We asked Stephen Roach, a senior fellow at the Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and the former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, what the epidemic could mean for the economy in China and the rest of the world.

Yale’s Stephen Roach argues that the two countries are actually in a “codependent” relationship—meaning each needs the other to offset imbalances in their system.

Yale SOM’s Zhiwu Chen and Stephen Roach debate China’s economic outlook.

Yale SOM’s Stephen Roach says that the world will need to adapt as China makes a much-needed transition.

Lei Zhang ’02 has been one of the most successful investors in China during a time of unprecedented change. In a conversation with Yale’s Stephen Roach, he talked about rapid shifts in China’s business and culture, the birth of a consumer class, the Chinese innovation model, and the outmoded views of the country that remain prevalent in the West.

China faces an immense challenge: it needs to continue growing its economy while shifting away from the manufacturing-led model that has fueled its growth in recent decades. At the same time, it has to address concerns over pollution, income inequality, and other social issues. Yale’s Stephen Roach argues that the rest of the global economy has a stake in whether China can successfully shift gears.

The Federal Reserve’s policy of open-ended quantitative easing emphasizes short-term tactics over longer-term strategy, writes Stephen Roach. “The focus, instead, should be on accelerating the process of balance-sheet repair, while at the same time returning monetary and fiscal policy levers to more normal settings.”