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Executive-in-Residence Leland Miller ’98 to Give Talk on China’s Economy on March 10

Leland Miller ’98, CEO of China Beige Book International, will give a talk, “Demystifying China’s Economy in 2015,” at 7:30 p.m. on Mar. 10 in Stackhouse Theater. This event is free and open to the public.

Investors and policymakers obsess over the growth of China’s economy, but what is actually happening across regions and sectors remains a mystery to those who rely solely on China’s official government data.

Combining the largest private data operation ever to operate in a closed economy with unrivaled connections to sources on the ground, Miller will explain the evolving Chinese marketplace and provide unique insight into China’s true growth, credit and labor dynamics—as well as what Beijing’s leadership has in store in terms of restructuring and reform in 2015.

Tired of unreliable data provided solely by the Chinese government, Miller founded the China Beige Book in 2012. Adapted from methodology used by the U.S. Federal Reserve’s “Beige Book,” China Beige Book relies on its own independent data, collected quarterly, which includes survey data from over 2,000 Chinese firms and in-depth interviews across each of its regions and sectors.

Miller was a history and Chinese major at W&L. He also holds a law degree from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree in Chinese history from Oxford University. A leading expert on China’s financial system, he is a frequent guest on media outlets such as CNBC and CNBC Asia, Bloomberg TV and Radio, BBC, Al-Jazeera and China’s CCTV, among others. His work is featured regularly in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg, TIME, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Forbes, Foreign Policy and The Washington Post.