Ha-Joon Chang | |
|---|---|
 Chang in 2011 | |
| Born | (1963-10-07)7 October 1963 (age 61)[1] Seoul, South Korea |
| Academic career | |
| Field | Development economics |
| Institution | SOAS University of London |
| School or tradition | Institutional economics |
| Alma mater | |
| Doctoral advisor | Robert Rowthorn John Hicks |
| Influences | Robert Rowthorn Joseph Stiglitz |
| Awards | Gunnar Myrdal Prize 2003,Wassily Leontief Prize 2005 |
| Information atIDEAS / RePEc | |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 장하준 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 張夏准 |
| Revised Romanization | Jang Hajun |
| McCune–Reischauer | Chang Hachun |
| Korean pronunciation:[tɕaŋɦa.dʑun] | |
Ha-Joon Chang (/tʃæŋ/;Korean: 장하준; born 7 October 1963) is a South Koreaneconomist andacademic. Chang specialises ininstitutional economics anddevelopment, and lectured in economics at theUniversity of Cambridge from 1990–2021 before becoming professor of economics at theSchool of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in 2022.[2][3] Chang is the author of several bestselling books on economics and development policy, most notablyKicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective (2002).[4][5][6] In 2013,Prospect magazine ranked Chang as one of the top 20 World Thinkers.[7]
Chang has served as a consultant to theWorld Bank, theAsian Development Bank, theEuropean Investment Bank, as well as toOxfam[8] and variousUnited Nations agencies.[9] He is also a fellow at theCenter for Economic and Policy Research[10] inWashington, D.C. In addition, Chang serves on the advisory board ofAcademics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP).
After graduating fromSeoul National University's Department of Economics, he studied at theUniversity of Cambridge, earning anMPhil and aPhD for his thesis entitledThe Political Economy of Industrial Policy – Reflections on the Role of State Intervention in 1991. Chang's contribution toeconomics started while studying underRobert Rowthorn, a leading BritishMarxist economist,[11] with whom he worked on the elaboration of the theory ofindustrial policy, which he described as a middle way betweencentral planning and an unrestrainedfree market. His work in this area is part of a broader approach to economics known as institutionalist political economy which places economic history and socio-political factors at the centre of the evolution of economic practices.[12]
In his bookKicking Away the Ladder (which won theEuropean Association for Evolutionary Political Economy's 2003Gunnar Myrdal Prize), Chang argued that all majordeveloped countries used interventionist economic policies in order to get rich and then tried to forbid other countries from doing the same. TheWorld Trade Organization,World Bank, andInternational Monetary Fund come in for strong criticism from Chang for "ladder-kicking" of this type which, he argues, is the fundamental obstacle to poverty alleviation in thedeveloping world. This and other work led to his being awarded the 2005Wassily Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought from theGlobal Development and Environment Institute (previous prize-winners includeAmartya Sen,John Kenneth Galbraith,Herman Daly,Alice Amsden andRobert Wade).[13][14]
The book's methodology was criticized by American Douglas Irwin, Professor of Economics atDartmouth College and author of a 2011 study of theSmoot–Hawley tariff,[15] writing on the website of theEconomic History Association:
Chang only looks at countries that developed during the nineteenth century and a small number of the policies they pursued. He did not examine countries that failed to develop in the nineteenth century and see if they pursued the same heterodox policies only more intensively. This is a poor scientific and historical method. Suppose a doctor studied people with long lives and found that some smoked tobacco, but did not study people with shorter lives to see if smoking was even more prevalent. Any conclusions drawn only from the observed relationship would be quite misleading.[16]
Chang countered Irwin's criticisms by arguing that countries that had failed to develop had generally followed free market policies. Chang also argued that while state interventionism sometimes produced economic failures, it had a better record than unregulatedfree market economies which, he maintained, very rarely succeeded in producing economic development. He cited evidence thatGDP growth in developing countries had been higher prior to external pressures recommendingderegulation and extended his analysis to the failures of free trade to induce growth throughprivatisation and anti-inflationary policies.[17] Chang's book won plaudits fromNobel Prize–winning economistJoseph Stiglitz for its fresh insight and effective blend of contemporary and historical cases but was criticised by former World Bank economistWilliam Easterly, who said that Chang used selective evidence in his book. Chang responded to Easterly's criticisms, asserting that Easterly misread his argument. Easterly in turn provided a counter-reply.[18][19]
Stanley Engerman, Professor of Economic History atUniversity of Rochester praised Chang's approach:
Ha-Joon Chang has examined a large body of historical material to reach some very interesting and important conclusions about institutions and economic development. Not only is the historical picture re-examined, but Chang uses this to argue the need for a changing attitude to the institutions desired in today's developing nations. Both as historical reinterpretation and policy advocacy,Kicking Away the Ladder deserves a wide audience among economists, historians, and members of the policy establishment.[20]
Following up on the ideas ofKicking Away the Ladder, Chang publishedBad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism in December 2008.[21]
Chang's next book,23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism, was released in 2011. It offers a twenty-three point rebuttal to aspects of neo-liberal capitalism. This includes assertions such as "Making rich people richer doesn't make the rest of us richer," "Companies should not be run in the interests of their owners," and "The washing machine has changed the world more than the internet has." This book questions the assumptions behind the dogma of neo-liberal capitalism and offers a vision of how we can shape capitalism to humane ends. This marks a broadening of Chang's focus from his previous books that were mainly critiques of neo-liberal capitalism as it related to developing countries. In this book, Chang begins to discuss the issues of the current neo-liberal system across all countries.
Chang's 2014 book,Economics: The User's Guide, is an introduction to economics, written for the general public.[22]
He is the son of a former minister of industry and resources, Chang Jae-sik, brother of a historian and philosopher of science,Hasok Chang, and cousin of a prominent economist and professor atKorea University, Chang Ha-Seong.He lives in Cambridge with his wife, Hee-Jeong Kim, and two children, Yuna, and Jin-Gyu.[23]
