Giovanni Arrighi (b. 1937) is a sociologist and economist, professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, USA). His research interests include comparative and historical sociology, world systems analysis, and economic sociology. Drawing on research into processes in the labor market, education and economic development, in his works Arrighi discusses the causes and consequences of inequality in wealth, power and the status of nations. One of his most famous works is “The Long Twentieth Century. Money, power and the origins of our time.” In his new book “Adam Smith in Beijing,” written as a continuation and development of the previous ones, the author examines two main factors that predetermined the alignment of political and economic forces at the beginning of the new millennium. One is the emergence and failure of the neoconservative Project for a New American Century, the other is the emergence of China as the leader of the East Asian economic revival. In the light of Adam Smith's theory of economic development, Arrighi shows why the epicenter of the global political economy is moving from North America to East Asia and the role of two states - the United States and China - as the main actors in the unfolding transformation of the world.