Description
One of the most significant developments in the second half of the twentieth century has been the rapid economic transformation of many countries in Asia. At the end of World War II, Asian countries (including Japan) were poor, underdeveloped, and considered to have bleak prospects for economic advancement. Yet, by the 1970s, Japan had emerged as a major industrial power and a world centre of manufacturing and exports. Soon after this, the Newly Industrializing Countries (NICs) of Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan) became the fastest-growing economies in the world, and major participants in world trade. By the late 1980s, many ASEAN countries (especially Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam) had begun to follow in the footsteps of the Asian NICs, recording very high rates of economic growth, and becoming major sources of manufactured exports. China, once considered a sleeping giant, has woken to be one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, and is destined to become the world's largest economy in the first decade of the next century. Even India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have begun to take the same steps that led their Asian neighbours to higher growth trajectories.
This book presents a systematic analysis of the economic transformation of Asia. It deals with the rapid growth and industrialization of the arc of developing countries which stretches from South Asia, through Southeast Asia, to East Asia, and discusses the factors which have led to their economic transformation, in the light of the analytical debates in the development literature.
Written primarily for university students, this book will also be of interest to those in government and business who wish to understand the rapid economic changes which have made Southeast and East Asia the most dynamic region in the world economy. A computer- aided teaching package is available for those who aim to master the contents of this book.
ISBN:9789812101020
