Elizabeth Economy

Elizabeth Economy     (academic, spook)
Born	27 December 1962 San Jose, California, USA
Nationality	US
Alma mater	Swarthmore College, Stanford University, University of Michigan
Parents	• James Economy • Anastasia Economy
Spouse	David Wah
Member of	Council on Foreign Relations/Experts, Council on Foreign Relations/Members, National Endowment for Democracy/Board, The American Academy in Berlin/Distinguished Visitors
Interests	• China • China/Encirclement
"China expert" at the Hoover Institution who was advisor in the Biden administration when she attended the 2022 Bilderberg meeting. NED.  Senior Fellow In office September 2020 - Present Employer Hoover Institution On leave at Biden administration 2021-23. Attended Bilderberg/2022.  Senior Advisor for China In office August 2021 - October 2023 Employer Biden administration,  U.S. Department of Commerce Attended Bilderberg/2022  Senior Fellow and Director Asia Studies In office 1994 - August 2021 Employer Council on Foreign Relations Attended 2022 Bilderberg  Soviet Analyst In office 1985 - 1987 Employer Central Intelligence Agency

Elizabeth C. Economy is a former CIA analyst and "China expert" at the Hoover Institution. From 2021 until 2023 was a senior foreign advisor in the Department of Commerce in the Biden administration, when she also attended the 2022 Bilderberg meeting.

Background

Economy is the daughter of materials science researcher James Economy and Anastasia Economy. She was raised in San Jose, California. She married investment banker David Wah in 1994. They live in New York City and have three children.

Education

In 1994, Economy completed her PhD in Political Science at the University of Michigan.

Career

She worked as a Soviet Analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency from 1985 until 1987.

She has taught at Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, and the University of Washington's Jackson School of International Studies. She was C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director for Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations for over a decade.

She was a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF)'s Global Agenda Council on the United States from 2014 to 2016 and was a member and then vice chair of WEF’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of China from 2008 to 2014.

Shhe was a senior foreign advisor in the Department of Commerce in the Biden administration when she attended the 2022 Bilderberg meeting.

I think one of the most heartening things I found was, and this is sitting, you know, in the Department of Commerce, is that a lot of our strategy for the Indo-Pacific in particular involved calling on the private sector to work in partnership with the government. And I can tell you that, you know, two to one American companies, you know, big, major, you know, multinationals would stand up and say, "Just tell us what you need us to do and we will be there. Do you need us to do something in Africa? Okay, we'll be there.

She also sits on the board of the CIA-close regime change organization National Endowment for Democracy, the board of trustees of The Asia Foundationm and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations' boards of directors.

Other positions

Economy sits on the board of managers of Swarthmore College. She is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group and is a participant of the Task Force on U.S.-China Policy convened by Asia Society's Center on U.S.-China Relations.

Publications

Books

• The Internationalization of Environmental Protection (Cambridge University Press, with Miranda Schreurs, 1997)
• China Joins the World: Progress and Prospects (Council on Foreign Relations Press, with Michel Oksenberg, 1999)
• The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China's Future (Cornell University Press, 2004); listed as one of the top ten books of 2004 by the Globalist as well as one of the best business books of 2010 by Booz Allen Hamilton's strategy+business magazine.
• By All Means Necessary: How China's Resource Quest is Changing the World (Oxford University Press, 2014, with Michael Levi)
• The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State (Oxford University Press, 2018)
• The World According to China (Polity, 2021)

Articles

• America’s China Strategy Is Incomplete, Foreign Affairs, January 14, 2025 (co-authored with Melanie Hart)
• China’s Alternative Order, Foreign Affairs, April 23, 2024
• "The Game Changer: Coping With China's Foreign Policy Revolution." Foreign Affairs (2010): 142–152.
• "China's Imperial President: Xi Jinping Tightens His Grip." Foreign Affairs 93.6 (2014): 80–91.
• "History with Chinese Characteristics: How China's Imagined Past Shapes Its Present." Foreign Affairs. 96 (2017): 141–148.
• "China's New Revolution: The Reign of Xi Jinping." Foreign Affairs. 97 (2018): 60–74.
• "The China Model: Unexceptional Exceptionalism." Essay Series of the Hoover Institution: Human Prosperity Project (2020).

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/2022	2 June 2022	5 June 2022	US Washington DC Mandarin Oriental Hotel	The 68th Bilderberg Meeting, held in Washington DC, after an unprecedented two year hiatus during which a lot of the Bilderberg regulars were busy managing COVID-19
Bilderberg/2023	18 May 2023	21 May 2023	Portugal Lisbon Pestana Palace Hotel	The 69th Bilderberg Meeting, held in Lisbon, with 128 guests on the official list. The earliest in the year since 2009.
Halifax International Security Forum/2019	22 November 2019	24 November 2019	Canada Halifax Nova Scotia	Spooky conference in Canada
Halifax International Security Forum/2020	20 November 2020	22 November 2020	Canada Halifax Nova Scotia	Annual spooky conference in November, this year held online instead of in Canada due to Covid lockdowns.
Munich Security Conference/2020	14 February 2020	16 February 2020	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 56th Munich Security Conference, in 2020, "welcomed an unprecedented number of high-ranking international decision-makers."
Munich Security Conference/2023	17 February 2023	19 February 2023	Germany Munich Bavaria	Annual conference of mid-level functionaries from the military-industrial complex - politicians, propagandists and lobbyists. The real decisions are made by deep politicians behind the scenes, elsewhere.
Munich Security Conference/2024	16 February 2024	18 February 2024	Germany Munich Bavaria	Annual conference of mid-level functionaries from the military-industrial complex - politicians, propagandists and lobbyists - in their own bubble, far from the concerns of their subjects
Tylösand Summit/2022			Sweden Tylösand Halland	Yearly Swedish deep state summit gathering about 200 Swedish chief executive officers, royals, leading academic scholars, politicians from the government and the parliamentary opposition, top civil servants, and union leaders. Only the list of speakers is known, and include several spooks and deep state actors.
WEF/Annual Meeting/2011	26 January 2011	30 January 2011	Switzerland WEF	2229 guests in Davos, with the theme: "Shared Norms for the New Reality".

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