Model

In the non-statistical sense, a model means a stylized description that removes extraneous details and distills the core patterns of a real-world phenomenon.

• Caution: The word “model” is often misused to imply a static, copy-and-paste template, as seen in politicized debates about “China vs. America” models. Yuen Yuen Ang uses “model” only in the heuristic sense, as stylized description.

• In How China Escaped the Poverty Trap, Ang characterizes reform-era China’s governance as directed improvisation: a blend of direction from the top and improvisation from below.