korrents

What Adam Tooze thinks about China

@adam-tooze · 11 positions · 0 changes of mind

Economic historian, Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of History at Columbia University, and author of Wages of Destruction, Crashed and Shutdown. Writes the Chartbook newsletter.

Adam Tooze did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

7 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Adam Tooze has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingThe second China shock is landing on Europe, where the first one landed on the United States.

    Their wordsIn China shock 1.0 the key target was the US. In China shock 2.0 it is Europe.

    ↗Chartbook 462: China shocked - beyond 1.0 and 2.0 to the "Big One".adamtooze.substack.com 1st of 5 in this piece

    EuropeAmerica

    Interesting

  3. Our readingThe original 'China shock' research was about American institutions failing the communities that were hit, not about unfair Chinese competition.

    Their wordsThe original point of the China Shock 1.0 discourse was not to foreground the unfairness of Chiense competition, so much as the malfunctioning of US policy and societal institutions in the face of concentrated globalization shocks.

    ↗Chartbook 462: China shocked - beyond 1.0 and 2.0 to the "Big One".adamtooze.substack.com 2nd of 5 in this piece

    America

    Interesting

  5. Our readingThe second China shock threatens Europe's highest-status manufacturing, not an industrial backwater the way the first one did in America.

    Their wordsChina shock 2.0 threatens high status manufactured goods: European cars and engineering.

    ↗Chartbook 462: China shocked - beyond 1.0 and 2.0 to the "Big One".adamtooze.substack.com 3rd of 5 in this piece

    EuropeAmerica

    Interesting

  7. Our readingChina's industrial lead was manufactured by deliberate state industrial policy rather than by market forces alone.

    Their wordsWhat China is delivering in the 2020s is an industrial policy shock of global scale.

    ↗Chartbook 462: China shocked - beyond 1.0 and 2.0 to the "Big One".adamtooze.substack.com 4th of 5 in this piece

    Interesting

  9. Our readingBeijing drew its own conclusions from the first China shock and set out to engage the world economy from a position of technological leadership.

    Their wordsIt wasn’t just the West that drew conclusions from China shock 1.0. Beijing learned from China Shock 1.0 too.

    ↗Chartbook 462: China shocked - beyond 1.0 and 2.0 to the "Big One".adamtooze.substack.com 5th of 5 in this piece

    Interesting
  10. 7 days earlier

  11. Our readingEurope's car industry is being overrun because of what has gone wrong inside Europe, not only because of what China did.

    Their wordsIt reveals things that are deeply wrong at the heart of the European economy.

    ↗Chartbook 460 Greedflation meets China shock: Can Europe's car industry be saved without making the cost of living crisis worse?adamtooze.substack.com 1st of 4 in this piece

    Europe

    Interesting

  13. Our readingEurope's corporate sector has become a net lender to the rest of the economy, and that low rate of productive investment is what left its industry exposed.

    Their wordsThe two seemingly contradictory trends connect, because the relatively low rate of productive investment leaves European industry vulnerable to its most vigorous competitors whose firms are contending with an even more deflationary macroeconomic situation at home in China.

    ↗Chartbook 460 Greedflation meets China shock: Can Europe's car industry be saved without making the cost of living crisis worse?adamtooze.substack.com 4th of 4 in this piece

    Europe

    Interesting