Panel III: China’s International Environmental Policies
Dr. Elizabeth C. Economy
Director of Asia Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
Washington, DC
Elizabeth Economy is the C.V. Starr senior fellow and director for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Dr. Economy has published widely on both Chinese domestic and foreign policy. Her most recent book, The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China’s Future (Cornell University Press, 2004), won the 2005 International Convention on Asia Scholars Award for the best social sciences book published on Asia, was named one of the University of Cambridge’s Top 50 Sustainability Books in 2008 and one of the top ten books of 2004 by the Globalist. She also coedited China Joins the World: Progress and Prospects (Council on Foreign Relations Press, with Michel Oksenberg, 1999) and The Internationalization of Environmental Protection (Cambridge University Press, with Miranda Schreurs, 1997). She has published articles in foreign policy and scholarly journals including Foreign Affairs, Harvard Business Review, Survival, and Current History; and op-eds in the New York Times, Washington Post, and International Herald Tribune, among others. She is a frequent guest on nationally broadcast radio and television programs, has testified before Congress on numerous occasions, and regularly consults for U.S. government agencies and companies. She is currently working on a new book focusing on China’s rise and its geopolitical and strategic implications.
Dr. Economy received her PhD from the University of Michigan, her AM from Stanford University and her BA from Swarthmore College. In 2008, she received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Vermont Law School. She lives in New York City with her husband and three children.