The book is an edited volume of different perspectives on the South Asian region and captures the political, social and economic challenges facing the region following the financial crisis and the region's responses to these challenges.

This book examines five countries in South East Asia that are instructive case studies of how the region has had to negotiate pathways of development beyond crises and traps. At two ends of just one decade, 1997–2007, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam all had to weather the shocks of an East Asian financial crisis and a global financial crisis. Some economies might have buckled completely under those shocks and been condemned to long-term stagnation. Yet these five economies, part of the larger Asian region, emerged with continued if slower economic growth. An important theme of this book is that their resilience has been partly derived from the pursuit of growth and competitiveness along less known or recommended pathways. The chapters of this book take a novel approach to South East Asia’s search for growth and improvement. They do not begin by evaluating how far macro-level performances would take a particular country towards high-income status. Instead they provide original insights into actual cases of intermediate ways of achieving growth, upgrading and income improvement in non-privileged sectors. Such cases may hold more relevant lessons for the majority of developing countries than the experiences of highly developed economies.

The Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Economics offers new insights into the rapidly-developing economies of Southeast Asia. Despite widespread initial deprivation, Southeast Asia has achieved and sustained a remarkable rate of growth, in the course of which tens of millions have successfully escaped severe poverty. Though the economies of the region vary in many dimensions, integration into the wider East Asian network of production and trade is a notable common feature, one that continues a centuries-long history of engagement with global trade. A second striking feature is the pace and extent of transformation in the structure of production and in sources of household income in the region, which has undergone remarkably rapid industrialization and urban growth. However, the search for sustained and sustainable growth through and beyond middle-income continues to confront pressing economic and policy challenges. This Handbook offers a timely and comprehensive overview of Southeast Asian economic development. Organized according to the logic of chronological and thematic unity, it is structured in these sections: Growth and development over the long term Food, agriculture and natural resources Trade, investment and industrialization Population, labor, and human capital Poverty and political economy Twenty-first century challenges This original Handbook, written by experts in their fields, is unique in the breadth and depth of its coverage. Its forward-looking perspective renders it relevant both now and in the future. This advanced level reference work will be essential reading for students, researchers and scholars of Asian Studies, Economics and Southeast Asian studies.

“South Asia 2060” is a dialogue between 47 thought leaders, ranging from policymakers to academics to civil society activists and visionaries from across South Asia and the world, on the likely longer-range trajectories of South Asia's future as a region. The collection explores how South Asia's regional future will impact the rest of the world while also shedding light on its present condition.

Comprising 60.3 percent of the world’s 7.2 billion population, Asia is an enigma to many in the West. Hugely dynamic in its demographic, economic, technological and financial development, its changes are as rapid as they are diverse. The SAGE Handbook of Asian Foreign Policy provides the reader with a clear, balanced and comprehensive overview on Asia’s foreign policy and accompanying theoretical trends. Placing the diverse and dynamic substance of Asia’s international relations first, and bringing together an authoritative assembly of contributors from across the world, this is a reliable introduction to non-Western intellectual traditions in Asia. VOLUME 1: PART 1: Theories PART 2: Themes PART 3: Transnational Politics PART 4: Domestic Politics PART 5; Transnational Economics VOLUME 2: PART 6: Foreign Policies of Asian States Part 6a: East Asia Part 6b: Southeast Asia Part 6c: South & Central Asia Part 7: Offshore Actors Part 8: Bilateral Issues Part 9: Comparison of Asian Sub-Regions

“The crisis has deeply impacted virtually every economy in the world, and although growth has returned, much progress in the fight against poverty has been lost. More difficult international conditions in the years to come will mean that developing countries will have to place even more emphasis on improving domestic economic conditions to achieve the kind of growth that can durably eradicate poverty.� —Justin Yifu Lin, Chief Economist and Senior Vice President The World Bank 'Global Economic Prospects 2010: Crisis, Finance, and Growth' explores both the short- and medium-term impacts of the financial crisis on developing countries. Although global growth has resumed, the recovery is fragile, and unless business and consumer demand strengthen, the world economy could slow down again. Even if, as appears likely, a double-dip recession is avoided, the recovery is expected to be slow. High unemployment and widespread restructuring will continue to characterize the global economy for the next several years. Already, the crisis has provoked large-scale human suffering. Some 64 million more people around the world are expected to be living on less than a $1.25 per day by the end of 2010, and between 30,000 and 50,000 more infants may have died of malnutrition in 2009 in Sub-Saharan Africa, than would have been the case if the crisis had not occurred. Over the medium term, economic growth is expected to recover. But increased risk aversion, a necessary and desirable tightening of financial regulations in high-income countries, and measures to reduce the exposure of developing economies to external shocks are likely to make finance scarcer and more costly than it was during the boom period. As a result, just as the ample liquidity of the early 2000s prompted an investment boom and an acceleration in developing-country potential output, higher costs will likely yield a slowing in developing-country potential growth rates of between 0.2 and 0.7 percentage points, and as much as an 8 percent decline in potential output over the medium term. In the longer term, however, developing countries can more than offset the implications of more expensive international finance by reducing the cost of capital channeled through their domestic financial markets. For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org/gep2010. To access Prospects for the Global Economy, an online companion publication, please visit www.worldbank.org/globaloutlook.

The Financial Crisis was a cross-sector crisis that fundamentally affected modern society. Regulation, as a concept, was both blamed for allowing the crisis to happen, but also tasked with developing and implementing solutions in the wake of the crash. In this book, a number of specialists from a range of fields have contributed their insights into the effect of the Financial Crisis upon the regulatory frameworks affecting their fields, how regulators have responded to the Crisis, and then what this may mean for the future of regulation within those industries. These analyses are joined by a picture of past financial crises – which reveals interesting patterns – and then analyses of architectural regulatory models that were fundamentally affected by the Crisis. The book aims to allow sector specialists the freedom to share their insights so that, potentially, a broader picture can be identified. Providing an interesting and thought-provoking account of this societally impactful era, this book will help the reader develop a more informed understanding of the potential future of financial regulation. The book will be of value to researchers, students, advanced level students, regulators, and policymakers.

This book is the outcome of a South-South conference jointly organized by the Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA), the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) and the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) in Dakar, Senegal, May 2012. The conference was organised in response to the financial crisis of 2008 which started in the United States and Europe, with reverberating effects on a global scale. Economic problems emanating from such crises usually leave major social and structural impacts on important sectors of the society internationally. They affect living standards and constrain the well-being of people, especially in poor countries. Persistent problems include high unemployment, increased debt and low growth in developed countries, as well as greater difficulties in accessing finance for investment in the developing world. There is a need for countries in the South to examine the available options for appropriate national and regional responses to the different problems emanating from the economic crisis. This book attempts to provide ideas on some strategic responses to the disastrous impact of the crisis, while keeping in mind the global common interest of the South. It is hoped that the book will contribute significantly towards the agenda to rethink development and the quest for alternative paradigms for a just, stable and equitable global political, economic and social system. A system in which Africa, Asia, and Latin America are emancipated from the shackles of hegemonic and anachronistic neoliberal dictates that have nothing more to offer than crises, vulnerabilities and dependency.

This book examines the evolving multilateral security arrangements in East Asia. It discusses the role of ASEAN, highlighting its successes and its deficiencies, including the fact that it is confined to Southeast Asia and has among its members none of the major East Asian powers nor any of the external powers such as the United States which have a strong interest in the region.

Business Groups and the Thailand Economy examines the role of business groups, specifically state, local, and foreign capitals in the economic development of emerging economies and highlights why business groups are essential in helping a country break out of the middle-income trap. Wailerdsak reviews Thailand’s industrial and economic growth strategies through the local and international investors and explains why business groups are one of the key drivers of economic advancement and why they help to avoid the middle-income trap. The author also examines their business power expansion methods, including selection and specialization, political influence, mergers and acquisitions, outward FDI and business alliances. The book concludes with policy recommendations of how the government can engage business groups to accelerate high-tech industrialization and create jobs. The middle-income trap issue faced by Thailand would be of interest to many emerging economies, especially scholars and policymakers researching on Asian business and management, Asian economies, developmental economics, political economy, policy studies, corporate governance, entrepreneurship, and private company strategic management in emerging countries.