The Georgetown Americas Institute is pleased to host a presentation of the book Politicizing Business: How Firms Are Made to Serve the Party-State in China (Cambridge University Press, 2025) with author Ning Leng. The book offers an in-depth examination of the relationship between the Chinese government and Chinese firms, both private and state-owned. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and original datasets from two sectors in China, Professor Leng introduces two political services that the Chinese state demands from companies: visibility projects, a common distortion of economic policies and infrastructure politics to advance government officials’ careers; and societal control, through which firms assist the state in pushing forward controversial projects. As China has become a major global investor, this book sheds light on the political incentives shaping Chinese firms’ investment behavior. Join us for a conversation on the book’s themes and insights into the Chinese private sector with Professor Leng and GAI Founding Director Alejandro Werner.
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Ning Leng is an assistant professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. Her research examines how nondemocratic institutions create unintended consequences in state-business relations and development outcomes, including public service provision, infrastructure building, and environment policymaking. Her area of focus is China. Her research is supported by the National Science Foundation, the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation, the Institute for Humane Studies, and various other research grants.
Alejandro Werner is the founding director of the Georgetown Americas Institute and a non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute. He recently completed almost nine years as director of the Western Hemisphere Department at the International Monetary Fund. Prior to that appointment, he was undersecretary of finance and public credit in Mexico’s Finance Ministry and held several positions in that ministry and the Central Bank. He also taught at leading universities in Mexico, Spain, and the United States. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. in economics from ITAM.