Harvard graduate, Liu He, was appointed as a vice chairman by President Xi Jinping to the National Development and Reform Commission. He is a graduate of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and previously served as a Communist Party Secretary. Officials say that this is an extraordinary appointment considering “Liu He is on the leading edge in articulating China’s reform imperatives – – especially the long-overdue structural transformation of the growth model toward more of a consumer-led economy.” Many economists say that this appointment will be a major factor in the restructuring of China’s economy. Anything that is produced in the National Development and Reform Commission and passed on to President Xi Jinping will have to first go through Liu He and gain his approval.
Source:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-28/china-naming-harvard-educated-liu-to-ndrc-may-hail-policy-shift.html
I wonder if economists graduating from United States Schools maintain the economic principles they learned while growing up in China or if they are cannot help but believe what they learned in College.
What economic principles in China? money talks? We can hope that Liu understands opportunity cost better than the opportunity to make a yuan, and has the spine to stand up to let’s-not-make-waves senior CCP cadre.
What are the overweening “schools of thought” taught in Chinese universities concerning economics? I would be interested to see any differences in teaching upper-level economics courses in a country like China versus the United States. Certainly it will differ between institutions, but I would be interested to see the “consensus” school of thought.