Excerpt

The study of economic development, though often confined to the realm of statistics, production, and policy, is in its essence a reflection on civilization itself—on how societies grow, decline, and regenerate through the interplay of knowledge, morality, and time. In the modern era, few nations exemplify this intricate dynamic more powerfully than China. Its transformation over the past century—from imperial fragmentation and colonial subjugation to industrial ascendance and technological preeminence— constitutes one of the most profound revolutions in human history. Yet beyond its numerical achievements lies a question of far greater significance: what moral architecture sustains such a transformation, and what lessons does it hold for the rest of the world? This collaborative work, authored by Luis David Fernández Zambrano and Dwight H. Perkins, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Economics at Harvard University, seeks to approach that question from multiple intellectual frontiers—economic, historical, philosophical, and civilizational. It invites the reader to transcend the conventional boundaries of economic analysis and to engage with development as a moral and cultural phenomenon, deeply rooted in the long rhythms of history and the perpetual variability of human societies.