Professor John Wong will discuss Xi Jinping’s “supply side policy of structural reform” from an outsider’s viewpoint. The presentation will trace the development of economic theory and macroeconomic policy from the Classical Economics of Adam Smith through the Neo-Classical and Keynesian economics to the rise of Monetarism, and then the supply side economics. The presentation will show how the idea of supply side structural reform is a good synthesis of economic ideas relevant to current economic malaise in China, not “Voodoo Economics” as was then perceived in America.

Dr Henry Chan will use the Neo-Schumpeterian framework to analyse China’s  successful localization of its high speed train industry. The Neo-Schumpeterian framework argues that innovation and technological progress (initially through acquisition) is the a necessary pre-condition in establishing a new industry. This technology-centric industry development viewpoint is different from the traditional cost-benefit analysis using market as the driver of establishing a new industry or upgrading an industry. The presentation will highlight a new industry development model based on the experience of Chinese high speed rail industry.