Event

Same engine, new fuel? China’s economic model and the AI bet

This event hosted by UK think tank Chatham House Experts discusses China’s economic model and the AI bet.

China’s investment-and-export-led model of economic growth has been central to its rise in economic and political prominence. Investment of high levels of domestic savings into a financial system with highly subsidised infrastructure has enabled China to achieve higher economic growth than most countries at similar levels of development.

However, strong systemic challenges are adding pressure to this approach. Diminishing rates of return make it more difficult to generate growth on an additional unit of investment than even ten years ago. Prolonged disruption to the domestic property market has undermined local finances, household sentiment and domestic demand, resulting in a deflationary spiral. Without a strong consumption-driven economy, international demand for China’s goods and services has kept it afloat.

To deliver its growth agenda, China’s 15th five -year plan outlines its innovative ‘AI Plus’ Initiative, which envisions integration of artificial intelligence economy-wide as the route to being a “modernised socialist state” by 2035. But with an ageing population, low productivity growth and high youth unemployment, questions remain about the sustainability of its superstar model, and whether artificial intelligence can deliver on the state’s political promises.

Join us for a timely conversation chaired by Ben Bland, Director of Chatham House’s Asia-Pacific Programme, with Dr Yu Jie, Senior Research Fellow on China; James Kynge, Senior Research Fellow for China and the World; and David Lubin, Michael Klein Senior Research Fellow in Chatham House’s Global Economy and Finance Programme, as they assess the challenges and opportunities in the Chinese economy.

Speakers

Event chaired by Ben Bland.

Ben Bland – Director, Asia-Pacific Programme

James Kynge – Senior Research Fellow for China and the World, Asia-Pacific Program

David Lubin – Michael Klein Senior Research Fellow, Global Economy and Finance Programme

Dr Yu Jie – Senior Research Fellow on China, Asia-Pacific Programme