Taiwan's Economic Future in an Age of Globalization: Prospects for Cross-Party Cooperation

On October 17-18, 2014 the Taiwan Democracy Project at CDDRL, with the generous support of the Taipei Economic and Culture Office, hosted its annual conference at Stanford University to examine the politics of polarization in Taiwan.

This conference brought together specialists from Taiwan, the U.S., and elsewhere in Asia to examine the sources and implications of this political polarization in comparative perspective. It will include a special case study of the Trade in Services Agreement with China that triggered this past year’s protests, as well as a more general overview of the politics of trade liberalization in Taiwan, prospects for Taiwan’s integration into the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other regional trade agreements, and a consideration of the implications for Taiwan’s long-term democratic future.

Yong Suk Lee is the SK Center Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) and a member of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) and the Korea Program at Stanford University. Dr. Lee's research is at the intersection of economic development, urban economics and international economics, and regionally focuses on Korea and the broader Asia-Pacific. Some of his work examines the impact of economic sanctions on elite capture, the impact of education policy on migration and intergenerational mobility, the organization of disaster aid delivery, and entrepreneurship and economic growth in cities. Prior to coming to Stanford, Lee was an assistant professor of economics at Williams College in Massachusetts. He received his bachelor's degree and master's degree in architecture from Seoul National University, a master of public policy from Duke University, and a doctorate in economics from Brown University. Lee also worked as a real estate development consultant and architecture designer as he transitioned from architecture to economics.