New Book on China’s Economic Rise by UMass Economist Isabella Weber Launches with Online Panel Discussion May 27
Event featuring James K. Galbraith, Branko Milanović and R. Bin Wong will examine the economic reforms that turned China into a world leader
May 19, 2021
Isabella M. Weber
AMHERST, Mass. – When Chairman Mao died in 1976, China was one of the poorest countries in the world. Faced with the prospect of social collapse, the Communist Party leaders who succeeded Mao embarked on a series of bold economic reforms that lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, produced annual growth rates exceeding 10% and transformed China into the world’s second-largest economy—all while maintaining the Party’s monopoly on political power.