The Evolution of China’s Development Model

The Council on East Asian Studies is pleased to present the 64th Edward H. Hume Memorial Lecture in Chinese Studies.

A reception will follow the lecture in the Luce Common Room (2nd Floor).

Local governments in China are saddled with unprecedented levels of debt, and economic growth is the slowest it has been in decades.  What does this imply for China’s development model?   In her past work, Professor Jean Oi coined the term “local state corporatism” (LSC) to describe the behavior of local governments acting as entrepreneurs to spearhead local state development, which was a key driver of China’s economic takeoff.   Recent economic data indicates that the outlook for China’s continued growth is gloomy, as multiple provinces missed their GDP targets last year.  Yet, despite this downturn, some provinces maintained high rates of growth.  What explains their success?  Is LSC still alive and well?  

Based on her recent fieldwork in China, Professor Oi will share her findings about the new strategies, both domestic and international, that different Chinese counties and cities are employing in their pursuit of growth.  These findings suggest that a “LSC 2.0” system is emerging, but this new model faces even greater challenges amid changed domestic and international contexts.     

Jean C. Oi is the William Haas Professor of Chinese Politics in the Department of Political Science and a Senior Fellow of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University. She directs the China Program at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center and is the founding Lee Shau Kee Director of the Stanford Center at Peking University. She was elected Vice President of the Association for Asian Studies in March 2022, transitioning to serve as President of the Association from March 2023 to March 2024.  She holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan.

A political scientist, Oi studies economic issues as a window into politics.  She has written on China's rural politics, central-local relations, and how China’s political and economic institutions have adapted to the tensions and opportunities wrought by the country’s dramatic transformation since the reforms began in the late 1970s.  Employing a political economy perspective, she has “followed the money”—first grain, then taxes, and most recently local government debt.  Her newest project investigates on how local governments are going global with the Belt and Road Initiative.  

Recent publications include Zouping Revisited: Adaptive Governance in a Chinese County, co-edited with Steven Goldstein (Stanford University Press, 2018); Fateful Decisions: Choices that will Shape China's Future, coedited with Tom Fingar (Stanford University Press, 2020); “Firms as Revenue Safety Net: Political Connections and Returns to the Chinese State,” co-authored with Xiaojun Li (China Quarterly, 2022), and “China’s Local Government Debt: The Grand Bargain,” co-authored with Adam Liu and Zhang Yi (The China Journal, 2022).