Nobel laureate in economics Thomas J. Sargent attributed China's fast economic development to its sustained commitment to opening up and decisive political choices.
In a recent exclusive interview with the China Media Group, Sargent, who won the 2011 Nobel Prize in economic sciences, described China's rapid economic development as a "miracle," noting that its pace has been unprecedented in recent decades.
He summarized the factors behind China's success as a dedicated commitment to openness, free trade, and global integration.
"For the last 35 or 40 years, China has systematically stood for opening up and free trade in goods, services. So free trade, interactions across borders, free borders, ports -- that's what it got right. And so you can see why I take it personally, because my country started a trade war, (and) that's not good for my country. So we're not doing some of the things that China got right," said Sargent.
The Nobel laureate also emphasized how strategic policy choices have actively unlocked China's human and innovative potential.
"So it was like opening up markets, promoting science, promoting learning, celebrating our universities. Those are all ingredients. What made this happen is the political leaders in China. They made decisions, and unleashed the energy and the creativity and entrepreneurship and the scientific abilities. China has a leader in all sorts of scientific things now. They unleashed that. And somehow it's... what made this place, what made these great Chinese scientists and engineers is themselves, the energy and the characteristics of the people. Those are things that my country has things to learn from what you guys did right. It's happened over and over again: countries that have opened up, unleashed entrepreneurs, have done well with an order, with a stable order, rules, and for doing commerce," said Sargent.
Nobel laureate attributes China's fast economic development to continued opening up
