Asian Economic Recovery: Policy Options for Growth and Stability

The traditional Asian economic model was characterised by the strategy of state-directed, rapid industrial catching-up. The rapid growth period for Japan was 1953-73, while that of the NIEs (Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore) was 1966-86. Southeast Asia and coastal China began to replicate this Asian model in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The economic crisis of 1997-8 exposed the cracks in this model, and in many cases raised questions about the economic and political structures which were meant to sustain growth going forward. This collection of papers, presented at a conference on "Asia in Economic Recovery: Policy Options for Growth and Stability", addresses the questions raised, and the policy options faced by the nations of Asia, as they seek recovery, and seek to adjust their models for economic growth.

Tan Kong Yam is Professor at the Division of Economics, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.