A macroeconomic perspective on Asian development

Macroeconomic strategies and policies have differed significantly among Asian countries over the last fifty years, and yet some common issues recur despite their immense diversity in inherited historical initial conditions, differences in political systems, geo-political situations, location and size, and natural resource endowments. The present paper examines from a comparative perspective some of the issues like unemployment, role of the state and market, domestic versus foreign market, degree of openness in trade, investment and finance, industrial and technology policy, and economic and social inequality. We attempt to ascertain why some countries have been more successful in dealing with these issues through policy and institutional innovations. Our comparative perspective presents developmental choices and challenges as moving targets requiring flexible institutional and policy response at each stage of development, which makes uniform guidelines misleadingly over-simplistic.