How China Escaped the Poverty Trap
WINNER OF THE 2017 PETER KATZENSTEIN BOOK PRIZE "BEST OF BOOKS IN 2017" BY FOREIGN AFFAIRS WINNER OF THE 2018 VIVIAN ZELIZER PRIZE BEST BOOK AWARD IN ECONOMIC SOCIOLOGY " How China Escaped the Poverty Trap truly offers game-changing ideas for the analysis and implementation of socio-economic develop...
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| التنسيق: | Online |
| اللغة: | الإنجليزية |
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Cornell University Press
2026
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| الموضوعات: | |
| الوصول للمادة أونلاين: | ONIX_20260429T161216_9781501706400_2 |
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| _version_ | 1869518429421043712 |
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| author | Ang, Yuen Yuen |
| author_browse | Ang, Yuen Yuen |
| author_facet | Ang, Yuen Yuen |
| author_sort | Ang, Yuen Yuen |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | WINNER OF THE 2017 PETER KATZENSTEIN BOOK PRIZE "BEST OF BOOKS IN 2017" BY FOREIGN AFFAIRS WINNER OF THE 2018 VIVIAN ZELIZER PRIZE BEST BOOK AWARD IN ECONOMIC SOCIOLOGY " How China Escaped the Poverty Trap truly offers game-changing ideas for the analysis and implementation of socio-economic development and should have a major impact across many social sciences." ― Zelizer Best Book in Economic Sociology Prize Committee Acclaimed as "game changing" and "field shifting," How China Escaped the Poverty Trap advances a new paradigm in the political economy of development and sheds new light on China's rise. How can poor and weak societies escape poverty traps? Political economists have traditionally offered three answers: "stimulate growth first," "build good institutions first," or "some fortunate nations inherited good institutions that led to growth." Yuen Yuen Ang rejects all three schools of thought and their underlying assumptions: linear causation, a mechanistic worldview, and historical determinism. Instead, she launches a new paradigm grounded in complex adaptive systems, which embraces the reality of interdependence and humanity's capacity to innovate. Combining this original lens with more than 400 interviews with Chinese bureaucrats and entrepreneurs, Ang systematically reenacts the complex process that turned China from a communist backwater into a global juggernaut in just 35 years. Contrary to popular misconceptions, she shows that what drove China's great transformation was not centralized authoritarian control, but "directed improvisation"—top-down directions from Beijing paired with bottom-up improvisation among local officials. Her analysis reveals two broad lessons on development. First, transformative change requires an adaptive governing system that empowers ground-level actors to create new solutions for evolving problems. Second, the first step out of the poverty trap is to "use what you have"—harnessing existing resources to kick-start new markets, even if that means defying first-world norms. Bold and meticulously researched, How China Escaped the Poverty Trap opens up a whole new avenue of thinking for scholars, practitioners, and anyone seeking to build adaptive systems. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-176118 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Cornell University Press |
| publisherStr | Cornell University Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1761182026-06-04T07:09:02Z How China Escaped the Poverty Trap Ang, Yuen Yuen Emerging markets Ancient China China Economic history Institutional change Market creation Yuen Yuen Ang Cultural Revolution Political economy Asian history Development economics China’s rise Deng Xiaoping Complex systems Communist Party Development strategy Poverty trap Economics Policy adaptation Economic development in china Modernization theory Economic transformation Economic conditions in china Chinese history Bottom-up reform State-led capitalism Confucius Chinese economic policy Governance innovation Far East Institutional economics Adaptive systems History of chinese economy Directed improvisation China's economic development Growth and institutions Economic sociology Global development Chinese bureaucracy thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHF Asian history thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KC Economics::KCP Political economy thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KC Economics::KCM Development economics and emerging economies thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KC Economics::KCZ Economic history WINNER OF THE 2017 PETER KATZENSTEIN BOOK PRIZE "BEST OF BOOKS IN 2017" BY FOREIGN AFFAIRS WINNER OF THE 2018 VIVIAN ZELIZER PRIZE BEST BOOK AWARD IN ECONOMIC SOCIOLOGY " How China Escaped the Poverty Trap truly offers game-changing ideas for the analysis and implementation of socio-economic development and should have a major impact across many social sciences." ― Zelizer Best Book in Economic Sociology Prize Committee Acclaimed as "game changing" and "field shifting," How China Escaped the Poverty Trap advances a new paradigm in the political economy of development and sheds new light on China's rise. How can poor and weak societies escape poverty traps? Political economists have traditionally offered three answers: "stimulate growth first," "build good institutions first," or "some fortunate nations inherited good institutions that led to growth." Yuen Yuen Ang rejects all three schools of thought and their underlying assumptions: linear causation, a mechanistic worldview, and historical determinism. Instead, she launches a new paradigm grounded in complex adaptive systems, which embraces the reality of interdependence and humanity's capacity to innovate. Combining this original lens with more than 400 interviews with Chinese bureaucrats and entrepreneurs, Ang systematically reenacts the complex process that turned China from a communist backwater into a global juggernaut in just 35 years. Contrary to popular misconceptions, she shows that what drove China's great transformation was not centralized authoritarian control, but "directed improvisation"—top-down directions from Beijing paired with bottom-up improvisation among local officials. Her analysis reveals two broad lessons on development. First, transformative change requires an adaptive governing system that empowers ground-level actors to create new solutions for evolving problems. Second, the first step out of the poverty trap is to "use what you have"—harnessing existing resources to kick-start new markets, even if that means defying first-world norms. Bold and meticulously researched, How China Escaped the Poverty Trap opens up a whole new avenue of thinking for scholars, practitioners, and anyone seeking to build adaptive systems. 2026-05-01T05:41:11Z 2026-05-01T05:41:11Z 2026-04-30T09:42:05Z 2016 book ONIX_20260429T161216_9781501706400_2 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/112739 9781501706400 9781501705854 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/176118 eng Cornell Studies in Political Economy open access image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/112739/1/9781501705854.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/112739/1/9781501705854.pdf Cornell University Press Cornell University Press 05937e7b-c222-4680-9580-c09c5ce7a11e 9781501706400 9781501705854 Cornell University Press 344 Ithaca open access |
| spellingShingle | Emerging markets Ancient China China Economic history Institutional change Market creation Yuen Yuen Ang Cultural Revolution Political economy Asian history Development economics China’s rise Deng Xiaoping Complex systems Communist Party Development strategy Poverty trap Economics Policy adaptation Economic development in china Modernization theory Economic transformation Economic conditions in china Chinese history Bottom-up reform State-led capitalism Confucius Chinese economic policy Governance innovation Far East Institutional economics Adaptive systems History of chinese economy Directed improvisation China's economic development Growth and institutions Economic sociology Global development Chinese bureaucracy thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHF Asian history thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KC Economics::KCP Political economy thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KC Economics::KCM Development economics and emerging economies thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KC Economics::KCZ Economic history Ang, Yuen Yuen How China Escaped the Poverty Trap |
| title | How China Escaped the Poverty Trap |
| title_full | How China Escaped the Poverty Trap |
| title_fullStr | How China Escaped the Poverty Trap |
| title_full_unstemmed | How China Escaped the Poverty Trap |
| title_short | How China Escaped the Poverty Trap |
| title_sort | how china escaped the poverty trap |
| topic | Emerging markets Ancient China China Economic history Institutional change Market creation Yuen Yuen Ang Cultural Revolution Political economy Asian history Development economics China’s rise Deng Xiaoping Complex systems Communist Party Development strategy Poverty trap Economics Policy adaptation Economic development in china Modernization theory Economic transformation Economic conditions in china Chinese history Bottom-up reform State-led capitalism Confucius Chinese economic policy Governance innovation Far East Institutional economics Adaptive systems History of chinese economy Directed improvisation China's economic development Growth and institutions Economic sociology Global development Chinese bureaucracy thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHF Asian history thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KC Economics::KCP Political economy thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KC Economics::KCM Development economics and emerging economies thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KC Economics::KCZ Economic history |
| topic_facet | Emerging markets Ancient China China Economic history Institutional change Market creation Yuen Yuen Ang Cultural Revolution Political economy Asian history Development economics China’s rise Deng Xiaoping Complex systems Communist Party Development strategy Poverty trap Economics Policy adaptation Economic development in china Modernization theory Economic transformation Economic conditions in china Chinese history Bottom-up reform State-led capitalism Confucius Chinese economic policy Governance innovation Far East Institutional economics Adaptive systems History of chinese economy Directed improvisation China's economic development Growth and institutions Economic sociology Global development Chinese bureaucracy thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHF Asian history thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KC Economics::KCP Political economy thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KC Economics::KCM Development economics and emerging economies thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KC Economics::KCZ Economic history |
| url | ONIX_20260429T161216_9781501706400_2 |
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