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Keun Lee

Keun Lee

Writing for PS since 2021
16 commentaries

Keun Lee, a former vice chair of the National Economic Advisory Council for the President of South Korea and a former president of the International Schumpeter Society, is Professor of Economics at Seoul National University, winner of the 2014 Schumpeter Prize, and the author of China’s Technological Leapfrogging and Economic Catch-up: A Schumpeterian Perspective (Oxford University Press, 2022).

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  1. Making the Most of FDI
    klee18_Daniel BerehulakGetty Images_shenzhen Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

    Making the Most of FDI

    Feb 22, 2024 Keun Lee considers what it takes to convert foreign investment into growth, development, and technological upgrading.

  2. South Korea and the US-China Rivalry
    klee17_Chris JungNurPhoto via Getty Images_south korea Chris JungNurPhoto via Getty Images

    South Korea and the US-China Rivalry

    Dec 22, 2023 Keun Lee shows that, while protectionist policies benefit some firms, the overall effect on third parties is negative.

  3. Time For a Coffee Cartel?
    klee16_CARL DE SOUZAAFP via Getty Images_coffee CARL DE SOUZA/AFP via Getty Images

    Time For a Coffee Cartel?

    Oct 25, 2023 Keun Lee thinks producers in the Global South should consider the option to boost their bargaining power and revenues.

  4. The Key to Greening Heavy Industry
    klee15_ INA FASSBENDERAFP via Getty Images_green hydrogen INA FASSBENDERAFP via Getty Images

    The Key to Greening Heavy Industry

    Aug 21, 2023 Keun Lee & John Mathews tout breakthroughs in green-hydrogen production that promise to accelerate the net-zero transition.

  5. Keun Lee on AI, Chinese growth, innovation systems, and more
    GettyImages-1481133084

    Keun Lee on AI, Chinese growth, innovation systems, and more

    Aug 15, 2023 Keun Lee considers what artificial intelligence requires of governments, identifies lessons for advanced economies pursuing industrial policy, highlights the risk inequality poses to China’s development, and more.

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  1. skidelsky200_Getty Images_speech Getty Images

    The Language of Political Control

    Robert Skidelsky views recent linguistic innovations as manipulative efforts to compel “correct” thought and perception.
  2. basu101_Alfonso Sangiao iStock  Getty Images Plus_voting Alfonso Sangiao/iStock / Getty Images Plus

    Globalization vs. Democracy

    Kaushik Basu highlights the contradictions and vulnerabilities inherent in the current international order.
  3. coyle36 Alishia AbodundeGetty Images INFRASTRUCTURE Alishia Abodunde/Getty Images

    The West’s New Infrastructure Imperative

    Diane Coyle explains why a broader conception of the term could reflect a renewed interest in investing in the future.
  4. bp iran israel Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images

    An Iran-Israel War?

    Iran’s mass ballistic missile and drone attack on Israel last week raised anew the specter of a widening Middle East war that draws in Iran and its proxies, as well as Western countries like the United States. The urgent need to defuse tensions – starting by ending Israel’s war in Gaza and pursuing a lasting political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – is obvious, but can it be done?

  5. nasheed3_MANDEL NGANAFP via Getty Images_georgieva MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

    What a Climate-Aligned IMF Would Look Like

    Mohamed Nasheed & Rakesh Mohan explain how the managing director can fully position the institution to help the most vulnerable countries.
  6. ghosh76_Kristin Palitzapicture alliance via Getty Images_afrigen Kristin Palitza/picture alliance via Getty Images

    The Key to Transforming African Health

    Jayati Ghosh highlights efforts to foster scientific innovation and drug manufacturing on the continent.
  7. op_roach3_ Kevin FrayerGetty Images_china lagging consumption Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

    China’s Rebalancing Imperative

    Stephen S. Roach

    The most successful development stories almost always involve major shifts in the sources of economic growth, which in turn allow economies to reinvent themselves out of necessity or by design. In China, the interplay of mounting external pressures, lagging household consumption, and falling productivity will increasingly shape China’s policy choices in the years ahead.

    explains why the Chinese authorities should switch to a consumption- and productivity-led growth model.
  8. castaneda88_GERARDO MENOSCALAFP via Getty Images_latin america safety GERARDO MENOSCAL/AFP via Getty Images

    From Welfare State to Safe State in Latin America

    Jorge G. Castañeda & Carlos Ominami

    Designing a progressive anti-violence strategy that delivers the safety for which a huge share of Latin Americans crave is perhaps the most difficult challenge facing many of the region’s governments. But it is also the most important.

    urge the region’s progressives to start treating security as an essential component of social protection.
  9. ocampo57_Celal GunesAnadolu Agency via Getty Images_imf Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

    The Urgency of Sovereign-Debt Restructuring

    José Antonio Ocampo highlights the need for a comprehensive mechanism to deliver relief to low- and middle-income countries.

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