Resurgent Asia; diversity in development

The title of the book says it all. It is about the rebirth and growth of Asia towards the position of equivalence in the world economy, it once held in the historic past, but dwindled to insignificance by the middle of the twentieth century. In the year 1500, Asia accounted for 62% of both world income and population. But by the year 1820, though it had restored its share of population to 65%, its share in world income had declined to 56.5%, with India and China together accounting for almost 46% of the total. The decline in Asia’s share of world GDP continued unabated and reached a low of 14.9% by the year 1962 with a significant contribution by China and India to this decline. It is the revival of Asia from this state of the doldrums to one of the dramatic growth and development from 1970s onwards, which is aptly referred to by Deepak Nayyar as a resurgence of the Asian economies. The growth and development experience of each of the Asian countries discussed in the book differs significantly from that of the others as the subtitle of Nayyar’s book suggests. Deepak Nayyar has many strings to his bow: an eminent economist, a prolific writer, an administrator in academia and government, and an advisor to international institutions. His wide range of expertise and knowledge of economic development is reflected in his discussion of the decline and rise of Asia that collates many sides to the story. The analysis in the book is unique. It is grounded in economic theory and history and is not confined to a chronological narration of events or regression analysis-oriented conclusions. It complements other incisive reviews of the recent growth and development experience of the two large Asian economies; China – edited and authored by David, Chris, and Shujie (2010) and India = edited and authored by Rakesh (2018). This review discusses the main issues in Nayyar’s wide-ranging analysis of the growth and development of 14 major Asian economies.