Justin Yifu Lin

Justin Yifu Lin (born on October 15, 1952) is a Chinese economist and professor of economics at Peking University.

Lin was born on 15 October 1952 in Yilan County, Taiwan, as Lin Zhengyi.

Lin attended high school in National Yilan Senior High School.

In 1971, he was admitted to the National Taiwan University's College of agriculture to study agricultural machinery under the department of agricultural engineering.

Michael Pillsbury remembered Lin being the president of the student body in 1971 while he was studying Chinese at the same university.

In 1971, Lin left school as a freshman student for volunteer military service in the army.

In 1976, Lin entered the MBA program at National Chengchi University in Taiwan on a defense scholarship and returned to the army upon receiving his MBA in 1978.

Born in Yilan County of the Republic of China (Taiwan), Lin was a ground force captain and company commander of the Republic of China Army on the Kinmen Islands, where he swam across the channel and sought refuge in Xiamen of the People's Republic of China in May 1979.

As a captain in the Republic of China Army (ROCA) in Taiwan, he swam from Kinmen Islands to Xiamen, which is under the control of the People's Republic of China (PRC), for asylum on May 17, 1979.

Lin initially left his pregnant wife and his three-year-old child in Taiwan; a year after his asylum, he was declared "missing" by the ROC Army and his wife claimed the equivalent of US$31,000 from the government.

His wife and their children rejoined with him years later when both of them went to study in the United States.

After settling in Mainland China, Lin became an economist after pursuing graduate studies in economics at Peking University and the University of Chicago, where he respectively received a Master of Economics in 1982 and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1986.

His doctoral advisor at the University of Chicago was Nobel laureate economist Theodore Schultz.

Lin received a master's degree in political economy from Peking University in 1982, and a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago in 1986.

He was one of the first PRC citizens to receive a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago.

After completing his postdoctoral studies at Yale University, he returned to Beijing and became a professor of economics at Peking University in 1987.

While an officer in the ROC Army, Lin was held up as a model soldier; after his desertion, the ROC originally listed him as missing but in 2000 issued an order for his arrest on charges of defection, and remains a fugitive by the ROC government.

In a letter written to his family in Taiwan about a year after his asylum, Lin stated that "based on my cultural, historical, political, economic and military understanding, it is my belief that returning to the motherland is a historical inevitability; it is also the optimal choice."

A National Taiwan University alumnus Hongsheng Zheng confirmed Lin's reason and motive.

Lin's oldest brother said it was unfair to brand his younger brother a traitor.

"I don't understand why people regard him as a villain," he said.

"My brother just wanted to pursue his ambitions."

He served as the Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank from 2008 to 2012.

He founded the China Center for Economic Research (currently the Peking University National School of Development) and was later appointed Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank where he served from 2008 to 2012.

After that, he returned to Beijing and to his research at Peking University.

His main academic theory is called New Structural Economics.

At Peking University, he currently serves as the Dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics, the Honorary Dean of the National Development Institute, and the Dean of the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development.

On September 16, 2008, Fordham University honored Lin with a reception for being chief economist and senior vice president of the World Bank.

Lin received an Honorary Doctorate from Fordham University in 2009 and was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy in 2010.

His 2012 book, The Quest for Prosperity: How Developing Economies Can Take Off, argued for an active role for government in nurturing development, not just through the traditional provision of infrastructure and legal enforcement, but also by identifying and actively supporting industries that contribute to growth.

Lin is the founder and first director of the China Center for Economic Research and a former professor of economics at Peking University and at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

He is also an adviser to the China Finance 40 Forum (CF40).

He has been appointed as China's State Council Counsellor since September 2013.