Singaporean political scientist
Yuen Yuen Ang [ a] political science who is currently the Alfred Chandler Chair of Political Economy atJohns Hopkins University .[ 1] How China Escaped the Poverty Trap (2016), named one of the "Best Books of 2017" byForeign Affairs [ 2] China's Gilded Age (2020).
Early life and education [ edit ] Ang was born inSingapore .[ 3] Colorado College and received a Ph.D. in political science fromStanford University in 2010.
Ang was an assistant professor at theSchool of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University in 2010–2011, and in 2011 became an associate professor of political science at theUniversity of Michigan . On 12 January 2023, she became the first newly named professor at the Center for Economy and Society (CES) and the Department of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University'sKrieger School of Arts and Sciences .[ 4] [ 5]
Ang's research focuses on the interactions between industrial development, technological innovation, and political structures, with an emphasis on China.
She is also active in public policy debates, and her opinion columns have been published inForeign Affairs Project Syndicate , among others.[ 6] [ 7] Freakonomics Radio Ezra Klein Show [ 8]
In 2023, Ang was appointed Alfred Chandler Chair of Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University.[ 9]
Ang describes China's decentralized economic policymaking process as "directed improvisation", in which thecentral government establishes policy directives and local governments determine policy details and implementation.[ 10] : 30
In her 2016 book,How China Escaped the Poverty Trap , Ang writes that the Chinese state harnessed weak institutions to develop markets and provided favorable conditions for institutions and markets to mutually develop.[ 10] : 180
"Autocracy with Chinese Characteristics",Foreign Affairs , 16 April 2018[ 11] "The Real China Model",Foreign Affairs , 29 June 2018[ 12] "Demystifying Belt and Road",Foreign Affairs , 22 May 2019[ 13] "Decoding Xi Jinping",Foreign Affairs , 8 December 2021[ 14] "How Resilient Is the CCP?"Journal of Democracy [ 15] "The Problem with Zero",Foreign Affairs [ 16] "Is China Back?"The Wire China [ 17] "The Global Polytunity",Project Syndicate , 29 October 2025.[ 18] 2017Peter Katzenstein Book Prize[ 19] 2017 Foreign Affairs "Best of Books" forHow China Escaped the Poverty Trap [ 20] 2018 Andrew Carnegie Fellow for "high-caliber scholarship that applies fresh perspectives to the most pressing issues of our times"[ 21] 2018 Viviana Zelizer Best Book in Economic Sociology, awarded by the American Sociological Association[ 22] 2020Theda Skocpol Prize, awarded by theAmerican Political Science Association for "impactful contributions to the study of comparative politics"[ 23] 2022Douglass North Best Book Prize, awarded by the Society for Institutional and Organizational Economics[ 24] 2022 Alice Amsden Book Award, awarded by the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics[ 25] ^ "Yuen Yuen Ang | JHU Alfred Chandler Chair Professor of Political Economy" .YY+Ideas . Retrieved6 December 2025 .^ "The Best of Books 2017" .Foreign Affairs . 6 July 2020.^ Dubner, Stephen J. Dubner (3 November 2021)."Is the U.S. Really Less Corrupt Than China? (Ep. 481)" .Freakonomics . Retrieved4 November 2021 . ^ "Political Economist Yuen Yuen Ang Joins SNF Agora Faculty: Stavros Niarchos Foundation SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins" .^ "AIM" .YY+Ideas . Retrieved6 December 2025 .^ "Polytunity – The Ideas Letter" .theideasletter.org . Retrieved6 December 2025 .^ Ang, Yuen Yuen (29 October 2025)."The Global Polytunity" .Project Syndicate . Retrieved6 December 2025 . ^ Ang, Yuen Yuen (2025)."Adaptive Political Economy: Toward a New Paradigm" .World Politics .77 (1, suppl.):51– 67.ISSN 1086-3338 . ^ "Political Economist Yuen Yuen Ang Joins SNF Agora Faculty" .snfagora.jhu . 12 January 2023. Retrieved15 May 2023 .^a b Liu, Lizhi (2024).From Click to Boom: The Political Economy of E-Commerce in China .Princeton University Press .ISBN 9780691254104 ^ Ang, Yuen Yuen (16 April 2018)."Autocracy With Chinese Characteristics" .Foreign Affairs . No. May/June 2018.ISSN 0015-7120 . Retrieved1 February 2024 . ^ Ang, Yuen Yuen (29 June 2018)."The Real China Model" .Foreign Affairs .ISSN 0015-7120 . Retrieved1 February 2024 . ^ Ang, Yuen Yuen (22 May 2019)."Demystifying Belt and Road" .Foreign Affairs .ISSN 0015-7120 . Retrieved1 February 2024 . ^ Ang, Yuen Yuen (8 December 2021)."Decoding Xi Jinping" .Foreign Affairs .ISSN 0015-7120 . Retrieved1 February 2024 . ^ "How Resilient Is the CCP?" .Journal of Democracy . Retrieved1 February 2024 .^ Ang, Yuen Yuen (2 December 2022)."The Problem With Zero" .Foreign Affairs .ISSN 0015-7120 . Retrieved1 February 2024 . ^ Ang, Yuen Yuen (23 January 2023)."Is China Back?" .The Wire China . Retrieved1 February 2024 . ^ Ang, Yuen Yuen (29 October 2025)."The Global Polytunity" .Project Syndicate . Retrieved10 November 2025 . ^ "Peter Katzenstein Book Prize" .Cornell University Department of Government .^ Nathan, Andrew J. (15 December 2017)."How China Escaped the Poverty Trap" .Foreign Affairs .ISSN 0015-7120 . Retrieved28 May 2023 . ^ "Meet 2018 Carnegie Fellow" .Political Science Now . 17 August 2018.^ Mosseri, Sarah (11 September 2018)."Congrats to Yuen Yuen Ang, 2018 Zelizer Award for Best Book in Economic Sociology" .Organizations, Occupations and Work . Retrieved10 November 2025 . ^ "Dr. Yuen Yuen Ang Awarded Theda Skocpol Prize" .Stanford University . 15 September 2020.^ "Winner of the 2022 Douglass North Best Book Prize | SIOE" .sioe.org . Retrieved27 February 2023 .^ Bromberg, Jacob (21 June 2022)."SASE 2022 Alice Amsden Best Book Award" .SASE . Retrieved28 May 2023 .
International National Academics People Other
