Meet the Author: ‘The People’s Money’ by Dr Paola Subacchi

Paola Subacchi, director of international economics research at Chatham House, discusses China's efforts to build a global currency at 'Meet the Authors'.

Online registration has now closed but please feel free to come along and register on arrival.

Many of the world's major economies boast dominant international currencies. Not so for China. Its renminbi has lagged far behind the pound, the euro, and the dollar in global circulation-and for good reason. China has long privileged economic policies that have fueled development at the expense of the renminbi's growth, and it has become clear that the underpowered currency is threatening China's future. The nation's leaders now face the daunting task of strengthening the currency without losing control of the nation's economy or risking total collapse. How are they approaching this challenge?

In The People's Money, Paola Subacchi introduces readers to China's monetary system, mapping its evolution over the past century and, particularly, its transformation since Deng Xiaoping took power in 1978. Subacchi revisits the policies that fostered the country's economic rise while at the same time purposefully creating a currency of little use beyond China's borders. She shows the key to understanding China's economic predicament lies in past and future strategies for the renminbi. The financial turbulence following the global crisis of 2008, coupled with China's ambitions as a global creditor and chief economic power, has forced the nation to reckon with the limited international circulation of the renminbi. Increasing the currency's reach will play a major role in securing China's future.

Join us at Meet the Authors to hear from the author herself and ask your questions.

Event Agenda

5:30pm – registration and refreshments

5:50pm – talk and Q&A

6:45pm – booksigning and networking

7:15pm – event closes

About the author:

Paola Subacchi is the director of international economics research at Chatham House (the Royal College of International Affairs) in London. She is a regular media commentator and writes for Project Syndicate and Foreign Policy.

Dr Subacchi is an expert on the functioning and governance of the international financial and monetary systems, and advises governments, international organizations, non-profits, and corporations. She is a media commentator with the BBC, Project Syndicate, the Financial Times, and writes a regular column for Foreign Policy and Huffington Post Italy. She is the author of The People’s Money. How China is building a global currency (Columbia University Press, 2017).

Paola is also a visiting professor at the University of Bologna, a non-executive director of the FTSE-listed company Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Plc, a governor of St Marylebone School in London and an advisory member of Wilton Park (FCO).

An Italian national, she studied at Università Bocconi in Milan and at the University of Oxford. In 2016 she was awarded the honour Cavaliere della Stella d’Italia.

About Meet the Authors:

We regularly invite authors whose books have a China connection to come and speak at the University for our Meet the Authors series. A diverse range of authors have appeared to discuss both fiction and non-fiction books covering business, culture, history and more.