The Shape of the East Asian Economy to Come

Book excerpt: Sometimes we hope to see a "Savior" of the secular world coming from an unknown alien realm. Such imaginings can encourage us to create both new concerns and goals toward which we scramble. We are always looking for the birth of a Venus. Since the "Miracle of East Asia" was pronounced by the World Bank, Asian economic development has been set against a specific background. Tigers have been sought in the jungles of Asia in place of the tragedies found in Africa or South America. However the Asian economic crisis exposed the misconduct of policy advocated by the then dominant worldly consensus. East Asian developments once again gave an urgent impetus to reexamining conventional wisdom. More recently, the coalescence of an "East Asian economic community" forms a backdrop for discussions on the future shape of the global system. Through this new paradigm will it be possible to further cultivate the fruits of Asian economic experiences? Or, by this rhetoric, will we merely be attempting a lonely effort to seek deliverance from the current realities of the savage world of the free market economy? This volume sheds light on various aspects of and phases in the most recent arguments, bringing together the work of European and East Asian scholars. Part One is devoted to the political and economic dynamics contributing to the emergence of an integrating East Asian entity. Part Two illustrates the challenges and problems faced by selected individual countries that would need to be overcome in creating an East Asian economy.