Yukon Huang gives an overview of the growth of East Asia. First, he discusses the Past and Future: Unsustainable growth of East Asia. He presents the trade based technology change and brings in the indicators for China and Hong Kong as examples. Then, he goes on to debate the successful and unsuccessful creation of Innovative Systems and the production technologies per levels of product lines. Exemplifying the theory, Huang presents two cases: construction in Shanghai and electronics in Beijing. To conclude, he talks about the drivers of growth and the risk factors in the area.

Yukon Huang is a Senior Advisor and Former Director of the World Bank China Program. Huang was the World Bank’s Country Director for China from 1997-2004. As Director, Huang managed the largest country investment portfolio in the World Bank. He is currently Senior Advisor to the East Asia Vice-President and is posted in Singapore to cover regional issues in preparation for the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings in Singapore. Prior to his China assignment, he was Director for the largest operational department in the Bank covering Russia and other Former Soviet Union Republics including Azerbaijan, Kazakstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Mr. Huang received his B.A. in Economics from Yale University. His Masters and Ph.D. in Economics are from Princeton University. He joined the World Bank in 1976 as an Economist for S. Asia and holds various positions in his career: Chief of Bank Assistance Policy, Lead Economist, Country Operations Chief for Asia. His has worked on almost all of the countries in ASEAN as well as North and South Asia. Prior to joining the Bank, Huang taught and conducted research on a range of economic issues with professorial appointments at various universities in the United States, Asia and Africa. He has also held positions with the Rockefeller Foundation and the US Treasury.