Who is China’s most influential economic policy advisor?
At Trivium, we keep track of China's most influential economic advisors and monitor what advice they impart to China's senior officials.
- In November, we published our list of the top 10 most influential economic advisors.
- We recently updated our rankings – and there are some big changes.
First, there are three new names on the list:
- Li Daokui (Rank #9), dean of Tsinghua University’s economic think tank ACCEPT, made the cut after he briefed Premier Li Qiang in person in January 2024.
- Peng Wensheng (#10), chief economist of investment bank CICC, rose up the ranks after briefing several senior leaders from top financial regulators.
- Huang Haizhou (#11), an economist who until recently was CICC's managing director, made the list after joining the central bank’s (PBoC) monetary policy committee (MPC). Despite ranking eleventh, we've included Huang because being on the PBoC’s MPC means he’s worth listening to.
Economists Liu Shijin and Wang Changlin dropped out of the top ten.
- Liu just finished his term on the PBoC’s MPC.
- Wang's facetime with top leaders has dried up, and he has maintained a relatively low public profile, rarely participating in economic policy forums or speaking in public.
Liu Yuanchun, an economist reportedly close to Xi Jinping, still holds the number one slot.
- But second place now goes to Li Yang (previously #6), chairman of NIFD, a tier-one financial think tank. Liu recently briefed the new securities regulator chairman, Wu Qing.
- Demographer Cai Fang, previously ranked second, has fallen to eight on our list, as he recently left the PBoC's MPC.
Get smart: Policy advisors speak more frankly than officials and can provide useful insight into policy debates.
- Expect to see these influential advisors feature regularly in our CMD coverage.
Go deeper: Trivium Markets Pro subscribers can read our top 10 list and see our methodology here.