Asian Economic Development

Nearly three-fourths of the poor people of the world live in Asia. Of these, more than a third live in the six countries of Burma, Ceylon, India, Malaya, Pakistan and Thailand. All these nations, except Thailand (which was merely in the British sphere of influence), are former colonies of the British Empire. Thus, from several points of view, it would be of interest to read a description of the economic progress these countries have experienced during the last two decades. Cranley Onslow has attempted to provide us with a volume which does just that [1]. His book is divided into two parts. Part I contains six essays by distinguished Asian economists, each discussing the recent economic history of his country. The remaining quarter of the book consists of a long essay by the editor in which he tries to compare the six nations and derive some implications for development policy. This is clearly the least successful part of the volume.