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How Asia Works: Success and Failure in the World's Most Dynamic Region Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Joe Studwell (Author), Nigel Patterson (Narrator), Tantor Audio (Publisher)
4.5 out of 5 stars 923 ratings

In the 1980s and 1990s, many in the West came to believe in the myth of an East-Asian economic miracle, with countries seen as not just development prodigies but as a unified bloc, culturally and economically similar, and inexorably on the rise. In How Asia Works, Joe Studwell distills extensive research into the economics of nine countries - Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, and China - into an accessible narrative that debunks Western misconceptions, shows what really happened in Asia and why, and for once makes clear why some countries have boomed while others have languished.

Impressive in scope, How Asia Works is essential listening for anyone interested in a region that will shape the future of the world.

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  1. Listening Length
    11 hours and 46 minutes
  2. Author
    Joe Studwell
  3. Narrator
    Nigel Patterson
  4. Audible release date
    August 15, 2017
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Tantor Audio
  7. ASIN
    B074MHX1CG
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length 11 hours and 46 minutes
Author Joe Studwell
Narrator Nigel Patterson
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date August 15, 2017
Publisher Tantor Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B074MHX1CG
Best Sellers Rank #176,674 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#59 in International Economics (Audible Books & Originals)
#140 in Economic Conditions (Audible Books & Originals)
#311 in Economic History (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
923 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book brilliantly researched and well-organized, with one review noting it helps explain current events in Asia. Moreover, the book provides valuable insights into Asia's growth through export-disciplined industrialization, and customers appreciate its coverage of land reform.

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58 customers mention "Research quality"50 positive8 negative

Customers praise the book's research quality, describing it as a fascinating treatise with detailed analysis, and one customer notes how it helps explain current events in Asia.

"...This is a combination of history and economic policy lessons as a function of that history. It is coherent, interesting and insightful...." Read more

"...Asia Works' passes the sniff test in that it actually helps to explain current events in Asia - for example the current fun and games with the Thai..." Read more

"...a free-flowing narrative that is entertaining and compelling, interwoven with details and anecdotes on the economies of each of the 8 countries...." Read more

"This book is not well known, but is a fantastic history that explains how the political and economic policies pursued by various asian leaders..." Read more

38 customers mention "Readability"38 positive0 negative

Customers find the book thoroughly interesting and among the best they've come across, with one customer noting it's essential reading for all USA citizens.

"...This reads well and illuminates developent in Asia to the reader. It contains anecdotal stories and economic interpretation...." Read more

"...He has a free-flowing narrative that is entertaining and compelling, interwoven with details and anecdotes on the economies of each of the 8..." Read more

"...this is a great book for everyone who does business in asia to understand the industrial policies that guide much of the business tactics in east..." Read more

"...It's an excellent book with solid historical and economic research but with a terribly generic name...." Read more

15 customers mention "Pacing"13 positive2 negative

Customers praise the book's pacing, finding it readable and well-organized, with one customer noting its brilliant narrative style.

"...Well readable, I'm a software engineer, not an economist...." Read more

"...This made the read super organized and convincing...." Read more

"...The text is easy to read, well organized and will consume you. No wonder Bill gates endorsed it." Read more

"...The narrative is brilliantly written, and listening to it all made my ears smile." Read more

13 customers mention "Asia's growth"13 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's insights into Asia's growth, particularly its focus on export-disciplined industrialization and development strategies in East and Southeast Asia.

"...This reads well and illuminates developent in Asia to the reader. It contains anecdotal stories and economic interpretation...." Read more

"...in general and, specifically, in the implementation of development strategies in East and Southeast Asia." Read more

"...specifically answers the question of why japan, s korea, taiwan and china have moved so far so fast where the philippines, thailand, malaysia and..." Read more

"...He writes around a central thesis that land reform, export-oriented industrialization, and finance for both those things are the three keys to the..." Read more

6 customers mention "Land reform"6 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's coverage of land reform, with one customer highlighting its focus on producing efficient small farmers, while another notes the discussion of financial liberalization and industrial policy.

"...The author then goes on to finance. Having finance controlled by industrial policy rather than nepotistic interests is quite obviously shown to..." Read more

"...He writes around a central thesis that land reform, export-oriented industrialization, and finance for both those things are the three keys to the..." Read more

"...agrarian reform, export disciplined industrialization and repressed financial markets...." Read more

"Land reform is important, and it shows that those that have not perform land reform have failed. Ok good and plausible...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • A. Menon
    5.0 out of 5 stars Overview of economic growth in asia focusing on what has led to success and failure
    Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    How Asia Works by Joe Studwell is an account of economic developement and history in Asia. It focuses on a several key economies including Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and finally to China. It discusses economic history and the sequencing of events that led to the success and failurs of different countries in Asia. The author draws conclusions about the right ingredients for economic growth in the modern era given the various lessons one can learn from Asian examples. The author breaks the book into 4 categories- Land, Manufacturing, Finance and finally China.

    The author starts by discussing Land and agriculture. He starts out by making the observation that the highest efficiency in produce per square meter for agriculture occurs through home farming and that economies of scale might exist from a cost perspective given the cost of labour but does not mean that aggregate produce would be highest if we all farmed. He then discusses how farming in history has been dominated by landlords and the business of farming within a landlord system by rent seeking behaviour that does not sufficiently invest in land improvement. He finally concludes that when human capital is cheap gaining productivity by eradicating rents and equalizing ownership of farm land increases productivity and moves people up the income curve allowing for the first stage of economic growth. Studwell then goes on to discuss how this general idea was understood and implemented in Japan, Korean and Taiwan and in particular how their experiences led to yield improvements. It also discusses how these principles were not followed in Philippines and other parts of south east asia and how the differences in land policy were the first fundamental hurdle for economic developement to take off.

    The author then moves on to manufacturing and discusses the concept of infant industries. He discusses the origin of the idea and how creating barriers to entry was understood to be a necessary part of fostering domestic industry. The need to create a system of carrots for successful ventures and sticks to punish failures was shown to be an integral part of successful development policy and the differences between Korean and Malaysia is used as an example to show how competition was needed to keep entrepreneurs more honest. Focusing on exports is shown to be a key to forcing companies up technology curves and putting them in a competetive landscape to perfect the growth process and that preferential credit was a means to facilitate projects like this. Having industrial policy is shown to be more effective when looking at the differences between Korean and Taiwan as an example.

    The author then goes on to finance. Having finance controlled by industrial policy rather than nepotistic interests is quite obviously shown to have major impacts on the quality of investment. Southeast asia and crony capitalism are given as examples of how credit was funelled into asset gathering instead of broadening productive capacities. The differences in experience between Indonesia and Korea are given as examples to think about. The liberalization of finance is also discussed and the merits of liberal capital flows vs closed capital accounts are detailed and the author argues that in developement having control over the flow of capital in and out of the country can have massive benefits especially when those flows are hot money.

    The author finally discusses China and where it fits in. Its similarity on industrial policy to north asia and taiwan is shown and its history of encouraging state upstream industries to continue to compete and stay competitive is discussed. The author also discusses the failure to reform the agricultural side of the economy and how that is a long run problem that needs to be solved for China to be able to escape the middle income trap. The limits of supporting upstream and midstream activities is discussed and the need for capital allocation to start flowing towards creating consumer brands is considered. The author covers the successful parts of China's growth model as well as the limits of it and considers other asian countries lessons to be heeded.

    This is a combination of history and economic policy lessons as a function of that history. It is coherent, interesting and insightful. One finishes it believing that free market capitalism too is dependent on institutional arrangement and market structure. The need to adapt developement strategy to the stage of economic developement is currently in is given to be of critical importance. This reads well and illuminates developent in Asia to the reader. It contains anecdotal stories and economic interpretation. It caters to a wide audience and can be appreciated on many levels.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Bak Jin-sing
    4.0 out of 5 stars Capitalist prosperity thanks to the Communists!
    Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    'How Asia Works' passes the sniff test in that it actually helps to explain current events in Asia - for example the current fun and games with the Thai government's guaranteed rice purchases, which post-date the publication of the book.
    The most important premise in the book is the need for land reform to fund industrialisation.
    By 'land reform' he means distributing land equally among farming families, by taking it off the big landowners.
    Land reform does not come easily:
    In Japan the first (and initially successful) reform was after the Meiji Restoration, and the second immediately after the Second World War.
    In Taiwan it followed the defeat of the Kuomintang (KMT) by the Communists in China. Initially Communist land reform in China was popular with the people, and the KMT were forced to copy it in Taiwan to achieve some popularity with the locals.
    In South Korea Syngman Rhee's government resisted land reform until it was nearly swept into the sea by Kim Il Sung's invasion. When the South Koreans retook Korea, they found Communist land reform was very popular with the farmers, and were forced to accept it.
    The ensuing agricultural boom gave these governments the cash to fund industrialisation. Studwell shows how they largely got it right, by copying the 19th Century Prussian model.
    (In China and North Korea the agricultural boom ended when the Communists collectivised the farms.)
    In South East Asia land reform never took place, probably because events were not dramatic enough to force it to happen. Consequently large landowners live very well, while ordinary farmers are very poor, and agricultural productivity is low.
    In describing industrialisation, Studwell compares the successful Japan/South Korea/Taiwan model of competition between state supported companies (with the creative destruction of the failure of some) and the discipline of serving export markets versus the failure to introduce competition and export discipline in South East Asia. The outcome is exemplified by Toyota/Honda/Hyundai versus Proton.
    The failings in South East Asia described in this book are pretty much as described in Studwell's earlier "Asian Godfathers".
    'How Asia Works' attracted a fair amount of criticism here in Hong Kong for appearing to advocate financial repression (paying derisory interest rates on household savings, enforced by exchange controls) and state planning - we have a very good vantage point of this process in China, and worry about the effects - for example an uncontrolled shadow banking system and misallocation of easy credit by State Owned Enterprises.
    Studwell does not advocate this as a universal panacea - he points out the problems that South Korea had, and that they were lucky to get away with it - and that the system gets a country to a certain level of development, after which it is necessary to modernise - which may not always work - as in Japan.
    His conclusion is that South East Asia will probably never fulfil its potential, and that China might.
    This book offers a helpful political-economic model for those attempting to understand Asia generally, and, most importantly, China.
    19 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Gibran Lamas
    5.0 out of 5 stars Opinion about the book
    Reviewed in Mexico on April 6, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    I liked this book because teached me how the south east countries of Asia got to be developed countries and how México and other developing and undeveloped countries can follow for to be one developed country.
    The points were simple:
    1) Invest in the land/agriculture
    2) Invest in the manufacture
    3) Get the option to finance the first 2

    In my opinion México how has experience and has a lot of agriculture and manufacture can use these points to improve as a country.
    For my is a must to read this book.
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  • Clyve Westerlund
    5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Read for those wanting know How Asia became economic powerhouses in their own right
    Reviewed in Australia on October 16, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    An Excellent book elaborating a very much valid and honest perspective of East Asia. This story or work provides a profound summary on the distinctions between North East and South East Asia with regards to developmental policies and economics. Furthermore, it reflects not only on these aspects, but also that of the Western World and how their (western worlds) influence was interpreted and used or ignored.
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  • AK
    5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant summary of the benefits and of a proper application of industrial policy with Asian case studies
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 8, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    The book covers the economic development of both North-East and South-East Asian economies in the 20th and early 21st centuries in a compare and contrast fashion, in order to create a better understanding why some made giant leaps in development, while others made gains altogether far less impressive, largely irrespective of their starting levels.

    The author is a staunch defender of state guided industrial policy - a view not particularly popular with neo-liberal economists, which nevertheless does a much better job of explaining the success of economic catching up to the developed world than any alternative explanation offered in the classical economics literature.

    The main thrust is a three phase explanation model, namely agricultural land redistribution towards small scale yield intensive agriculture, an export driven manufacturing development, and finally a financial system geared towards supporting these two goals.

    Covered examples, where these steps have been effectively followed followed and are presented in detail, are Japan (from the Meiji restoration onwards), South Korea, Taiwan and China. On the other hand, there are cases of South East Asian economies, which decided to liberalize their economies sooner - in the author's opinion prematurely - and were thereby not capable of following the three policies effectively. These include the outright dire example of the Philippines, the moderately better one of Thailand and the best of the lot - Malaysia - which still lags significantly behind the successes of the North-East model countries.

    Before the author is labelled a big government supporter, or a 'statist' in the widest sense, he makes a clear distinction between the needs of the catching up / development phase (where even currently free market supporters such as the UK and the US used the same mechanisms in their early development phases) and the later phase, when the first world level has been achieved. In the latter case, many of the tools needed for success in the catch-up phase become hindrances to further development and further reforms become necessary, something that some countries managed better (South Korea) than others (Japan or Taiwan).

    The analysis is brilliant, the case studies very compelling, and crucially, the framework does an excellent job of describing and predicting the developmental success. The comparison between different policy choices in both the successful and less successful groups give the reader further insight and provide a more differentiated picture of what is important for development and what not.

    Furthermore, the framework also wonderfully explains why industrial policy worked in North-East Asia, and less well in other regions where it has been applied (such as SE Asia, the Soviet Union, or Latin America), showing which levers have a real positive impact, which are highly detrimental to development, and which are of no real consequence. This is not about creating protected state champions but much more about relentless pruning of the low performers, first through export discipline and subsequently also at home.

    If you look at it from the perspective of a manager / owner of an individual company, you may well wish for governments not following the advice, since they may well force you to earn your money in a more difficult fashion than is strictly necessary. Especially export led growth, leading both to a knowledge build-up and a quality requirement through free competition on world markets (while being protected at home) will in the short run be much more laborious than investing in gambling, tourism or real estate but is a proven method of improving the well-being of the country as a whole, rather than the wealth of an individual or profitability of a single company. As long as the government leaves little leeway for circumventing its aims, while at the same time allowing the entrepreneurs to generate adequate profits while serving the developmental needs, a win-win can be produced.

    Even if not all managers would like the lessons applied by the government of the country where they operate, there are excellent learnings for them, as there are for politicians. Many of the lessons can be applied in a business set-up, too - if you are looking at expansion into new markets or product areas, or trying to catch up with more dominant competitors.

    The book is perhaps not something for the very casual reader, as it takes some effort, and is written from an expert's point of view (even if the writing is far from ponderous). If you are looking for an easier but less profound read, Kaplan's Asia's Cauldron: The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific is probably the better start. If the topic is of serious interest, not reading this book would be an unfortunate omission, though.
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  • Sun
    4.0 out of 5 stars Many facts and historical events
    Reviewed in Germany on February 6, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    The book delivers as promised. There's a lot of factual information and historical explanations on the success or failures of different areas of Asia.
    If you get this book, you'll be thoroughly educated.
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  • Federico
    5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary book on Asian industrial policy
    Reviewed in Italy on October 17, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    I was a late reader of this excellent book, which provides a clear overview of what worked (and what dit not) in Asian national development strategies. Some critics say that the author takes in little consideration topics such as institutional theory, which, on the opposite, I consider a positive feature of the book: so much has been written about the role of institutions in shaping development paths that it would have been redundant to include this point of view in the book.
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