East Asia has three of the most powerful economies on earth, but they are losing steam. Dwight Perkins draws on extensive experience in the region to explain the reasons for this rapid economic growth since the 1960s and to ask if the recent slowdown is a local phenomenon or typical of all...

Taking both a historical and a comparative view, Perkins explores the nature of economic growth in East Asia. He focuses on ten sites in East and Southeast Asia that achieved a substantial degree of economic success: China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand,...