Ha-Joon Chang
Ha-Joon Chang
Ha-Joon Changis a South Korean institutional economist specialising in development economics. Currently a reader in the Political Economy of Development at the University of Cambridge, Chang is the author of several widely discussed policy books, most notably Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective. Chang was ranked by Prospect magazine as one of the top 20 World Thinkers in 2013...
NationalitySouth Korean
ProfessionEconomist
Date of Birth7 October 1963
jobs people chance
A well-designed welfare state can actually encourage people to take chances with their jobs and be more, not less, open to changes.
different way very-good
There are different ways to organise capitalism. Free-market capitalism is only one of them-and not a very good one at that.
taken people effort
The widely accepted assertion that, only if you let markets be will everyone be paid correctly and thus fairly, according to his worth, is a myth. Only when we part with this myth and grasp the political nature of the market and the collective nature of individual productivity will we be able to build a more just society in which historical legacies and collective actions, and not just individual talents and efforts, are properly taken into account in deciding how to reward people.
capitalist-economy justice goal
Between the Great Depression and the 1970s, private business was viewed with suspicion even in most capitalist economies. Businesses were, so the story goes, seen as anti-social agents whose profit-seeking needed to be restrained for other, supposedly loftier, goals, such as justice, social harmony, protection of the weak and even national glory.
important prosperity manufacturing
Manufacturing is the most important ... route to prosperity.
free-market
There is no such thing as a free market.
economic form worst
To paraphrase Winston Churchill, capitalism is the worst economic system except for all the other forms.
important-events printing invention
The invention of the printing press was one of the most important events in human history.
democracy doe free-market
Democracy is acceptable to neo-liberals only in so far as it does not contradict the free market.
smart enough
We are not smart enough to leave things to the market.
block balance democracy
Democracy and markets are both fundamental building blocks for a decent society. But they clash at a fundamental level. We need to balance them.
corruption force
Corruption often exists because there are too many market forces, not too few.
development foundation acquisition
The foundation of economic development is the acquisition of more productive knowledge.
army technology innovation
The days are over when technology can be advanced in laboratories by individual scientists alone. Now you need an army of lawyers to negotiate the hazardous terrain of interlocking patents. Unless we find a solution to the problem of interlocking patents, the patent system may actually impede the very innovation it was designed to encourage.