Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Hoover Institution, Stanford University
What is the role of history in economic coercion and contingency planning for geopolitical today? This presentation explores the current approaches to “economic warfare” and crisis contingency planning in the United States and the People’s Republic of China.
PARTICIPANTS
Hugo Bromley, Eyck Freymann, John Taylor, John Cochrane, Annelise Anderson, Alexander Bick, Hoyt Bleakley, Michael Boskin, Fidel Cortes, Steve Davis, Michael De Groot, David Fedor, Jared Franz, Anthony Gregory, Paul Gregory, Bob Hall, Eric Hanushek, Nick Hope, Bobby Inman, Ken Judd, Evan Koenig, Steven Koonin, Don Koch, Evan Koenig, Stephen Kotkin, David Laidler, John Li, CJ Li, Jim Mattis, Christopher Meissner, Ilian Mihov, Elena Pastorino, Andrew Pflueger, Stephen Redding, Jonathan Roll, Jacquelyn Schneider, J.R. Scott, Barry Strauss, George Tavlas, Glenn Tiffert, Ramin Toloui, Philip Zelikow, Alexander Zentefis
ISSUES DISCUSSED
Hugo Bromley, the Engelsberg Applied History Research Fellow at the Center for Geopolitics, University of Cambridge, and Eyck Freymann, Fellow at the Hoover Institution, discussed “Economic Warfare and Crisis Contingency Planning: A Historical Perspective.” John Taylor, the Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics at Stanford University and the George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution, was the moderator.
SUMMARY
What is the role of history in economic coercion and contingency planning for geopolitical today? This presentation explores the current approaches to “economic warfare” and crisis contingency planning in the United States and the People’s Republic of China. It demonstrates that crisis contingency planning is understudied and undervalued in the U.S. Government, and that China is preparing for economic “extreme circumstances” caused by the United States.
Finally, it suggests a number of historical themes that might form a basis for a coordinated research program on Economic Statecraft involving both economists and national security officials. In a time of increasing geopolitical tension, history can act as a “bridge” to create a single allied conversation on the future of economic statecraft.
To read the papers, click the following links
https://www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/research/docs/BromleyFreymann_OnDayOne_web_240621.pdf
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/china-quarterly/article/logic-of-partial-rmb-internationalization-prc-perspectives-on-financial-war/F59B2CD96EB9FC7BA428D8D600ACB1F5
To read the slides, click the following link
https://www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/2025-04/EPWG%20Slides%20Final.pdf
