{"id":63502,"date":"2026-05-08T15:37:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T19:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/?p=63502"},"modified":"2026-05-08T15:37:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T19:37:39","slug":"justin-yifu-lin-on-chinas-modernization-path-for-the-2026-janetos-lecture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/2026\/05\/08\/justin-yifu-lin-on-chinas-modernization-path-for-the-2026-janetos-lecture\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Yifu Lin on China\u2019s Modernization Path for the 2026 Janetos Lecture"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Justin Yifu Lin gives Janetos Lecture, hosted by the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Frederick S. Pardee School welcomed Professor Justin Yifu Lin as the speaker for the 2026 Anthony C. Janetos Memorial Distinguished Lecture, where he delivered an in\u2011depth talk titled China\u2019s Modernization: Path and Implications<\/em>. As one of the world\u2019s leading scholars of development economics and China\u2019s political economy, Lin drew on a career spanning academia and global policymaking, from founding major research institutions at Peking University to serving as Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank.<\/p>\n

Moderated by Min Ye<\/a>, Professor of International Relations and Interim Director of the Pardee Center, the lecture explored what \u201cChinese\u2011style modernization\u201d means and why it matters for China and the Global South.<\/p>\n

\n

Lin situated China\u2019s modernization project within the broader history of global economic development, contrasting centuries of agrarian stagnation with the uneven gains that followed the Industrial Revolution. While early industrializers experienced rapid growth and rising life expectancy, he noted that many countries were left behind, producing a persistent divide between advanced and developing economies. Against this backdrop, Lin argued that China\u2019s challenge is to reach high\u2011income status in a compressed time frame while avoiding the inequality, environmental degradation, and conflict that accompanied earlier modernization efforts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Min Ye and Justin Yifu Lin speak at the Janetos Lecture, hosted by the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Central to the lecture were five defining features of Chinese\u2011style modernization, articulated by the Chinese Communist Party in 2022: development in a country of 1.4 billion people; the pursuit of \u201ccommon prosperity\u201d; the coordinated advancement of material and moral life; harmonious coexistence between humans and nature; and peaceful development.<\/p>\n

Lin emphasized that achieving these goals depends on New Structural Economics, which argues that countries should develop industries aligned with their factor endowments and competitive advantages. When economies follow this path, he explained, labor demand rises, wages increase, and growth benefits broad segments of society. \u201cIf you follow your competitive advantages in the process of structural transformation, you can have a common prosperity,\u201d Lin said, citing evidence from East Asia and across Chinese provinces.<\/p>\n

Lin also addressed concerns about demographic aging, arguing that population aging does not necessarily impede growth if countries invest in education and skills. What matters most, he stressed, is not the sheer number of workers, but the quality of labor,\u00a0defined as the combination of workforce size and education. He further explained how viable firms, supported by strong infrastructure and institutions rather than subsidies, generate the fiscal capacity for redistribution, environmental protection, and social investment\u2014linking economic competitiveness to sustainability and social equity.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Justin Yifu Lin gives Janetos Lecture, hosted by the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the following Q&A, Lin responded to critiques of China\u2019s development model, including accusations of \u201cdebt\u2011trap diplomacy,\u201d tensions between export\u2011led growth and common prosperity, and the risks of AI\u2011driven modernization. He argued that many criticisms misread the data and overlook the role of infrastructure, industrial upgrading, and policy coordination.<\/p>\n

Throughout the discussion, Lin returned to a normative core of his argument: \u201cFor me, development is a human right.\u201d Framing China\u2019s experience as both empirical evidence and a source of lessons, the lecture positioned Chinese\u2011style modernization as a provocative and consequential model for countries seeking inclusive, sustainable, and peaceful development paths.<\/p>\n

The full recorded lecture can be watched here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Frederick S. Pardee School welcomed Professor Justin Yifu Lin as the speaker for the 2026 Anthony C. Janetos Memorial Distinguished Lecture, where he delivered an in\u2011depth talk titled China\u2019s Modernization: Path and Implications. As one of the world\u2019s leading scholars of development economics and China\u2019s political economy, Lin drew on a career spanning academia…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25562,"featured_media":63664,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8431],"tags":[13462,1688,564,12772,11853,13461,8607,13463,8482],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63502"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25562"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63502"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63668,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63502\/revisions\/63668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}