Yuen Yuen Ang

Yuen Yuen Ang
洪源远
blurry image of Yuen Yuen Ang wearing a pink short-sleeved top and patterned scarf draped over her shoulders, in front of a desk with various items, including a computer keyboard and microphone, looking left of camera and appearing to speak.
Ang in 2024
Born
Singapore
OccupationProfessor of political economy
TitleAlfred Chandler Chair Professor of Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University
AwardsTheda Skocpol Prize (APSA), 2020
Academic background
Education
ThesisState, market, and bureau-contracting in reform China (2010)
Jean C. Oi
Academic work
Institutions
Websiteyuenyuenang.org
Yuen Yuen Ang
Simplified Chinese洪源远
Traditional Chinese洪源遠
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinHóng Yuányuǎn
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingHung4 Jyun4-jyun5
Southern Min
Hokkien POJÂng Guân-hn̄g
Teochew Peng'imAng5 Nguêng5-iêng2

Yuen Yuen Ang is a Singaporean professor of political science who is currently the Alfred Chandler Chair of Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of two books: How China Escaped the Poverty Trap (2016), named one of the "Best Books of 2017" by Foreign Affairs, and China's Gilded Age (2020).

Early life and education

Ang was born in Singapore. She studied at Colorado College and received a Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University in 2010.

Career

Ang was an assistant professor at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University in 2010–2011, and in 2011 became an associate professor of political science at the University 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's Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.

She is also active in public policy debates, and her opinion columns have been published in Foreign Affairs and Project Syndicate, among others. She has been interviewed on Freakonomics Radio and the Ezra Klein Show, among other outlets.

In 2023, Ang was appointed Alfred Chandler Chair of Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University.

Writing

Ang's first book, How China Escaped the Poverty Trap, won the Peter Katzenstein and Viviana Zelizer book prizes and was named among the "Best of Books" by Foreign Affairs. In a review published by the London School of Economics, Duncan Green wrote that "its lessons apply far beyond China's borders".

In China's Gilded Age (2020), Ang compares present-day China with 19th-century America, challenging assumptions of Chinese exceptionalism. The book received the Douglass North and Alice Amsden book prizes in 2022.

Publications

Books

Articles

Essays

Awards

Notes

  1. ↑ In this Chinese name, the family name is Ang.

References

  1. ↑ "Yuen Yuen Ang | JHU Alfred Chandler Chair Professor of Political Economy". YY+Ideas. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
  2. ↑ "Yuen Yuen Ang". SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins. Retrieved 17 August 2026.
  3. ↑ "The Best of Books 2017". Foreign Affairs. 6 July 2020.
  4. ↑ Dubner, Stephen J. Dubner (3 November 2021). "Is the U.S. Really Less Corrupt Than China? (Ep. 481)". Freakonomics. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  5. ↑ "Political Economist Yuen Yuen Ang Joins SNF Agora Faculty: Stavros Niarchos Foundation SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins".
  6. ↑ "AIM". YY+Ideas. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
  7. ↑ "Polytunity – The Ideas Letter". theideasletter.org. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
  8. ↑ Ang, Yuen Yuen (29 October 2025). "The Global Polytunity". Project Syndicate. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
  9. 1 2 Ang, Yuen Yuen (2025). "Adaptive Political Economy: Toward a New Paradigm". World Politics. 77 (1, suppl.): 51–67. ISSN 1086-3338.
  10. ↑ "Political Economist Yuen Yuen Ang Joins SNF Agora Faculty". snfagora.jhu. 12 January 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  11. ↑ Green, Green (2017). "Book Review of "How China Escaped the Poverty Trap"". LSE Review of Books.
  12. ↑ Ang, Yuen Yuen. "How Exceptional Is China's Crony-Capitalist Boom?". Project Syndicate. Archived from the original on 2 December 2025. Retrieved 24 March 2026.
  13. 1 2 "Winner of the 2022 Douglass North Best Book Prize | SIOE". sioe.org. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  14. 1 2 Bromberg, Jacob (21 June 2022). "SASE 2022 Alice Amsden Best Book Award". SASE. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  15. ↑ Ang, Yuen Yuen (2 February 2026). "AIM (Adaptive, Inclusive, Moral) Political Economy: Introduction and Applications". Oxford Development Studies: 1–9. doi:10.1080/13600818.2026.2622283. ISSN 1360-0818.
  16. ↑ Ang, Yuen Yuen (16 April 2018). "Autocracy With Chinese Characteristics". Foreign Affairs. No. May/June 2018. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  17. ↑ Ang, Yuen Yuen (29 June 2018). "The Real China Model". Foreign Affairs. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  18. ↑ Ang, Yuen Yuen (22 May 2019). "Demystifying Belt and Road". Foreign Affairs. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  19. ↑ Ang, Yuen Yuen (8 December 2021). "Decoding Xi Jinping". Foreign Affairs. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  20. ↑ "How Resilient Is the CCP?". Journal of Democracy. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  21. ↑ Ang, Yuen Yuen (2 December 2022). "The Problem With Zero". Foreign Affairs. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  22. ↑ Ang, Yuen Yuen (23 January 2023). "Is China Back?". The Wire China. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  23. ↑ Ang, Yuen Yuen (29 October 2025). "The Global Polytunity". Project Syndicate. Retrieved 10 November 2025.
  24. ↑ "Peter Katzenstein Book Prize". Cornell University Department of Government.
  25. ↑ Nathan, Andrew J. (15 December 2017). "How China Escaped the Poverty Trap". Foreign Affairs. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  26. ↑ "Meet 2018 Carnegie Fellow". Political Science Now. 17 August 2018.
  27. ↑ Mosseri, Sarah (11 September 2018). "Congrats to Yuen Yuen Ang, 2018 Zelizer Award for Best Book in Economic Sociology". Organizations, Occupations and Work. Retrieved 10 November 2025.
  28. ↑ "Dr. Yuen Yuen Ang Awarded Theda Skocpol Prize". Stanford University. 15 September 2020.