Joe Studwell's "How Asia Works": Third Edition

Arun: Power packed narrative and with evidence. This book is a must read for all looking for that elusive growth. A collector’s book and would find a corner in thinking shelves.

India on Feb 17, 2023

Sun: The book delivers as promised. There's a lot of factual information and historical explanations on the success or failures of different areas of Asia.
If you get this book, you'll be thoroughly educated.

Germany on Feb 06, 2023

Francisco Teixeira de Almeida: O livro aborda as razões pelas quais os diversos países asiáticos tiveram resultados diferentes na corrida na direção ao desenvolvimento econômico e social. A análise é bem detalhada, mas em linhas gerais as diferenças de resultado podem ser atribuídas à (1) efetiva reforma fundiária, privilegiando a agricultura de pequena escala e mais intensiva em mão-de-obra, (2) redistribuição de riqueza e melhoria da arrecadação derivadas da reforma fundiária, (3) política industrial para forçar os industrialistas a focarem na exportação, e (4) investimento em educação.

Brazil on Sep 02, 2022

Federico: I was a late reader of this excellent book, which provides a clear overview of what worked (and what dit not) in Asian national development strategies. Some critics say that the author takes in little consideration topics such as institutional theory, which, on the opposite, I consider a positive feature of the book: so much has been written about the role of institutions in shaping development paths that it would have been redundant to include this point of view in the book.

Italy on Oct 17, 2021

prodi12: Really enjoyed reading this book and opened my eyes on the various different governmental policy successes and failures that shaped how Asian countries are now like today. Particularly liked how the author used snippets of his trips to some of these places, it really helped visualize what he is describing. Definitely a must read if you want to learn and understand why countries such as South Korea, Japan and China developed so successfully to where they are now today, but countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand really lagged behind and stalled since the end of WW2.

Canada on Apr 05, 2020

Bak Jin-sing: 'How Asia Works' passes the sniff test in that it actually helps to explain current events in Asia - for example the current fun and games with the Thai government's guaranteed rice purchases, which post-date the publication of the book.
The most important premise in the book is the need for land reform to fund industrialisation.
By 'land reform' he means distributing land equally among farming families, by taking it off the big landowners.
Land reform does not come easily:
In Japan the first (and initially successful) reform was after the Meiji Restoration, and the second immediately after the Second World War.
In Taiwan it followed the defeat of the Kuomintang (KMT) by the Communists in China. Initially Communist land reform in China was popular with the people, and the KMT were forced to copy it in Taiwan to achieve some popularity with the locals.
In South Korea Syngman Rhee's government resisted land reform until it was nearly swept into the sea by Kim Il Sung's invasion. When the South Koreans retook Korea, they found Communist land reform was very popular with the farmers, and were forced to accept it.
The ensuing agricultural boom gave these...

United States on Sep 11, 2013

A. Menon: How Asia Works by Joe Studwell is an account of economic developement and history in Asia. It focuses on a several key economies including Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and finally to China. It discusses economic history and the sequencing of events that led to the success and failurs of different countries in Asia. The author draws conclusions about the right ingredients for economic growth in the modern era given the various lessons one can learn from Asian examples. The author breaks the book into 4 categories- Land, Manufacturing, Finance and finally China.

The author starts by discussing Land and agriculture. He starts out by making the observation that the highest efficiency in produce per square meter for agriculture occurs through home farming and that economies of scale might exist from a cost perspective given the cost of labour but does not mean that aggregate produce would be highest if we all farmed. He then discusses how farming in history has been dominated by landlords and the business of farming within a landlord system by rent seeking behaviour that does not sufficiently invest in land improvement. He finally concludes that...

United States on Aug 06, 2013