Economic development in Asia: Learning from a half-century of transformations

On 13 November, Professor Deepak Nayyar will deliver a lecture at the Institute for International Economic Studies (IIES) at Stockholm University based on his newly released book, Resurgent Asia.

Gunnar Myrdal published his magnum opus Asian Drama in 1968, to conclude that Asia's development prospects were gloomy. Since then, contrary to Myrdal's expectations, Asia has been transformed beyond recognition, the development of nations and living standards of people revolutionized. These transformations have been uneven across countries and unequal among people. Yet, Asia's economic progress in this short timespan has been remarkable and almost unprecedented in history.

Resurgent Asia provides an analytical narrative of Asia's incredible economic development, situated in the wider context of historical, political, and social factors. It also provides an economic analysis of underlying factors that assisted Asia's growth and the critical issues in the process of development.

Professor Nayyar is the author of Resurgent Asia, and editor of Asian Transformations, both newly published by Oxford University Press. Both books emanate from the recent UNU-WIDER project, Asian transformations – an inquiry into the development of nations.

The project, and the resulting publications, analyse the incredible story of economic development in Asia over the last 50 years, and reflects on how the next 25 years might unfold.