Ha-Joon Chang is a South Korean economist. He was born in 1963 in Seoul, South Korea. He grew up during a remarkable period in his country's history. When Chang was a child, South Korea was poor. Within his lifetime it became a wealthy, industrial nation. Watching this happen shaped the central question of his career: how do poor countries actually become rich? Chang studied economics at Seoul National University, then moved to Britain to study at the University of Cambridge, where he earned his doctorate. He taught economics at Cambridge for over thirty years. In 2022 he moved to SOAS University of London, where he is a research professor. Chang is unusual among economists for how widely he is read. He writes bestselling books aimed at ordinary people, not just specialists. These include 'Kicking Away the Ladder' (2002), 'Bad Samaritans' (2007), '23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism' (2010), and 'Economics: The User's Guide' (2014). His more recent book 'Edible Economics' (2022) explains economic ideas through food. He has also advised governments and international organisations, including United Nations agencies and the World Bank. He is known as a 'heterodox' economist, meaning he works outside the mainstream, and he argues strongly that economics should be open to many different schools of thought.
Chang matters because he challenges a powerful and widely accepted story about how countries get rich. That story says poor countries should adopt free trade, open their markets, and keep government small.
Chang's most famous argument is in his book 'Kicking Away the Ladder'. He studied the actual history of today's rich countries, including Britain, the United States, and his own South Korea. He found that almost all of them, when they were developing, did the opposite of the standard advice. They protected their young industries, supported them with active government policy, and only embraced free trade once they were already strong. Then, having climbed up, they 'kicked away the ladder', telling poor countries to do as they say, not as they did.
Chang also matters as a communicator. He insists economics is too important to be left to experts, and writes to make it understandable to everyone. He argues there is no single correct economics, but many schools of thought.
His influence is large in development debates and his views are contested. Defenders of free trade push back hard. But Chang forced an honest look at the real history of how rich countries grew.
For a first introduction, '23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism' (2010) is Chang's most accessible book, written as short, punchy chapters for general readers. 'Edible Economics' (2022) explains economic ideas through food and is also very approachable. His many public talks and interviews are freely available online. Because Chang is a contemporary and contested figure, students should also read pieces by defenders of free trade, so the debate is visible from the start.
For deeper reading, 'Kicking Away the Ladder' (2002) is his key scholarly argument about the history of development, and 'Bad Samaritans' (2007) presents similar ideas for a wider audience. 'Economics: The User's Guide' (2014) lays out his case that economics contains many schools of thought. For balance, students should pair these with serious critiques from economists who defend free trade and question infant industry protection.
Chang is against trade and wants countries to close their economies.
He is not against trade. Chang's argument is about timing and sequence, not about shutting countries off. He contends that young industries may need protection and support for a period, until they are strong enough to compete, and that countries should then engage in trade from a position of strength. South Korea, his own example, became a major trading nation. Chang's target is the advice that poor countries should open fully and immediately, not the idea of international trade itself.
Chang proved that protectionism always works.
He did not, and an honest account says so. Chang showed that most of today's rich countries used protection while developing, which is strong historical evidence against the standard 'open up immediately' advice. But this does not prove protection works everywhere. Critics point to many countries where protection led to waste, corruption, or weak industries that never became competitive. The honest position is that Chang's history is powerful, but it raises the question of when and how protection can work, rather than settling it.
Chang's claim that economics is not a neutral science means evidence does not matter to him.
This misreads him. Chang relies heavily on evidence, especially detailed economic history. His point is not that facts are unimportant, but that economics always involves choices about values, assumptions, and whose interests count, so it cannot be as value-free as physics. He wants economists to be honest about those choices, not to abandon evidence. Chang is asking for more careful, transparent use of evidence, not less.
Chang's bestselling, accessible books mean his work is not taken seriously by economists.
Popularity and seriousness are not opposites here. Chang is a genuine academic economist who taught at Cambridge for over thirty years and is now a research professor at SOAS, and he has advised the World Bank and United Nations agencies. His accessible books rest on serious scholarly work in development and institutional economics. He is a heterodox economist, working outside the mainstream, and the mainstream contests his views, but that is a disagreement among scholars, not evidence that his work is unserious.
For research-level engagement, Chang's academic work in development and institutional economics, including 'The Political Economy of Industrial Policy', sets out his arguments in scholarly form. The large literature debating infant industry protection, including both historical studies and critiques pointing to cases where protection failed, is essential reading. Because Chang is a living economist in an active and globally significant debate, any assessment should be treated as provisional, and the strongest free-trade counter-arguments should be engaged directly.
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