB’s President on economic development issues, led the bank’s analytical support for regional cooperation fora including ASEAN+3 (China, Japan, and Korea) and APEC, growth strategy diagnostics for developing member countries, as well as research on macroeconomic, financial, labor market, and globalization issues.

Prior to his Columbia appointment in 2007, he was Assistant Director and Chief of Trade and Investment Division at the International Monetary Fund. He was the IMF’s Chief of Mission to Myanmar (Burma) in 2004. He previously held the positions of Associate Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University, the New Century Chair in Trade and International Economics at the Brookings Institution, and Advisor at the World Bank.

He has been a consultant to numerous government organizations including the U.S. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, United Nations Economic Commission on Europe, and United Nations Development Program, the Asian Development Bank, and to private companies such as PricewaterhouseCoopers. He holds a PhD in economics and M.S. in finance from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Wei is a noted scholar on international finance, trade, macroeconomics, and China. He is a recipient of the Sun Yefang Prize for Distinguished Contributions to Economics (for the invention of the Competitive Saving Motive published in Journal of Political Economy), the Zhang Peifang Prize for Contributions to Economics of Development (for pioneering work on measurement of global value chains published in American Economic Review), and the Gregory Chow Award for Best Research Paper; some of his research was supported by a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Dr. Wei’s research has been published in top academic journals including American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of International Economics, and Journal of Development Economics, and reported in popular media including Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Economist, Business Week, Times, US News and World Report, Chicago Tribune, South China Morning Post, and other international news media.

Come join us for an engaging evening with Professor Shang-Jin Wei from Columbia University as he delivers the prestigious Finch Lecture. This in-person event promises to be enlightening and thought-provoking, covering a wide range of topics in economics and global affairs. Don't miss this opportunity to hear from one of the leading experts in the field. Reserve your spot now!

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Host or Publisher Department of Economics