POLICY BRIEFING SERIES — Land Reform and Economic Development in China

WSCRC is pleased to welcome Dr. Susan Whiting and Dr. Spencer Cohen to the kickoff Policy Briefing Series of 2018.

Susan Whiting is Associate Professor of Political Science and Adjunct Associate Professor of Law and International Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle.  She specializes in Chinese and comparative politics, with particular emphasis on the political economy of development. She has done extensive research in China and has contributed to studies of governance, fiscal reform, and non-governmental organizations under the auspices of the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the Ford Foundation, respectively.  She, along with colleagues in the law school, is participating in a project on access to justice and legal aid provision in rural China.  Professor Whiting’s current research interests include property rights in land, the role of the courts in economic transition, as well as the politics of fiscal reform in transition economies.

Spencer Cohen is a senior economist with Community Attributes Inc., a Seattle-based consultancy specializing in economics, planning, and data analytics. Spencer has extensive experience in industry and market analysis, regional economic development policy, input-output modeling, and issues related to international trade and foreign direct investment. Spencer has lived and studied in China, including language training and doctoral research. His research focuses on land use policy and urban government finance in China, and involved intensive use of Chinese language materials, government documents, and state enterprise bond and credit reports. Spencer earned a Ph.D. in economic geography from the University of Washington.