Opinion
Thought leadership is not for the faint of heart. The opinions expressed in the op-ed articles below are aimed at pushing the envelope of debate on a broad range of macroeconomic issues, from the Sino-American conflict to forces bearing down separately on the United States, China, and the broader global economy and world financial markets. Accountability is an important, albeit oft uncomfortable, aspect of the arena of public opinion—owning up to and explaining the inevitable mistakes. Without the accountability of an honest broker of ideas, the credibility of opinion-making rings hollow.
Project Syndicate archive
2024
• “China’s Rebalancing Imperative” — April 19
• “American Sinophobia” — March 27
• “The Drums of US-China Cyber War” — February 27
• “China’s Imagination Deficit” — January 26
2023
• “The Myth of the Unprecedented” — December 21
• “Biden and Xi Pick the Low-Hanging Fruit” — November 17
• “A Better Biden-Xi Summit?” — October 26
• “American Tactics vs. Chinese Strategy” — September 27
• “China’s Policy Paralysis” — August 24
• “US-China Decoupling by the Numbers” — July 26
• “The Wrong Way to Manage US-China Relations” — June 27
• “The AI Moment of Truth for Chinese Censorship” — May 27
• “The Economic Costs of America’s Conflict with China” — April 24
• “How China Benefits from Another US Banking Crisis” — March 24
• “Sleepwalking Toward Accidental Conflict” — February 27
• “The Sino-American Tech Trap” — January 24
2022
• “A China Optimist’s Lament” — December 22
• “A Missed Opportunity in Bali” — November 28
• “Xi’s Conflict-Prone China” — October 24
• “Core Dangers for the Fed and China” — September 27
• “China’s Growth Sacrifice” — August 23
• “Deglobalization’s China Wild Card” — July 25
• “Wrong on the Dollar — for Now” — June 27
• “Jerome Powell’s Volcker Deficit” — May 25
• “Downside Risks to Global Growth” — April 23
• “China’s Time for Global Leadership” — March 17
• “How China Can End the War in Ukraine” — March 10
• “Only China can Stop Russia” — March 7
• “China’s Triangulation Gambit” — February 10
• “The Fed is Playing with Fire” — January 24
2021
• “The Fed Must Think Creatively Again” — November 22
• “Connecting the Dots in China” — September 27
• “China’s Animal Spirits Deficit” — July 27
• “The Ghost of Arthur Burns” — May 25
• “My Worst Forecasting Mistake” — April 23
• “Boxed In On China” — March 23
• “The Limits to America’s Pent-Up Demand” — February 22
• “The Internet Versus Democracy” — January 20
2020
• “The Pandemic’s Long Shadow” — December 21
• “A Tale of Two Economies” — November 24
• “China Leads Again” — October 26
• “The Vise Tightens on the Dollar” — September 25
• “America’s Coming Double Dip” — August 25
• “From American to European Exceptionalism” — July 22
• “The COVID Shock to the Dollar” — June 23
• “The Fable of the Chinese Whistleblower” — May 18
• “The End of the US-China Relationship” — April 27
• “The False Crisis Comparison” — March 19
• “When China Sneezes” — February 24
• “A Global Economy Without a Cushion” — January 27
• “The Myth of Global Decoupling” — January 3
Earlier Project Syndicate articles from 2011 to 2019 can be found here.
Other opinion pieces
2024
• “Hong Kong’s Identity Crisis” The Wire China — April 7
• “Why I am Making ‘Good Trouble’ for Hong Kong” South China Morning Post op-ed — February 27
• “Hong Kong is now over, says China’s former good friend” Radio Free Asia — February 13
• “It pains me to say Hong Kong is over” Financial Times — February 11
2023
• “China’s ‘whack-a-mole’ economic playback leads to confusion” Financial Times — August 21
• “Can China Reverse Its Economic Slump?” Yale Insights — August 18
• “China Hawks In Congress Are Going Too Far” Barron’s commentary — August 9
• “The Old Approach to US-China Engagement no Longer Works” Financial Times — July 17
• “A New Architecture for US-China Engagement” The Wire China — May 28
• “China Turns On the Charm, but Economist Stephen Roach Isn’t Buying It” Barrons — April 18
• “Worsening US-China Conflict Poses Great Danger to the World” South China Morning Post Exclusive interview — January 17
• “China’s Reopening Spin” The Wire China — January 15
2022
• “False Narratives Are Raising the Risks of a U.S.-China Conflict,” Barron’s (Dow Jones) — December 5
• “Accidental Conflict: A Conversation with Stephen Roach,” Yale University Press — November 29
• “Xi’s Costly Obsession With Security: How a Quest for Control Threatens China’s Economic Growth,” Foreign Affairs — November 28
• “CF 40 (China) interview on inflation, monetary policy, and the global economy,” CF 40 — October 5
• “Two insecure superpowers stumble towards collision over Taiwan,” Financial Times — August 3
• “Q&A on the tariff rollback debate,” China’s Global Times — July 13
• “Warning Signs from Chinese Labor Market Distress,” The Wire China — June 12
• “The China Cushion has Deflated,” SupChina Q&A —April 29
2021
• “The Sequencing Trap That Risks Stagflation 2.0,” Financial Times — October 13
• “The Dollar’s Crash is Only Just Beginning,” Bloomberg Opinion — January 25
2020
• “Three Priorities for the US to De-escalate the China Conflict,” Financial Times — December 6
• “Rethinking the US-China Conflict,” China Daily — November 20
• “The end of the dollar’s Exorbitant Privilege,” Financial Times — October 5
• “America’s Gang of Four Has Spoken,” CNN News — August 4
• “The Fall of the Almighty Dollar,” Horizons (CIRSD) — Autumn Issue
• “How the Coming Crash in the Dollar Will Unfold,” Bloomberg Opinion — June 15
• “A Crash in the Dollar is Coming,” Bloomberg Opinion — June 9
• “Get Ready for a Campaign Season Full of China-Covid Conspiracy Theories,” CNN News — May 8
• “A return to 1970s stagflation is only a broken supply chain away,” Financial Times — May 6
• “Don’t Blame Supply Chains,” YaleGlobal Online — May 1
• “Time for the US and China to Collaborate, Not Complain,” Bloomberg Opinion — March 30
• “US Lives and Economic Stability Threatened by Coronavirus Conflict with China,” The Hill — March 23
• “COVID-19: Quality Shock to Globalization,” YaleGlobal Online — March 2