Is it better to be run by engineers or lawyers? Dan Wang poses this question in his book Breakneck which tracks how China is confronting the future. The horrors of being run by engineers suggest that we really need lawyers, but is the US overdoing it?
The Rise Of China
One of the challenges with writing about what is happening in China is that there are some good stories to tell. It is hard to get the balance right between stating important positive facts, e.g., that China has made much more progress on renewable energy and electric vehicles than the US. (To be fair, the Chinese government is not trying to prevent progress in these areas which probably helps). That said, given that democracy and human rights are critically important, the solution to sustainability problems can’t be to throw human rights under the bus.
Wang, having been born in China before moving to Canada as a child, does a good job of capturing the complexities. Yes, Chinese trains are generations ahead of the US. (Again, to be fair, it is hard to be worse than US trains). Yes, Chinese electric vehicles look likely to dominate transportation in the coming generation. (Here in the US we will apparently continue to enjoy our 20th century gas technology). Yes, China is to solar panels [PV] production what earth is to humans, vanishingly little activity happens elsewhere. These successes were all driven by what Wang describes as an engineering mindset. Finding a problem and embracing a solution that doesn’t accept delay.
Still, Wang explains the downsides of the engineering state and they are very, very real. Beyond the prior one-child policy, he details the get Covid lockdowns that trampled on the rights of the individual. (I don’t mean being politely asked to put on a mask.) A problem was identified, a “solution” quickly embraced. Unfortunately, with the engineering mindset there was no way to stop the abuse of human rights in an authoritarian system.
Run By Engineers Or Lawyers
Wang contrasts this with the US. In this his ideas read similar to Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson, and Marc Dunkelman.
China is an engineering state, building big at breakneck speed, in contrast to the United States’ lawyerly society, blocking everything it can, good and bad.
Wang, 2025, page XV
Is it a positive thing to be lawyerly and stop everything. It really depends upon what you are stopping. The upside of lawyerly respect for rights is clear; the US never had a one-child policy. The downside is good things don’t happen. Fancy building a new train track in the US? No one over fifty should reasonably expect it to ride it. Even younger people might reasonably doubt it will ever happen. While the protections of the lawyerly society are a marvel, you can have too much of a good thing.
The first [thing weakening the US] is an elevation of process over outcomes. In American government and society, designing new rules and committees have so often become the substitute for thinking hard about strategy and ends.
Wang, 2025, page 14
Too Much Of A Good Thing
As anyone who has spent an evening at an English pub knows you can have too much of a good thing. The US (and the UK for that matter) needs to deliver more. Long-term plans are great but short-term delivery is needed for political successes or else those falsely claiming only they can achieve anything will win. Beyond that many achievements are just the right thing to do. We need sustainability solutions, not sustainability feasibility studies. Plus, I’m fifty-five now. Surely, I’m not so old that it is unreasonable to expect to be able to travel on a train from Athens to Atlanta in my lifetime. It is only 70 miles and there are plenty of people who need to make the journey (especially on game days).
For more on public policy see Recognizing Trade-offs Is Critical To Progress, It Isn’t Good Enough To Be Just Against Things and It Isn’t Good Enough To Be Just Against Things
Read: Dan Wang (2025) Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future, W.W. Norton
