
New Books in Finance Gregory T. Chin and Kevin P. Gallagher, "China and the Global Economic Order" (Cambridge UP, 2025)
Feb 2, 2026
Gregory T. Chin, Associate Professor of Political Economy at York University who studies international money, development finance, and China. He traces China’s shift from rule-taker to rule-maker. He describes China’s hybrid strategy of engaging Bretton Woods institutions while building alternatives. He discusses China’s bargaining strengths, infrastructure-first learning, and monetary ambitions.
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Hybrid Inside-Outside Strategy
- China used a hybrid "one foot inside, one foot outside" strategy to influence Bretton Woods institutions and create alternatives.
- This two-way countervailing power combined rule-taking, rule-shaking, and rule-making over four decades.
Selective Rule-Taking
- China initially acted as a status-quo actor learning from the IMF and World Bank in the 1980s–1990s.
- It selectively adopted reforms and leveraged institutional membership to modernize while protecting strategic sectors.
Crises Sparked Alternatives
- Financial crises (1997–98, 2008–09) catalyzed China's push to create alternatives and contest IMF/World Bank advice.
- These crises exposed room for regional responses and seeded rule-shaking and rule-making initiatives.


