East Asian Visions: Perspectives on Economic Development

East Asian Visions: Perspectives on Economic Development. Edited by Indermit Gill et al. Washington, D.C. and Singapore: World Bank and Institute of Policy Studies, 2007. Pp. 358. The volume contains eighteen policy studies authored by twenty senior policy-makers, statespersons and scholars who represent eight Asian countries. The studies focus on an array of themes and questions related to them. First, what factors explain East Asia's growth and development, and will all of the countries that have experienced success continue to do so as the powerful impact of China either benefits them or crowds some of them out of markets and leaves them behind? Second, will the forces of integration build stability and efficiencies or will some East Asian economies be plagued with persistent inefficiencies and become both economically and politically vulnerable? Third, can East Asian countries avoid domestic disintegration given growing public concerns about increasing inequities, persistent poverty, environmental pollution and degradation, and official and private sector corruption and cronyism? Fourth, will East Asia find a new generation of leaders and willing followers who can set aside national myopia and internal differences in favour of more effective and widely supported view of regional cooperation and integration?