Yasheng Huang has written two of Tyler’s favorite books on China: Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics, which contrasts an entrepreneurial rural China and a state-controlled urban China, and The Rise and Fall of the EAST, which argues that Keju—China’s civil service exam system—played a key role in the growth and expanding power of the Chinese state.
Yasheng joined Tyler to discuss China’s lackluster technological innovation, why declining foreign investment is more of a concern than a declining population, why Chinese literacy stagnated in the 19th century, how he believes the imperial exam system deprived China of a thriving civil society, why Chinese succession has been so stable, why the Six Dynasties is his favorite period in Chinese history, why there were so few female emperors, why Chinese and Chinese Americans have done less well becoming top CEOs of American companies compared to Indians and Indian Americans, where he’d send someone on a two week trip to China, what he learned from János Kornai, and more.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.
Recorded January 17th, 2023
Other ways to connect
Patricia Fara on Newton, Scientific Progress, and the Benefits of Unhistoric Acts
Brian Armstrong on the Crypto Economy
Benjamin Friedman on the Origins of Economic Belief
Noubar Afeyan on the Permission to Leap
Conversations with Tyler 2020 Retrospective
John O. Brennan on Life in the CIA
Zach Carter on the Life and Legacy of John Maynard Keynes
Jimmy Wales on Systems and Incentives
Edwidge Danticat on Haitian Art and Literature
Michael Kremer on Economists as Founders
Audrey Tang on the Technology of Democracy
Alex Ross on Music, Culture, and Criticism
Matt Yglesias on Why the Population is Too Damn Low
Jason Furman on Productivity, Competition, and Growth
Nicholas Bloom on Management, Productivity, and Scientific Progress
Nathan Nunn on the Paths to Development
Melissa Dell on the Significance of Persistence
Annie Duke on Poker, Probabilities, and How We Make Decisions
Rachel Harmon on Policing
Ashley Mears on Status and Beauty
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Teachers Talk Radio
LifeBlood
Navigating Life After 40
The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast
The Mel Robbins Podcast