How Asia Works: Success and Failure In the World's Most Dynamic Region“A good read for anyone who wants to understand what actually determines whether a developing economy will succeed.” —Bill Gates, “Top 5 Books of the Year” An Economist Best Book of the Year from a reporter who has spent two decades in the region, and who the Financial Times said “should be named chief myth-buster for Asian business.” In How Asia Works, Joe Studwell distills his extensive research into the economies of nine countries—Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, and China—into an accessible, readable narrative that debunks Western misconceptions, shows what really happened in Asia and why, and for once makes clear why some countries have boomed while others have languished. Studwell’s in-depth analysis focuses on three main areas: land policy, manufacturing, and finance. Land reform has been essential to the success of Asian economies, giving a kick-start to development by utilizing a large workforce and providing capital for growth. With manufacturing, industrial development alone is not sufficient, Studwell argues. Instead, countries need “export discipline,” a government that forces companies to compete on the global scale. And in finance, effective regulation is essential for fostering, and sustaining growth. To explore all of these subjects, Studwell journeys far and wide, drawing on fascinating examples from a Philippine sugar baron’s stifling of reform to the explosive growth at a Korean steel mill. “Provocative . . . How Asia Works is a striking and enlightening book . . . A lively mix of scholarship, reporting and polemic.” —The Economist |
Contents
5 | |
25 | |
38 | |
Manufacturing The Victory of the Historians | |
Finance The Merits of a Short Leash | |
Jakarta | |
Where China Fits | |
Bibliography | |
Acknowledgements | |
Other editions - View all
How Asia Works: Success and Failure in the World's Most Dynamic Region Joe Studwell No preview available - 2014 |
How Asia Works: Success and Failure in the World's Most Dynamic Region Joe Studwell No preview available - 2013 |
How Asia Works: Success and Failure in the World's Most Dynamic Region Joe Studwell No preview available - 2013 |
Common terms and phrases
Agrarian Reform agricultural Asian financial crisis average banking system began Berkeley Mafia biggest central bank chaebol China Chinese Chung Ju Yung colonial communist companies competition country's debt deregulation despite developing countries developmental domestic early east Asia economic development economists entrepreneurs export discipline farmers financial system funds global growth Ha-Joon Chang hectares household farming Huawei Hyundai important increased Indonesia industrialisation infant industry policy infrastructure institutions interest rates investment Japan Japanese Korea and Taiwan labour Ladejinsky land reform landlords learning lending less loans Mahathir Malaysia manufacturing policy Meiji MITI north-east output Park Chung Hee peasants Perwaja Philippines plantations Pohang political population POSCO privatised production profits Proton rediscounting rice rural Second World Second World War sector smallholders South Korea south-east Asia steel subsidies successful sugar Suharto Sukarno Taiwanese Thailand trade University Press World Bank yields