Joe Studwell

Joe Studwell has worked as a freelance writer and journalist in east Asia for 25 years. He has written for the Economist Intelligence Unit, The Economist, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Far Eastern Economic Review, the Observer Magazine and Asia Inc. From 1997 to 2007, Joe was the founding editor of the China Economic Quarterly (CEQ), the recognised English-language journal of the Chinese economy. He was also a founder and director of the Asian research and advisory firm Dragonomics, now GaveKal Dragonomics. Joe’s first book was The China Dream: the Quest for the Greatest Untapped Market on Earth (2002). His second book -- Asian Godfathers: Money and Power in Hong Kong and South-East Asia (2007) – led the Financial Times to state: ‘Joe Studwell should be named chief myth-buster for Asian business…his myth-busting is as merciless as it is enlightening.’ Asian Godfathers appeared on Books of the Year lists in The Wall Street, BusinessWeek, and the Financial Times. Joe’s third book, How Asia Works: Success and Failure in the World’s Most Dynamic Region (2013), appeared on numerous Books of the Year lists including those of the Financial Times and the Economist. Bill Gates ranked it as one of his five favourite books of the year, describing the arguments on economic development as ‘compelling’. As well as writing and researching, Joe is a frequent public speaker at academic events, corporate conferences and government fora.