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Yasheng Huang

Professor of Global Economics and Management, MIT Sloan School

Yasheng Huang is a Professor of Global Economics and Management at the MIT Sloan School and also holds the Epoch Foundation (时代基金会) Professorship of Global Economics and Management. Huang is the author of 11 books in both English and Chinese and of many academic papers. His book, The Rise and Fall of the EAST: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology Brought China Success, and Why They Might Lead to its Decline, was a 2023 Best Book of the Year by Foreign Affairs magazine. He is collaborating with other scholars on a book project, Reframing The Needham Question, based on a comprehensive database on Chinese historical inventions (under contract at Princeton University Press). His book, Statism with Chinese Characteristics (under contract at Cambridge University Press), examines economic reforms and economic performance of China since 1978.

Articles by Yasheng Huang

Economy

China’s rural decline: The missing chapter in Zhu Rongji’s legacy

Nostalgia paints the late former Premier Zhu Rongji as China’s ultimate reformer. But a closer look at the 1990s reveals severe policy reversals that left the vast rural population behind. Professor Yasheng Huang analyses the missing piece of the picture.

Yasheng Huang

14 Aug 2026

Economy

China has a tech boom. So why won’t people spend?

China's AI and manufacturing sectors are booming, but domestic demand remains stubbornly weak. The contradiction, argues Professor Yasheng Huang, is no accident — it is the product of a tech-first policy agenda.

Yasheng Huang

05 Aug 2026

Society

Women can hold up half of the sky — Chairman Mao Zedong

From football to world championships, Chinese women have consistently outshone men despite fewer resources. Their success offers a revealing lens on merit, competition and power in China, says Professor Yasheng Huang.

Yasheng Huang

20 Jul 2026

Economy

Can Vietnam be another China? No.

Drawing on his travels and research, Professor Yasheng Huang examines the striking parallels between Vietnam’s rise and an earlier phase of China’s development, and explains why their political trajectories may ultimately lead to different outcomes.

Yasheng Huang

03 Jul 2026

Economy

China as an absolute advantage economy

Given China’s current industrial and financial stature, Professor Yasheng Huang observes that the puzzle is not why China exports cars, but why it is still exporting t-shirts.

Yasheng Huang

30 Jun 2026