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Keun Lee

Keun Lee

Writing for PS since 2021
21 commentaries

Keun Lee, a former vice chair of the National Economic Advisory Council for the President of South Korea, is Distinguished Professor of Economics at Seoul National University, a fellow at CIFAR, an editor at Research Policy, and the author, most recently, of Innovation-Development Detours for Latecomers: Managing Global-Local Interfaces in the De-Globalization Era (Cambridge University Press, 2024).

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  1. Has Escaping the Middle-Income Trap Become Easier?
    klee23_Per-Anders Pettersson Getty Images_worldbank Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images

    Has Escaping the Middle-Income Trap Become Easier?

    Dec 27, 2024 Keun Lee urges the World Bank to adopt a more reliable measure of economic development than nominal per capita GDP.

  2. The Chip War Turns Two
    klee22_VCGGettyImages__chinese_semiconductor_fab VCG/GettyImages

    The Chip War Turns Two

    Oct 31, 2024 Keun Lee assesses US efforts to achieve microchip self-sufficiency and impede China’s effort to do the same.

  3. India Needs More Big Businesses
    klee21_JUNG YEON-JEAFP via Getty Images_samsung Jung Yeon-Je/AFP via Getty Images

    India Needs More Big Businesses

    Aug 30, 2024 Keun Lee considers what it would take for the country to become an economic superpower on par with China.

  4. How South Korea Broke the Development Mold
    klee20_Bernd von Jutrczenkapicture alliance via Getty Images_southkoreatrade Bernd von Jutrczenka/picture alliance via Getty Images

    How South Korea Broke the Development Mold

    Jun 28, 2024 Keun Lee attributes the country's economic success to the government's willingness to stray from prescribed orthodoxy.

  5. What Fiscally Sound Industrial Policy Can Do
    klee19_Gerhard JorenLightRocket via Getty Images_hyundaimanufacturing Gerhard Joren/LightRocket via Getty Images

    What Fiscally Sound Industrial Policy Can Do

    May 2, 2024 Keun Lee highlights three tools that can support domestic-market growth and development without breaking the bank.

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  1. aslund80_Natalia KolesnikovaGettyImages_russia_inflation Natalia Kolesnikova/Getty Images

    Putin’s War Is Fueling Russian Stagflation

    Anders Åslund thinks a weakening economy will soon become a serious constraint on Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
  2. aghion10_Laurence DuttonGettyImages_ai_jobs Laurence Dutton/Getty Images

    What AI Means for Growth and Jobs

    Philippe Aghion, et al. think the technology has great potential to boost productivity without harming employment.
  3. elerian176_Dan KitwoodGetty Images_bankofengland Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

    Shock-Proofing the UK Economy

    Mohamed A. El-Erian

    No country wants external developments to drive up its borrowing costs and weaken its currency, which is what the UK is facing today, together with serious cyclical and structural challenges. But if the British government responds appropriately, recent market volatility might turn out to have a silver lining.

    urges the government to communicate better what it is doing to boost resilient growth – and to do more.
  4. drchowdhury3_Shen HongXinhua via Getty Images_modixi Shen Hong/Xinhua via Getty Images

    As Trump Returns, Sino-Indian Relations Are Changing

    Debasish Roy Chowdhury explains why one of America’s key allies is hedging its bets amid escalating global tensions.
  5. GettyImages-1275420781

    Ricardo Hausmann on immigration, climate finance, economic complexity, and more

    Ricardo Hausmann urges the US to issue more H1-B visas, argues that Europe must become a military superpower in its own right, applies the “growth diagnostics” framework to Venezuela, and more.
  6. chellaney183_Hector RetmalGettyImages_wuhan_institute_of_virology Hector Retmal/Getty Images

    Will Trump Crack the Mystery of COVID’s Origin?

    Brahma Chellaney urges the incoming US administration to tighten rules governing risky “gain-of-function” research.
  7. berjon1_NurPhotoGettyImages_bluesky

    Social Media as It Should Be

    Robin Berjon explains how the Bluesky model could restore the original promise of the internet.
  8. bildt131_EMIL STACHRitzau ScanpixAFP via Getty Images_trumpgreenland Emil Stach/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

    Trump’s Greenland Grab

    Carl Bildt

    Now that Donald Trump is returning to the White House, he believes that it is an “absolute necessity” for the United States to have “ownership and control” of Greenland. But as an autonomous Danish territory where the US military already operates, Greenland has no reason to abandon its current political arrangement.

    explains why the US president-elect's threats to seize the Danish territory are so dangerous.
  9. haass176_ Brandon BellGetty Images_biden Brandon Bell/Getty Images

    Joe Biden’s Disappearing Legacy

    Richard Haass thinks the outgoing US president got some big things mostly right and some big things mostly wrong.

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