Complementarity, Not China–India Zero‑Sum

Updated: 2025.09.03 1M ago 2 sources
Lin argues India’s young labor pool complements, rather than displaces, China’s shifting comparative advantages as it moves up the value chain. This challenges the common narrative of a bilateral race for the same niches. — It reframes Asian supply‑chain strategy and investment theses away from a simple substitution story.

Sources

The Simple Mathematics of Chinese Innovation
Alex Tabarrok 2025.09.03 50% relevant
Tabarrok argues China’s and India’s rise as scientific superpowers is a windfall, not a threat, echoing the non‑zero‑sum framing that complementary strengths and more scientists raise global innovation rather than crowding the U.S. out.
The Industrial Policy Debate of 2016: Justin Yifu Lin vs. Zhang Weiying (Part 1)
Thomas des Garets Geddes 2025.08.21 100% relevant
Article notes Lin views India’s workforce as complementary to China’s different advantages.
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