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Asian Studies

 

 

Asian Development
Economic Success and Policy Lessons
William E. James, Seiji Naya, and Gerald M. Meier


"As its title implies, this extremely useful book not only surveys the development of the Asian economies, but also celebrates their overall success, drawing out the lessons of the leaders for the laggards. The countries surveyed are classified into three groups: the NICs (Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, and Taiwan), the ASEAN four (Indonesia, Malaysia, Phillipines, and Thailand) and low-income South Asia (Bangladesh, Burma, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka). The authors' objective is to discover why some countries have been more successful than others."—Peter Lawrence, Economic Journal

"The stated purpose of this book is to provide an appraisal 'of the unprecedented economic development record of the countries of Asia.' The three authors, who are highly qualified as both scholars and development practitioners, have accomplished their task in an admirable fashion."—Choice

While the world's attention has been focused on the spectacular economic success of Japan and Korea, the less developed countries of Asia have often been neglected. Asian Development closes the gap. In nontechnical style and with minimal mathematics, it presents an in-depth perspective on the economic development of fourteen countries in East, Southeast, and South Asia.

Asian Development is mainly a story of success. Though some problems remain, Asian countries have shown remarkable resilience in responding to sharp changes in the international economy—oil shocks, world recession and inflation, exchange-rate and interest-rate fluctuations, and rapid technological change. The authors conclude that their ability to adjust to changing external conditions is closely related to intelligent governmental policies. Looking back they comment: "In the past, growth of the United States and Japan pulled up the growth rates of the smaller economies in the region." Looking forward, they predict: "In the future, increasingly it will be the growth of the Asian developing countries that acts as a catalyst to growth in the more advanced economies."

"A very good book; interesting, important, and useful. It is an excellent beginning of comparative analysis of Asian development."—Benjamin Higgins, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies

William E. James is research associate at the East-West Center and professor of economics, University of Hawaii. Seiji Naya, chair of the Department of Economics at the University of Hawaii, has served as chief economist at the Asian Development Bank in Manila. Gerald M. Meier is the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of International Economics and Policy Analysis at Stanford University.

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Cover is blue with blue and white text

June 1988  

LC: 88-040191 HC
281 pp.   5 7/8 x 9
52 tables, 13 figs.

The cloth edition, ISBN 978-0-299-11780-1, is out of print, but the paperback is still available.

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ISBN 978-0-299-11784-9
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