Riskgaming America’s degrowth lawyers need to learn from China
Sep 3, 2025
In this discussion, Dan Wang, author of the acclaimed book 'Breakneck', contrasts the engineering marvels of China with the lawyerly culture dominating America. He highlights China’s rapid infrastructure growth, exemplified by projects like the massive Medog Hydropower Station. Dan delves into the U.S. reliance on extensive regulations slowing progress, the elevated status of lawyers, and how America can learn from China’s efficient practices. The conversation touches on sociological insights and the balance needed in urban governance to foster innovation.
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Lawyers Versus Engineers Explain National Styles
- Dan Wang contrasts the U.S. as a lawyerly society with China as an engineering state to explain divergent national capabilities.
- He links elite training (lawyers vs engineers) and institutional culture to differences in what each country can effectively accomplish.
A 1914 Timetable Sparked A Realization
- Wang recalls discovering a 1914 New Haven timetable and realizing U.S. trains are slower than a century ago.
- That detail helped crystallize his sense of declining American infrastructure performance.
Change In Lawyer Character Shrank Building Capacity
- Wang traces America's shift from dealmaking lawyers who enabled projects to litigating regulators who block them.
- He argues this cultural shift increased proceduralism and reduced large-scale building capacity.
