Isabella M. Weber is a German-born political economist and economic historian of modern China, currently Assistant Professor of Economics at UMass and Research Leader for China of the Asian Political Economy Program at PERI. Having studied at Freie Universität Berlin, Peking University, New School for Social Research, and the University of Cambridge, she taught at Goldsmiths, University of London, and directed the Economic and Social Research Council (UK)-funded research project “What drives specialisation? A century of global export patterns”, before joining University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she has proved a formidable voice for understanding economic thought, economic history, as well as the normative premises and visions of economics. She is the author of the widely-acclaimed book How China Escaped Shock Therapy: The Market Reform Debate (discussed in this interview). Her work combines economic theory, economic history and China studies to examine the interaction between economic thinking, policy and long-term structural patterns in periods of deep social transformation. Beyond the walls of academia, she has regularly served as a China expert for BBC News and as adviser to members of the German parliament on China issues.

Weber has won many accolades for her scholarship on the transformations of the Chinese political economy, including the 2019 International Convention of Asia Scholars’ Ground-breaking Subject Matter Accolade and the Warren Samuels Prize for Interdisciplinary Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology. Her book, How China Escaped Shock Therapy, is awarded the Joan Robinson Prize 2021, and has been recommended by Financial Times and Foreign Policy. Hear her thoughts in an interview with the Institute for New Economic Thinking, and follow her on Twitter for latest events.