How Asia Works: Success and Failure in the World's Most Dynamic Region

by Joe Studwell Narrated by Nigel Patterson

Overview

In the 1980s and 1990s many in the West came to believe in the myth of an East-Asian economic miracle, with countries seen as not just development prodigies but as a unified bloc, culturally and economically similar, and inexorably on the rise. In How Asia Works, Joe Studwell distills extensive research into the economics of nine countries-Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, and China-into an accessible 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.



Impressive in scope, How Asia Works is essential listening for anyone interested in a region that will shape the future of the world.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Praise for How Asia Works:

"I found the book to be quite compelling. . . . Studwell’s book does a better job than anything else I’ve read of articulating the key role of agriculture in development. . . . 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"

"Pithy, well-written and intellectually vigorous . . . Studwell’s thesis is bold, his arguments persuasive, and his style pugnacious. It adds up to a highly readable and important book."—Financial Times

"Provocative. … How Asia Works is a striking and enlightening book … A lively mix of scholarship, reporting and polemic."—The Economist

"Very readable.... A fascinating and thoroughly deep account."—Bloomberg Radio

"Gripping … Readers will find Studwell’s informative and balanced report eye-opening."—Publishers Weekly

"Consistently engaging."—Booklist

"Studwell paints a vivid picture of business life in the region. If a copy of the Korean edition finds its way across the demilitarized zone to Pyongyang … we may find we have yet another Asian Tiger in our midst."—Management Today

"A solid blend of the descriptive and the prescriptive, with plenty of lessons that will be of interest to Asia hands, investors and policymakers."—Kirkus Reviews

"Perhaps my favorite economics book of the year. Quite simply, it is the best single treatment on what in Asian industrial policy worked or did not work, full of both analysis and specific detail, and covering southeast Asia in addition to the Asian tiger ‘winners.’ … Definitely recommended, you will learn lots from it, and it will upset people of virtually all ideologies."—Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution

"Illuminating"—Independent (UK)

"An interesting analysis of policy decisions that have and haven’t worked . . . a handy guide for anyone interested in one of the world’s fastest developing regions."—The Economic Times (India)

"Studwell’s latest book, How Asia Works, is also his most ambitions. . . . Declining to make broad pronouncements or dovetail with doctrine, Studwell demonstrates that the way Asia works isn’t quite as simple as we ever imagined."—Smart Planet

"A landmark work."—Asia Times (Bangkok)

"Bold and insightful. . . . Essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the ingredients for economic success."—The News International (Pakistan)

Kirkus Reviews

China Economic Quarterly founder Studwell (Asian Godfathers: Money and Power in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, 2007, etc.) delivers a sometimes-contrarian, sometimes-counterintuitive look at the fortunes of Asia's economies, for better or worse. One of those success stories is Taiwan, which benefits from a tropical climate and the abundant rain and heat that come with it, making the island nation a vast garden as compared to much of neighboring mainland China. It benefits more, Studwell writes, from having undergone a program of land reform that preserves the "labor-intensive gardening approach" while rewarding individual ownership through an incentivized market structure. By contrast, tropical Philippines is hampered by a land tenure system that concentrates ownership in a few hands, notably an "estranged first cousin" of Corazon Aquino, who had been a former crony of dictator Ferdinand Marcos. For all the success of places such as Taiwan, Kerala and West Bengal, Studwell writes that "a country cannot sustain growth on agriculture alone" and then moves on to discuss the development of profitable (and sometimes not-so-profitable) industries and innovative financial sectors. The author also examines all of the lessons learned from throughout Asia in the light of how China has fared, with extremely mixed results: The country, he observes, has failed to truly serve its private sector and maintains a financial system "that has almost certainly been unnecessarily inefficient." Removing such hindrances and encouraging freely moving institutional systems can only further China's growth, he adds. A solid blend of the descriptive and the prescriptive, with plenty of lessons that will be of interest to Asia hands, investors and policymakers.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170632435
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	08/15/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged

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