Did you know, that the compass, gunpowder, paper, and the printing press, all history-changing technologies, were invented in China? Yet, the realization of their economic values happened in Europe, not in China. This is the story of the steep price that imperial China paid for the sake of stability and scale, a story that Communist China seems to be repeating now.

Dr. Yasheng Huang of MIT’s Sloan School of Management, HbN's guest for this subject, analyzes China's colossal economic successes and gigantic failures ("gigantic" is his word) in the context of innovation, freedom of ideas, and diversity of ideologies. Similar to other countries, China's economic success depends on the right balance between scope and scale, terms that Dr. Huang explains. But in most of China's long history, this balance has tipped towards scale, with grave consequences for China's economy and civilization. In this episode, Dr. Huang discusses the following:

Read more about this episode, see historical images and watch videos on the HbN website here.

This New York Times article, which I mention in this episode, is about a Chinese woman whose journey epitomizes the entrepreneurial spirit that was the backbone of China's economic miracle.

Is China's real estate debt structure, essentially one gigantic Ponzi scheme?

I hope you enjoy these episodes.

Adel

Host of the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠History Behind News⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ podcast

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