I was recently reading over an op-ed co-written by Robert Zoellick and Justin Lin, the President and Chief Economist of the World Bank respectively. I was fairly surprised by how sensible it all sounded, not just because Paul Wolfowitz went a really long way towards discrediting the institution, but also because Justin Lin has the most insane biography ever accredited to an economist.
From Wikipedia:
As an up and coming captain in the Republic of China Army (the army had already paid for his MBA) in Taiwan, he defected to Mainland China on May 17, 1979, reportedly by swimming from the island of Kinmen, in Fujian Province (Chinese: 福建省) under the control of the Republic of China (Taiwan), to the nearby island of Xiamen in the Fujian Province (Chinese: 福建省) of the People's Republic of China (Mainland China). At the time, he left behind his wife and child who were living in Taiwan. They were later reunited when Lin went to study in the United States.[1] While an officer in the ROC Army, Lin was held up as a model soldier for choosing to be in the army. Lin was considered a "superstar" officer. The ROC originally listed him as missing but in 2000 issued an order for his arrest on charges of desertion.[2]
Now the man could have theoretically made the 10 KM swim between them two islands (what?!). He could have theoretically believed, as he claimed, that there was more potential for him in the PRC directly after the cultural revolution than in Taiwan (WHAT?!). But I find it AMAZING that within three years of "defecting" he had a Masters degree in Marxist political economy, and 4 years after that a PHD in economics from the University of Chicago (Milton Friedman had only left the place in 1977).
