Justin Yifu Lin

Lin was born on 15 October 1952 in Yilan County, Taiwan, as "Lin Zhengyi". Lin attended high school in National Yilan Senior High School. In 1971, he was admitted to the National Taiwan University's College of agriculture to study agricultural machinery under the department of agricultural engineering. Pillsbury remembered Lin being the president of the student body in 1971 while was studying Chinese at the same university.[2] During his military training in 1971, Lin applied to enlist rather than return to the university. He transferred to the Republic of China Military Academy, graduating from its 44th class in 1975.

Justin Yifu Lin and his wife at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2009

In 1976 Lin entered the MBA program at National Chengchi University in Taiwan on a defense scholarship and returned to the army upon receiving his MBA in 1978. As a captain in the Republic of China Army in Taiwan, he defected to Mainland China on May 17, 1979, from the island of Kinmen off the coast of Fujian to the nearby island of Xiamen of Mainland China. Lin left his pregnant wife and his three-year-old child in Taiwan; a year after he defected, he was declared "missing" by the ROC Army and his wife claimed the equivalent of US$31,000 from the government.[3] His wife and their children joined him years later when both of them went to study in the United States.[4] While an officer in the ROC Army, Lin was held up as a model soldier; after his desertion, the ROC originally listed him as missing but in 2000 issued an order for his arrest on charges of defection.[5]

In a letter written to his family in Taiwan about a year after his defection, Lin stated that "based on my cultural, historical, political, economic and military understanding, it is my belief that returning to the motherland is a historical inevitability; it is also the optimal choice."[3][6] A National Taiwan University alumnus Hongsheng Zheng (鄭鴻生) confirmed Lin's reason and motive.[7] Lin's oldest brother said it was unfair to brand his younger brother a traitor. "I don't understand why people regard him as a villain," he said. "My brother just wanted to pursue his ambitions."[4]

Lin received a Master's degree in political economy from Peking University in 1982, and a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago in 1986.

He was one of the first PRC citizens to receive a PhD in economics from The University of Chicago,[8] and is a leading Chinese economist; he serves as a consultant to major international organizations and is on the editorial board of several international academic economics journals.

On September 16, 2008, Fordham University honored Justin Yifu Lin a reception for his being chief economist and senior vice president of the World Bank.[9]

He received an Honorary Doctorate from Fordham in 2009[10] and was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy in 2010. His 2012 book, The Quest for Prosperity: How Developing Economies Can Take Off, argued for an active role for government in nurturing development, not just through the traditional provision of infrastructure and legal enforcement, but also by identifying and actively supporting industries that contribute to growth.[11]

Lin is the founder and first director of the China Center for Economic Research and a former professor of economics at Peking University and at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He is also an adviser to the China Finance 40 Forum (CF40).[12]

Lin, Justin Yifu, Fang Cai, and Zhou Li. The China Miracle: Development Strategy and Economic Reform. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2003.

Lin, Justin Yifu. Demystifying the Chinese Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Lin, Justin Yifu. The Quest for Prosperity: How Developing Economies Can Take Off. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012.

Lin, Justin Yifu. New structural economics: A framework for rethinking development and policy. The World Bank, 2012.

Lin, Justin Yifu. “The Household Responsibility System in China’s Agricultural Reform: A Theoretical and Empirical Study.” Economic Development and Cultural Change 36, no. 3 (1988): 199–224.

Lin, Justin Yifu. “Rural Reforms and Agricultural Growth in China,” American Economic Review, 82 no. 1 (1992): 34-51.

Lin, Justin Yifu and Dennis Tao Yang. “On the Causes of China’s Agricultural Crisis and the Great Leap Famine,” China Economic Review 9, no. 2 (1998): 125–140.

Lin, Justin Yifu. “Competition, Policy Burdens, and State-owned Enterprise Reform,” American Economic Review, 88 no. 2 (1998): 422-27.

Lin, Justin Yifu. and Zhiqiang Liu. “Fiscal Decentralization and Economic Growth in China.” Economic Development and Cultural Change 49, no. 1 (2000): 1–21.

Lin, Justin Yifu. “China and the Global Economy,” China Economic Journal, 4 no. 1 (2011): 1-14

Lin, Justin Yifu. “New Structural Economics: A Framework for Rethinking Development,” World Bank Research Observer, 26, no. 2 (2011): 193-221.