Heritage Expert

Derek Scissors, Ph.D. Download Hi-Res

Derek Scissors, Ph.D.

  • Senior Research Fellow

Derek Scissors focuses his studies on the economies of China and India as senior research fellow for economics in Heritage's Asian Studies Center. He also analyzes and comments on broader economic trends in Asia, as well as related challenges facing the United States.

Scissors has testified before the U.S. House of Representative on rare earth elements, the U.S. Senate on exchange rate disputes between America and China and the U.S.-China Economic and Security Commission on Chinese investment in America.

Scissors’ analysis and commentary have appeared in Foreign Affairs, National Review, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal’s Asia edition and Indian news outlets such as The Hindu. Scissors and his work also have been featured in The Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Economic Times of India and by news agencies such as the Associated Press, Dow Jones, Reuters and Xinhua.

Television audiences know Scissors as a guest commentator on Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, Fox and Fox Business, MSNBC and China’s CCTV, among other major cable and broadcast outlets. His appearances on radio include Fox Radio, National Public Radio and Public Radio International.

Scissors also is adjunct professor at George Washington University, where he teaches a course on the Chinese economy.

Before joining Heritage in August 2008, Scissors was China economist at Intelligence Research, a global consulting firm. He wrote its China Weekly Bulletin, China Watch and China Quarterly Forecast, and counseled clients --primarily Fortune 500 executives -- concerning their China operations.

Scissors has a master's degree in economics from the University of Chicago and a doctorate in international political economy from Stanford University.

He and his wife reside with their two daughters in Bethesda, Md.

Testimonies: 

Chinese State-Owned Enterprises and U.S.–China Economic Relations  
Posted April 1, 2011

Energy-Critical Elements: The Market is Working
Posted December 8, 2011

Chinese State Owned Enterprises and the US Policy on China
Posted March 19, 2012

All Publications by Derek Scissors, Ph.D.
  • Issue Brief posted April 26, 2012 by Derek Scissors, Ph.D. The New Model BIT: Necessary but Not Sufficient

    Bilateral investment treaties (BITs) extend fundamental trade principles, such as nondiscrimination among partners, to investment. In 2009, the Obama Administration began revising the model BIT, the outline that the U.S. initially provides other countries. This month, the revised model BIT was released. The Administration touts it as improving labor and…

  • Issue Brief posted April 23, 2012 by Derek Scissors, Ph.D. Chinese Economic Reform: How the U.S. Should Prepare

    The U.S. government suffers from understandable but harmful confusion concerning Chinese economic reform. It is correctly understood that market reforms have been most often implemented gradually. However, that slowness is misperceived to be moderation. In fact, when market reforms have occurred, they have been clear and powerful. …

  • Issue Brief posted April 9, 2012 by Derek Scissors, Ph.D. Chinese Commercial Espionage: U.S. Policy Recommendations

    Sino–American economic conflicts are often characterized as “bad but improving.” For example, the trade deficit is ugly, but exports to China are rising, protection of intellectual property is said to be slowly expanding, and so on. There is an important matter, however, where the situation is bad and the case…

  • Special Report posted March 7, 2012 by Derek Scissors, Ph.D., Kumi Yokoe, Ph.D. Japan's National Budget: Time to Give Up on Keynesianism

    Abstract: Japan’s “lost decade” has turned into two; and Japan is not alone. Staggering amounts of public debt and stagnant economies have become a problem from the EU to the U.S. Despite twenty years of evidence to the contrary, the belief persists that deficit…

  • Issue Brief posted March 7, 2012 by Derek Scissors, Ph.D. Strengthening U.S.–Indonesia Economic Relations

    The United States has a truly massive economic relationship with East Asia. U.S.–East Asia trade exceeds $1 trillion annually, and two-way investment is more than $4 trillion. The U.S. also has many complaints about the economic relationship. Some refer to the huge trade deficit America runs…

  • WebMemo posted February 6, 2012 by Dean Cheng, Derek Scissors, Ph.D. Xi Jinping Visit an Opportunity to Finally Establish China Priorities

    The man designated as the next General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping, is due at the White House on February 14. Xi’s scheduled term of office is 10 years. The last 10 years saw the Chinese economy, according to official statistics, more than quadruple in size. It…

  • Backgrounder posted January 19, 2012 by Lisa Curtis, Derek Scissors, Ph.D. The Limits of the Pakistan-China Alliance

    Abstract: After the U.S. raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan in May 2011, Pakistani political leaders played up their country’s relations with China, touting Beijing as an alternative partner to Washington. But China’s concerns over Pakistan’s future stability will likely limit the…

  • WebMemo posted January 17, 2012 by Derek Scissors, Ph.D. China’s Economic Data Are (Still) Not Credible

    China today announced that gross domestic product (GDP) growth for 2011 slowed to 9.2 percent. Over the next days and weeks, there will be a stream of pontificating about what this means. There is a good chance that everyone involved will be pontificating about nonsense. China’s economic…

  • WebMemo posted January 9, 2012 by Derek Scissors, Ph.D. Chinese Outward Investment: Slower Growth in 2011

    Chinese investment has become a notable factor in the world economy and will continue to be for the indefinite future. As a whole, Chinese investment is now maturing in both positive and negative senses. As investment has matured, annual growth has slowed, with growth in some markets stagnating entirely. On…

  • White Paper posted January 6, 2012 by Derek Scissors, Ph.D. China Global Investment Tracker: 2012

    Download the dataset on large Chinese foreign investments: China Global Investment Tracker China's investment overseas is increasingly important to the United States and the international community. The China Global Investment Tracker created by The Heritage Foundation is the only publicly available, comprehensive dataset…

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  • Blog Post on 5/23/2012 11:00:00 AM Economic Leadership Starts at Home

    China is taking over the world! A lot of people believe this. And a few very smart people point to China as being a...…

  • Blog Post on 5/14/2012 11:00:30 AM Between the Lines in China

    There is a lot going on in China today, this week, this month, this year. There's internal Chinese politics. There's...…

  • Blog Post on 5/3/2012 9:00:17 AM China Not Yet Rebalancing

    China has the world’s second-largest GDP, the world’s largest monetary base, and the world’s largest foreign exchange...…

  • Blog Post on 4/27/2012 9:10:34 AM China's Premier Is Not a Reformer

    Both The Washington Post and the Financial Times have more front-page stories today on the seemingly endless saga of the...…

  • Blog Post on 3/26/2012 7:00:00 AM India's Latest Scandal: $210 Billion of Nonsense

    Two years ago, the United States Department of Defense “discovered” mineral deposits in Afghanistan—gold, iron, copper,...…

  • Blog Post on 3/13/2012 11:15:00 AM The Rare Earths Distraction

    The U.S., EU, and Japan are suing China in the World Trade Organization (WTO), calling Chinese export quotas on rare...…

  • Blog Post on 3/13/2012 8:00:56 AM Chinese Economic Espionage: An Overlooked Concern

    If you heard that people based in a certain country completely compromised the computer systems of Nortel, a Canadian...…

  • Blog Post on 3/1/2012 4:45:07 AM Our Debt and China

    Yesterday, the Department of the Treasury released an initial estimate of foreign holdings of U.S. securities, including...…

  • Blog Post on 2/23/2012 6:49:24 AM Market Reform in China: Should We Believe It?

    The first step in solving a problem is admitting it. For years, the Chinese government and their defenders overseas...…

  • Blog Post on 2/13/2012 5:00:04 AM Some Truths About Trade

    In 2004, the yuan ended the year 8.28 to the dollar. In 2011, it ended the year 6.31 to the dollar, a 24-percent rise....…

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