Book Talk:  Donald Low

The Price of Zero: China's Policy Missteps During & After Covid

 

7 April 2025 12:15 (doors open at 12:00)

Brown bag lunch

Temple University Japan room 312

1-14-29 Taishido, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo

東京都世田谷区太子堂1-14-29

--Contact/RSVP: robert.dujarric@tuj.temple.edu 

The Chinese economy has struggled to recover since pandemic restrictions were lifted in late 2022. High debt levels, a prolonged property slump, excess capacity in many industries, falling foreign direct investment, and tepid consumption growth have contributed a weak recovery and stubborn deflationary pressures. Commentators say that the Chinese economy has peaked, and that it is now undergoing 'Japanification' - a reference to Japan's lost decades marked by sluggish growth, falling asset prices, and deflation. In response, the Chinese government has launched an ambitious plan, emphasising 'new quality productive forces', to increase productivity and ensure self-sufficiency in the face of growing trade tensions. In this talk, Prof. Donald Low will examine the causes and consequences of the zero-Covid policy that the Chinese authorities pursued for much of the pandemic, as argued in his book, The Price of Zero: China's Policy Missteps During & After Covid. The book will be available for sale by the author at 2,500 yen at this event.

Donald Low is Senior Lecturer and Professor of Practice in public policy, as well as Director of Leadership and Public Policy Executive Education at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He's the editor of Behavioural Economics and Policy Design: Examples from Singapore (2011), the lead author of Hard Choices: Challenging the Singapore Consensus (2014), and co-author of PAP v PAP: The Party's Struggle to Adapt to a Changing Singapore (2020).

Moderator

Robert Dujarric, Temple University Japan.

 

Contact/RSVP: robert.dujarric@tuj.temple.edu