home > the cfr think tank > experts > elizabeth c. economy
C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director for Asia Studies
Contact Info:
Phone: +1-212-434-9641
E-mail: eeconomy@cfr.org
Location:
New York, NY
Media downloads:
One-page bio (PDF, 57K)
Video clip (CR.MP4, 1.1 MB)
Video clip (WMV, 847K)
Award-winning author of The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenges to China’s Future. Currently writing a book on the implications of China’s global quest for natural resources.
Expertise:Chinese domestic and foreign policy; U.S.-China relations; global environmental issues.
Experience:Member, Board of Councilors, China-U.S. Center for Sustainable Development; member, Global Agenda Council on the Future of China, World Economic Forum; member, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations; member, Research Council, Institute for International Research at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies (2000-2002); member, Selection Committee for the Woodrow Wilson Center’s International Scholars Program (1999-2000); Cochair, Woodrow Wilson Center Working Group on China and the Environment (1997-99); member, Selection Committee of MacArthur Foundation Research Writing Competition (1996-98); periodically consults for agencies of the U.S. government; professorial lecturer, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University (1997); Research Fellow, Columbia University (1994); Visiting Assistant Professor of Chinese Foreign Policy, University of Washington (1993-94).
Languages:Chinese and Russian (familiar).
Honors:Received honorary degree from Vermont Law School (May 2008); The River Runs Black named best social sciences book published on Asia in 2003 or 2004 by the International Convention on Asia Scholars (June 2005); The River Runs Black named one of the top 10 books of 2004 by the Globalist; profiled in the National Journal’s special report on people whose ideas will help shape important policy issues after the 2004 presidential elections (May 2004).
Selected Publications:The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China’s Future (Cornell University Press, 2004); China Joins the World: Progress and Prospects (coeditor, Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1999); The Internationalization of Environmental Protection (coeditor, Cambridge University Press, 1997); “China’s Olympic Nightmare,” Foreign Affairs, (co-author, July/August 2008); China in Africa: Implications for U.S. Policy, Testimony before the U.S. Senate Committe on Foreign Relations' Subcommittee on African Affairs Hearing (June 4, 2008); "Economic Miracle, Environmental Disaster: The Degradation of the Huai River Basin," What Matters (Sterling Publishing, March 2008); "China's Growing Ecological Footprint: Global Threat or Opportunity for Collaboration?" The United States, Russia, and China: Confronting Global Terrorism and Security Challenges in the 21st Century (Praeger Security International, 2008); "China's Real Environmental Challenge," Caijing Magazine (Annual Edition, 2008); "A Regional Security Complex in East Asia: The Reality and the Potential," The Environmental Dimension of Asian Security: Conflict and Cooperation over Energy, Resources, and Pollution (United States Institute of Peace Press, 2007); Inside China (contributing author, National Geographic, 2007); "The Great Leap Backward?" Foreign Affairs (September/October 2007); "Scorched Earth: Will Environmental Risks in China Overwhelm its Opportunities?" Harvard Business Review (2007); "China vs. Earth," The Nation (2007); China's Environmental Challenge, testimony before the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission Hearing (February 2, 2006); Environmental NGOs in China: Encouraging Action and Addressing Public Grievances, testimony before the Congressional Executive Commission on China Roundtable (February 7, 2005); "Don't Break the Engagement," Foreign Affairs (May/June 2004); "Interview with Elizabeth Economy: China's Development and the Environment," Harvard Asia Quarterly (Winter 2003); Beginning the Journey: China, the United States, and the WTO, report of the Independent Task Force (codirector, Council on Foreign Relations Press, 2001); "Reforming China," Survival (Autumn 1999); "Painting China Green," Foreign Affairs (March/April 1999); and opeds and book reviews book published in the New York Times, Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, Boston Globe, New York Newsday, and South China Morning Post.
Related Links:
CFR Fellow Elizabeth Economy’s The River Runs Black Named Best Social Sciences Book on Asia
Current Research Projects
Past Research Projects
August 6, 2008
Transcript
A CFR conference call on China's Olympic Nightmares and the impact that hosting the Olympics has had, and will have on China.
See more in China, Democracy and Human Rights, Economics, Energy/Environment, Society and Culture
June 24, 2008
Audio
Listen to experts discuss China's energy challenges and the actions the country is taking on climate change.
See more in China, Climate Change, Energy
June 24, 2008
Video
Watch experts discuss China's energy challenges and the actions the country is taking on climate change.
See more in China, Climate Change, Energy
June 24, 2008
Transcript
Experts discuss China's energy development and the country's capabilities for addressing climate change.
See more in China, Energy/Environment, Climate Change
July/August 2008
Podcast
This audio includes readings of selected articles from the July/August 2008 issue of Foreign Affairs.
See more in United States, U.S. Strategy and Politics
July/August 2008
Foreign Affairs Article — Summary
Failure to plan for predictable problems has turned China's coming-out party into an embarrassment.
See more in China, Society and Culture
July/August 2008
Podcast
From the July/August 2008 issue of Foreign Affairs: Failure to plan for predictable problems has turned China's coming-out party into an embarrassment.
See more in China, Society and Culture
December 3, 2007
Video
The confluence of energy and environmental policy issues and Campaign 2008 is explored in this second of a series of public meetings sponsored by CFR.org, the Economist, and NYU's Stern School of Business.
See more in Energy/Environment
October 15, 2007
Interview
CFR’s Elizabeth C. Economy says there are increasing calls for more democracy in China and the Communist Party Congress will have to deal with who will become the so-called “fifth generation” of Chinese leaders.
See more in China, Democracy Promotion
September 27, 2007
Podcast
If China ever agrees to binding greenhouse gas emissions caps, CFR’s Elizabeth Economy says the nation will need a “wholesale mindset change” to reach those goals.
See more in China, Climate Change
September 27, 2007
Audio
Listen to Elizabeth C. Economy, CFR's C.V. Starr senior fellow and director of Asia studies, discuss the impact of China's economic growth on the environment with students as part of the CFR Academic Conference Call Series.
See more in China, Energy/Environment
September 6, 2007
Transcript
A conference call with Elizabeth Economy, CFR senior fellow, in which she discusses her recent Foreign Affairs article on China’s economy.
See more in China, Energy/Environment
August 24, 2007
Op-Ed
International Herald Tribune
See more in China, Economic Development, Energy/Environment
September/October 2007
Foreign Affairs Article — Summary
China's environmental woes are mounting, and the country is fast becoming one of the leading polluters in the world. The situation continues to deteriorate because even when Beijing sets ambitious targets to protect the environment, local officials generally ignore them, preferring to concentrate on further advancing economic growth. Really improving the environment in China will require revolutionary bottom-up political and economic reforms.
See more in China, Energy/Environment
June 2007
Article
Harvard Business Review
See more in China, International Finance, Environmental Pollution
January 25, 2007
Op-Ed
The Washington Post
See more in China, Arms Control and Disarmament, Missile Defense, Grand Strategy
December 3, 2006
Op-Ed
The Washington Post
See more in China, Energy/Environment
November 15, 2006
Interview
Elizabeth C. Economy, CFR’s director of Asian studies, says that President Bush’s legacy in Asia “will not be a terribly positive one.”
See more in United States, Asia, Economics, Energy/Environment
November 2, 2006
Op-Ed
International Herald Tribune
See more in Africa, China, Energy/Environment
In Termites in the Trading System, Jagdish Bhagwati reveals how the rapid spread of preferential trade agreements endangers the world trading system.
America Between the Wars explores how the decisions and debates of the years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Twin Towers shaped the events, arguments, and politics of the world we live in today.
In The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State, Noah Feldman tells the story behind the increasingly popular call for the establishment of the sharia—the law of the traditional Islamic state—in the modern Muslim world.
Complete list of CFR Books.
This report outlines the nature of the challenges in Pakistan's tribal areas, formulates strategies for addressing those challenges, and distills the strategies into realistic policy proposals worthy of consideration by the incoming administration.
This report analyzes the debate over U.S. use of assurances against torture, explaining the contexts in which they are used, how they can be conveyed, and what they can contain, and recommends a number of ways to respond to criticism so that the United States can continue using assurances.
Complete list of Council Special Reports.
For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:
Gary Samore
Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
+1.212.434.9627
gsamore@cfr.org
Sebastian Mallaby
Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for
Geoeconomic Studies, Deputy Director of Studies, and Paul A. Volcker Senior
Fellow for International Economics
smallaby@cfr.org
Janine Hill
Deputy Director of Studies Administration
+1.212.434.9753
jhill@cfr.org
The David Rockefeller Studies Program is CFR’s “think tank.” Its work is integral to achieving CFR’s goal of contributing to the foreign policy debate. Fellows in the Studies Program do this by researching, writing, and commenting on the most important challenges facing the United States and the world.
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