The Political Economy of Lauchlin Currie's Land Tax Policy in Wartime China

Abstract This article examines Lauchlin Currie's land tax policy suggestion during wartime China and its political economy. Our study, based on unpublished archival materials, aims to clarify the reasons for and outcomes of Currie's first visit to China in 1942. It is argued that Currie, acting as a sincere adviser, based his policy recommendation on extensive surveys of the political and economic conditions of wartime China. In his efforts to persuade the Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek to implement financial reform, Currie drew on the authority of Sun Yat-sen's economic thought and the leadership analogies of Franklin Roosevelt and New Deal policies.