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Shang-Jin Wei
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This week, Project Syndicate catches up with Shang-Jin Wei, a former chief economist at the Asian Development Bank.

Project Syndicate: Last August, you wrote that “paradoxically, a downturn in America could help to improve bilateral economic relations with China” – a prediction that, you noted, was grounded in recent history. And yet, now that a downturn has arrived, US President Donald Trump has arguably become even more antagonistic toward China, calling the COVID-19 coronavirus a “Chinese virus” and accusing the World Health Organization of promoting “Chinese disinformation” about the virus. Why is this downturn – a global crisis – so far not spurring bilateral cooperation? Do you see hope for a reversal?

Shang-Jin Wei: My statement last August is based on history: in the past, when the United States has faced economic or social difficulties – such as after the terrorist attacks of September, 11, 2001, and the 2008 global financial crisis – its appetite for international cooperation has tended to rise.

Officials recognized that international coordination and cooperation can go a long way in supporting national recovery policies. That is why more than 90 US foreign-policy experts, including former high-ranking White House officials from Republican and Democratic administrations, recently issued a joint statement urging Trump to work with China to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wei recommends

We ask all our Say More contributors to tell our readers about a few books that have impressed them recently. Here are Wei's picks:

From the PS Archive

From 2020

Wei rebuts common arguments against the use of face masks by the general public. Read more.

From 2019

Wei shows why American firms and households need China. Read more.

Around the web

Wei – together with Eswar Prasad, Kenneth Rogoff, and M. Ayhan Kose – examined economic policies that could help developing economies effectively manage the process of financial globalization. Read the paper.

As ADB Chief Economist, Wei described why Asia should welcome, not fear, a US interest-rate hike – a policy shift that now seems more distant than ever. Read the interview.

https://prosyn.org/cYtmecw