RESURGENT ASIA:
Diversity in Development
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2019
In 1970, Asia was the poorest continent in the world, marginal except for its large population. By 2016, it accounted for three-tenths of world income, two-fifths of world manufacturing, and one-third of world trade, while its income per capita converged towards the world average. However, this transformation was associated with unequal outcomes across countries and between people. The analysis disaggregates Asia into its four constituent sub-regions – East, Southeast, South and West – and further into fourteen countries – China, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Turkey, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Sri Lanka – which account for more than four-fifths of its population and income.
This book enhances our understanding of development processes and outcomes in Asia over the past fifty years, draws out the analytical conclusions that contribute to contemporary debates on development, and highlights some lessons from the Asian experience for countries elsewhere. It is the first to examine the phenomenal changes, which are transforming economies in Asia and shifting the balance of economic power in the world, while reflecting on the future prospects in Asia over the next twenty-five years.
ASIAN TRANSFORMATIONS:
An Inquiry into the Development of Nations
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2019
Abstract: Gunnar Myrdal published his magnum opus, Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations, in 1968. He was deeply pessimistic about development prospects in Asia. The fifty years since then have witnessed a remarkable social and economic transformation of Asia – even if it has been uneven across countries and unequal between people – that simply could not have been expected at the time. Asian Transformations: An Inquiry into the Development of Nations analyses the fascinating story of economic development in Asia spanning half a century.
The book sets the stage by discussing the contribution of Gunnar Myrdal to the debate on development then and now, and providing a long-term historical perspective on Asia in the world. It then uses cross-country thematic studies on governments, economic openness, agricultural transformation, industrialization, macroeconomics, poverty and inequality, education and health, employment and unemployment, institutions, and nationalisms, to analyse processes of change while recognizing the diversity in paths and outcomes. Specific country-studies on China, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam, and sub-region studies on East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia highlight turning points in economic performance and discuss factors underlying success or failure.
Including in-depth studies by eminent economists and social scientists, Asian Transformations comprehensively examines the phenomenal changes that are transforming economies in Asia, and reflects on the future prospects for this continent over the next twenty-five years. It is a cohesive and multidisciplinary study of a rapidly changing economic landscape, which makes an important contribution to understanding the complexities of development from different perspectives.
CATCH UP:
Developing Countries in the World Economy
Published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, Hardback Edition 2013
Paperback Edition 2016
Abstract:
The object of this book is to analyze the evolution of developing countries in the world economy, situated in a long term historical perspective, from the onset of the second millennium but with a focus on the second half of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first century. It is perhaps among the first to address this theme on such a wide canvas that spans both time and space. In doing so, it highlights the overwhelming significance of what are now developing countries in the world until 200 years ago to trace their decline and fall from 1820 to 1950. The six decades since then have witnessed an increase in the share of developing countries not only in world population and world income but also in international trade, international investment, industrial production and manufactured exports which gathered momentum after 1980. The book explores the factors underlying this fall and rise to discuss the ongoing catch up in the world economy driven by industrialization and economic growth. Their impressive performance, disaggregated analysis shows, is characterized by uneven development. There is an exclusion of countries and people from the process. The catch up is concentrated in a few countries. Growth has often not been transformed into meaningful development that improves the wellbeing of people. Yet, the beginnings of a shift in the balance of power in the world economy are discernible. But developing countries can sustain this rise only if they can transform themselves into inclusive societies where economic growth, human development and social progress move in tandem. Their past could then be a pointer to their future.
Employment, Growth And Development
Essays on a Changing World Economy
Routledge, London and New York, 2017
This book brings together ten selected essays by the author on employment, growth and development, to focus on challenges and opportunities – old and new – in the contemporary world economy. The essential theme that runs through the book is that there is a strong relationship not only between employment and growth but also between employment and development, where the causation runs in both directions. And it is employment that transforms economic growth into meaningful development by providing livelihoods and incomes to people. While the focus is often on developing countries, the discussion almost always considers industrialized countries as points of reference or comparison for analysis, since the latter are a large part of an interdependent world, in which problems faced by the two sets of countries are frequently connected and sometimes common. The essays also provide a macroeconomic analysis of development problems situated in the wider context of a changing world economy, exploring possible solutions, to examine the implications not only for countries but also for people.