Center for China in the World Economy

The Center for China in the World Economy (CCWE) is an international political economic policy research center and think tank located in the School of Economics and Management (SEM) at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. The Center was founded in September 2004 and formally launched in October 2005 under the notion that "improving understanding of China's evolving prominence in the world will be of key importance both in China itself and abroad for many years to come".^[1] CCWE's founding partner is BP-China.

The center serves in a unique capacity as a liaison between both West and East, private and public. More specifically, the center is able to interface with both China's burgeoning market economy and its public policy makers in order to disseminate strategic policy and accurately forecast the developing role and identity of the Chinese state in the global economy. Moreover, its leadership is composed of academics with experience and expertise gained and formed in both the world's leading institutions. Operating in China's top university, the center hopes to increase its role as an elite source of information concerning China's development and growth in the 21st century.

History

The seminal period for the center occurred from October 2003 to July 2004 when "over one hundred of the world's leading economic experts" were consulted regarding establishment. Following positive feedback, recruiting of research and administrative staff began. In September 2004, Tsinghua University formally approved the founding of the center. In February 2005, the center's executive committee was formed, holding its first meeting on 3 March of that year. In October 2005, the CCWE advisory board held its first meeting immediately preceding the first publication of the center's journal, China and World Affairs. In late October, the Center's new office location within the School of Economics and Management (SEM) became ready for use, and the formal launch of the center with its founding partner BP-China was held on October 31, 2005.

Activities

The CCWE is primarily focuses on in-depth research on China's economic development and reform. Research interests include comparative institutional, macroeconomic, and political economic strategy policy understandings, forecasts, and recommendations. Such research is promulgated via the Center's quarterly journal, working papers, and monthly bulletin publications.

Further involvement in the international academic community include the hosting of the China in the World Economy Public Lecture Series, Policy Briefing Sessions (PBS), Roundtables, the China Policy Update, international conferences, and various workshops. CCWE has also participated in IMF and World Bank forums and conferences.

Recent conferences hosted by the CCWE have centered on topics such as the Sichuan Earthquake and the Global Financial Crisis.

China and World Affairs

The main activity of the center concerns the quarterly publication of the academic journal, China and World Affairs, which was first published in October 2005. Edited and published within the CCWE by a team of professors, graduate students, editors, and staff; China and World Affairs is a policy journal primarily concerned with disseminating and proposing strategic policy as regards China's emergence onto the global stage since economic reform began in the late 1970s.

The journal is composed of both Chinese and English articles. Hence, the center has both Chinese and English editing teams and submission procedures for both types of articles. Since its inception, the journal has expanded both the size of its publication as well as the amount of English articles included. Since the autumn of 2008, each journal edition focuses on approximately four key issues under which included articles are organized under. Articles are published by a host of academics mainly from within China and from universities including Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, University of Hong Kong, Nankai University, Renmin University, and many other key universities located in Beijing and elsewhere. Published articles also include those written by military personnel and government officials.

Structure

Director

Professor David Daokui Li is currently a Mansfield Freeman Chair Professor Economic and the Director of the Center for China in the World Economy. He is also the directory of the Tsinghua SEM Finance department.

Professor Li holds a PhD in economics from Harvard University. Prior to taking up post in his Alma mater, Dr. Li held positions at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Stanford's Hoover Institution, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His research areas include economic development, the Chinese economy, applied economic theory, corporate finance, and international economics. His research on the Chinese economy covers China's state enterprise reform, property rights arrangements of non-state enterprises, reform of government agencies, and China's banking sector reform. Professor Li is also an honorary professor at both Sichuan and Nankai Universities.

The Advisory Board

Constituting the Center's advisory board is an elite group of business leaders, academics, and policy makers. Members stand at the forefront of their fields ensuring that the CCWE's research activities match the highest international standards.^[1] They include:

1) Iain Conn

2) Jiankun HE

3) Lawrence J. Lau

4) Kenneth Lieberthal

5) Yongtu LONG

6) Jiwei LOU

7) James Mirrlees

8) Dwight H. Perkins

9) Joseph Stiglitz

10) John Thorton

11) Jinglian WU

12) Yunlai ZHU

13) Chunjun ZHAO

Executive Committee

1) Yingyi QIAN

2) David Daokui LI

3) Jiange LI

4) Grace REN

Research and Administrative Staff

In addition to the advisory board and executive committee, the CCWE is composed of resident, part-time, and visiting research fellows; editors; research staff including graduate students; and administrative staff.

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References