Yuen Yuen Ang's research delves into development as a non-linear, adaptive process, with China serving as a key case study. She challenges the notion of a universally superior institutional standard, demonstrating that seemingly weak institutions can be remarkably effective. Her work offers a nuanced perspective on how nations progress, highlighting the often unpredictable and context-specific nature of development.
By unbundling corruption into four distinct categories, Ang shows that the type of corruption that dominates in China - 'access money' (elite exchanges of power and profit) - perversely stimulates investment and growth while producing serious risks for the economy and political system.
How China Escaped the Poverty Trap offers the most complete synthesis to date of the numerous interacting forces that have shaped China's dramatic makeover and the problems it faces today. --Ha-Joon Chang, University of Cambridge, author of Kicking Away the Ladder and Economics "The World Bank"