Will Xi Jinping be successful?

Xi Jinping came to power tasked with resolving formidable economic and political challenges from an increasingly complex society. The leadership chose an economic strategy of “market allocation of resources,” a political strategy of centralization and repression. Do conflicts between the economic and political strategies threaten a new “lost decade?” 

William H. Overholt has been a Senior Research Fellow or Senior Fellow in Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and previously the Harvard Asia Center since 2008. During 2013-15 he also served as President of the Fung Global Institute in Hong Kong. His career includes 16 years doing policy research at think tanks and 21 years running investment bank research teams. Previously he held the Asia Policy Distinguished Research Chair at RAND’s California headquarters and was Director of the Center for Asia Pacific Policy; concurrently he was Visiting Professor at Shanghai Jiaodong University and, earlier, Distinguished Visiting Professor at Korea’s Yonsei University. During 21 years in investment banking, he served as Head of Strategy and Economics at Nomura’s regional headquarters in Hong Kong from 1998 to 2001, and as Managing Director and Head of Research at Bank Boston's regional headquarters in Singapore. For Bankers Trust, he ran a country risk team in New York from 1980 to 1984, then was regional strategist and Asia research head based in Hong Kong from 1985 to 1998. At Hudson Institute from 1971 to 1979, Dr. Overholt directed planning studies for the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of State, National Security Council, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Council on International Economic Policy. As Director of Hudson Research Services, he also did strategic planning for corporations. Dr. Overholt has published eight books, including China’s Crisis of Success (Cambridge University Press, 2018); Renminbi Rising The Emergence of a New Global Monetary System (Wiley, 2016) and Asia, America and the Transformation of Geopolitics (Cambridge University Press, 2007); The Rise of China (W.W. Norton, 1993; and (with William Ascher) Strategic Planning and Forecasting (John Wiley, 1983). He is principal co-author of Asia's Nuclear Future (Westview Press, 1976) and The Future of Brazil (Westview Press, 1978). With Zbigniew Brzezinski, he founded the periodical Global Assessment in 1976 and edited it until 1988. Dr. Overholt received his B.A. (magna, 1968) from Harvard and his Master of Philosophy (1970) and Ph.D. (1972) from Yale.

Lunch will be served. RSVPs are helpful mrcbg@hks.harvard.edu