Review of the role of government in East Asian economic development, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1997, Aoki, Kim and Okuno - Fujiwara (editors)

This is an important and ambitious book but its timing could not be more unfortunate. It is the result of a two year research project co-sponsored by the Economic Development Institute (EDI) at the World Bank and by the Center for Economic Policy Research at Stanford University. The contributors who are based in the US, Japan, Korea and Malaysia are all leading experts in the subject. The book was apparently completed in October 1995; it therefore predates the current acute economic and financial crisis in the East Asian countries.