Meet the Minds: Economics East and West Experts Dali L. Yang and Austan Goolsbee

A new American president, a possibly cooling pandemic, and the ongoing trade war between the United States and China are the backdrop for a wide-ranging discussion between Professors Austan D. Goolsbee and Dali L. Yang at 6 p.m. Chicago time on February 24 and at 8 a.m. Hong Kong time on February 25. 

The event, which is part of the “A Meeting of the Minds” discussion series co-sponsored by Chicago Booth and the Stevanovich Institute on the Formation of Knowledge, will be moderated by Joshua Cooper Ramo, AB ’92, vice chairman and co-CEO of Kissinger Associates, a global strategic consulting firm based in New York City. 

Among other issues, the panelists will examine how the two regions have differed in their responses to the COVID-19 crisis, how the recent American election will affect those strategies, and the barriers and challenges that continue to affect relations between the United States and its largest trading partner.

The “A Meeting of the Minds” series is about the intersection of business and the humanities and brings together a broad spectrum of scholars and professionals to explore the commonalities and differences in these separate spheres. The goal is to foster a more richly nuanced understanding of how economics affects the human condition. 

In the upcoming “A Meeting of the Minds” discussion, Professor Goolsbee, one of Booth’s thought leaders on the US and global economy, will exchange views and predictions with Professor Yang, the founding faculty director of the University of Chicago Center in Beijing and a widely recognized expert on Chinese politics and culture.

Professor Goolsbee joined Chicago Booth in 1995 and is currently the Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics as well as a widely quoted writer and commentator on economic issues in publications such as The New York Times, Politico, and Bloomberg. Most recently, he has spoken at previous Economic Outlook events at Chicago Booth and discussed President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package. 

Previously, Professor Goolsbee was a member of President Barack Obama’s cabinet where he served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and chief economist for the Economic Recovery Advisory Board. 

Dali L. Yang is the William Claude Reavis Professor in UChicago’s Department of Political Science. In addition, he serves as Provost of Global Initiatives for the university and as a senior advisor to President Robert Zimmer. In the last month, he has been quoted in The Washington Post and other outlets about the Chinese government’s stance on issues relating to the COVID-19 crisis. 

Professor Yang joined the Department of Political Science in 1992 and over the years has served as the director of the Committee on International Relations, the Center for East Asian Studies, and the Confucius Institute. 

Professor Yang’s books include Child and Youth Well-being in China (coauthor; Routledge, 2019) and Remaking the Chinese Leviathan: Market Transition and the Politics of Governance in China (Stanford University Press, 2004).

Leading the discussion will be moderator Joshua Cooper Ramo, the author of three books, including the New York Times bestseller The Seventh Sense: Power, Fortune and Survival in the Age of Networks (Little, Brown and Company, 2016).