Please register for the webinar here

The proceedings will also be streamed live on Youtube here

Abstract

China’s journey in the global economy earned it the title of ‘unstoppable juggernaut’, but the growing discussions on China’s economic future indicate the extreme swings. This is evident especially in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, trade war, plunging exports and overwhelming pressures causing weak recovery. As a result, in a downturn, the state planners resort to various tools to control the crisis. Handling a bout of economic weakness has not remained as simple as it used to be in the past. The leadership and the planners are preparing to mitigate traditional and newer forms of challenges. China has been speeding up spending on infrastructure, taking more neutral steps towards income taxes and relaxing some restraints on bank lending. These directions look more evident than in the past. Cleaning up the financial system, stabilising growth and deleveraging are key measures China is adopting to manage its domestic economic governance. At the same time, China also explores to continue the generous, supportive economic policies to stimulate growth from below. It would be interesting to watch how well China is equipped to manage such stress and work around its domestic economic governance.

About the Speakers

Muyang Zhang is an Associate Professor at China Public Finance Institute, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. He graduated from Peking University with Ph.D. in Economics in 2013. His research focuses on the political economy and public economics of China’s local authorities. He has published research papers in Journal of Public Economics, Public Administration, Journal of Comparative Economics, and China Economic Review as well as several other top journals in Chinese. His recent work focuses on local political business cycles, various forms of local government debt, and efficiency of local public investment.

Shenghao Zhu is a professor of Economics in the University of International Business and Economics. Before he moved to Beijing, he taught in National University of Singapore. He holds a masters degree in Economics from Peking University and a Ph.D. in Economics from New York University. His main research fields are Macroeconomics, public economics, and income inequality. His research works investigate how the government policies balance the efficiency and equity of the economy. He published many papers in top academic journals, including Econometrica and Journal of Economic Theory. His publications have more 700 citations in Google Scholar

Aravind Yelery is Senior Research Fellow (Associate Professor Grade) at the Peking University, Beijing/Shenzhen. He teaches and curates courses for PKU and select universities globally and at a few Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) in India. In 2019, he won the Best Courseware Project Funds Award at Peking University. Yelery is also a visiting faculty at the Fudan School of Management, Shanghai. Prior to joining PKU, he was Associate Fellow and Assistant Director at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi, India. Yelery holds a PhD in Chinese Studies with a particular interest in Political Economy. He has co-edited a book titled Tailspin: The Politics of India-China Economic Relations (London: Routledge, 2020) and recently authored a book titled China Inc.: Between State Capitalism and Economic Statecraft (New Delhi: Pentagon Press, 2021).

About the Chair

Santosh Pai has been offering legal services to clients in the India-China corridor since 2010. His areas of interest include Chinese investments in India, India-China comparative law and policy, cross-cultural negotiations and board governance. He holds a B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) degree from NLSIU, Bangalore, LL.M. (Chinese law) from Tsinghua University, Beijing and an MBA from Vlerick University, Belgium (Peking University campus). His manuscript "Practical Guide on Investing in India for Chinese Investors" has been translated into Chinese and published by China Law Press. Santosh is currently a partner at Link Legal, an Indian law firm. He is a member of CII's Core Group on China, teaches two courses on India-China business at IIM Shillong and volunteers at NGOs in his free time.