This is a powerful account of fast-changing dynamics in Angola, an important African state that is a key exporter of oil and diamonds. Based on three years of research and extensive first-hand knowledge of Angola, it documents the rise of a major economy and its insertion in the international system since it emerged in 2002 from one of Africa's longest and deadliest civil wars. The government, backed by a strategic alliance with China and working hand in glove with hundreds of thousands of expatriates, many from the former colonial power, Portugal, has pursued and ambitious agenda of state-led national reconstruction. This has resulted in double-digit growth in sub-Sahara's third largest economy and a state budget in excess of total Western aid to the entire continent. Scarred by a history of slave trading, colonial plunder and war, Angolans now aspire to the building of a decent society. How has the regime, led by President Jose Eduardo dos Santos since 1979, dealt with these challenges, and can it deliver on popular expectations? Soares de Oliveira's book charts the remarkable course the country has taken in recent years.

Homeownership--a core American Dream--remains elusive to millions of families priced out of the unstable housing market. This book explores the delicate balance between regulations designed to promote the production of sound, affordable housing in safe community environments and the red tape in which housing developers become entangled.

Based on case studies of communities in New Jersey and North Carolina, and building on extensive research on the housing development regulatory process, the authors examine the incidence of regulation and quantify the actual itemized costs of excessive regulation. How are the costs of excessive regulation distributed between developers and home buyers? How can state and local jurisdictions reform deeply entrenched regulatory systems to ease the delivery of affordable housing from developer to purchaser?

Red Tape and Housing Costs examines the incidence of regulation. The distribution of these costs is critical to housing affordability. At the same time, developers shift to building housing for consumers to whom they can pass on the increasing costs of regulation. Michael I. Luger and Kenneth Temkin provide policymakers and housing advocates with hard facts and reasoned explanations about the link between excessive regulations and spiraling housing costs. The authors argue that their analysis will allow policymakers to launch efforts to create responsible housing development regulatory systems.

The agriculture sector around the world has experienced profound changes in recent years. This unique and path-breaking Handbook draws together the best current research in the area of entrepreneurship in agriculture, food production and rural development.Agriculture policy reforms have impacted farm incomes, while demand side changes have required the development of sophisticated market driven strategies. Farmers have demonstrated uneven abilities to adapt and adjust to these ongoing changes. The ability and propensity of farmers to engage in entrepreneurial behaviors is a key explanation of the different patterns of responses within the sector. This book examines these issues through three main themes. The first theme focuses on the firm and the individual entrepreneurs, exploring entrepreneurship within the farm sector. The second takes a sector and industry perspective, exploring new developments in food production and distribution systems. The third theme explores the inter-relationship between agricultural entrepreneurship and its spatial context. Contributions are drawn from international research settings (Scandinavia, Europe, Asia, North America, Australasia) and offer an interdisciplinary approach to the subject.This astute Handbook, which will challenge and enrich the current literature, will appeal to academics in entrepreneurship, small business studies, agriculture, rural studies, rural sociology and agricultural economics, as well as food industry economists, policymakers and all those interested in supporting agricultural and rural businesses.

Interest in generally expanding the understanding of small and medium-sized enterprises, especially understanding their strategies and operations to enter international markets, is growing rapidly among researchers and academics globally. Government officials, regional and economic specialists, and international trade advisers are directly involved in assisting small and medium-sized enterprises in developing their international marketing expertise. Motivating SMEs to Cooperate and Internationalize consists of research studies, cases, and experiences obtained by researchers and academics from managers of small and medium-sized enterprises in Northern Europe as they worked closely with managers on issues and problems leading to internationalization of enterprises. This book will map not only the attempts of small and medium-sized enterprises in Northern Europe to enter foreign markets, but also to understand how researchers and academics can help small and medium-sized Northern European enterprisers achieve their objectives. This compilation of approaches, perspectives, and experiences will serve as a resource tool for researchers and academics active in international management training programs worldwide and help illustrate how to close the gap between publishing results of their findings and efforts to disseminate their findings among managers of small and medium-sized enterprises in their domains. This book is the first attempt to integrate results of research studies and practices as an illustration of how knowledge of small and medium-sized enterprises has evolved since the 1980s with the contributions of individual researchers and academics in Northern Europe. It will be of relevance to academics and researchers interested in working closely with small and medium-sized enterprises to meet their goals in entering international markets.

China and Globalization in the Amazon examines Chinese investment in the Global South, with particular attention to industrial activity in Latin America. Based on ethnographic work conducted in several Chinese factories in the Amazon region of Brazil, whether private, partially private, or state-owned, it explores the impact of these factories on the lives of workers, specifically on wages, laws, and labor benefits, as well as the relationship between management and workers. Drawing on interviews with Brazilian workers, expatriate Chinese workers, union leaders, and factory managers, the author identifies a Chinese production model and sheds light on the implementation of externally defined work regimes that showed little engagement with the workforce in the region, together with practices that resulted in a technical or bureaucratic relationship with the worker, and the emergence of lower wages than the local average, as well as few concessions on labor benefits. A study of Chinese globalization and industrial expansion in the developing world, and the reactions of workers to the Chinese model of management, this volume will be of interest to scholars of the sociology of work and organizations, globalization, development studies, and politics.

Over the years, a shortage of funds has resulted in a huge deficit in government budgets for infrastructure, especially in developing economies. It is no longer feasible for governments to bear the entire burden of funding public infrastructure. Given that an inadequate supply of public infrastructure poses a challenge for the economic development of any country, partnerships with the private sector to fund public infrastructure procurement has started to be relied on as an alternative to traditional public procurement. Public-Private Partnerships are an arrangement that allow private entities to fund, design, manage and operate public infrastructure for a term in exchange for the payment of tolls by users or the government may well be the solution to the infrastructure crisis in many developing economies. This book examines the role of law in the adoption, implementation and regulation of Public-Private Partnership in selected developing economies including Brazil, India, Nigeria and South Africa to address how to deal with overlapping laws and how the law can protect assets invested in PPP in order to attract private sector interests in infrastructure financing in developing market, showing how law can be used to create, sustain and promote PPP frameworks that take into account local circumstances in developing economies.

With recent advances in IT in areas such as AI and IoT, collaboration systems such as business chat, cloud services, conferencing systems, and unified communications are rapidly becoming widely used as new IT applications in global corporations' strategic activities. Through in-depth longitudinal studies of global corporations, the book presents a new theoretical framework and implications for IT-enabled dynamic capabilities using collaboration systems from the perspective of micro strategy theory and organization theory. The content of the book is based on longitudinal analyses that employ various qualitative research methods including ethnography, participant observation, action research and in-depth case studies of global corporations in Europe, the United States and Asia that actively use collaboration systems. It presents a new concept of micro dynamism whereby dynamic "IT-enabled knowledge communities" such as "IT-enabled communities of practice" and "IT-enabled strategic communities" create "IT-enabled dynamic capabilities" through the integration of four research streams - an information systems view, micro strategy view, micro organization view and knowledge-based view. The book demonstrates that collaboration systems create, maintain and develop "IT-enabled knowledge communities" within companies and are strategic IT applications for enhancing the competitiveness of companies in the ongoing creation of new innovation and the realization of sustainable growth in a 21st century knowledge-based society. This book is primarily written for academics, researchers and graduate students, but will also offer practical implications for business leaders and managers. Its use is anticipated not only in business and management schools, graduate schools and university education environments around the world but also in the broad business environment including management and leadership development training.

'The Korean experience has fascinated scholars around the world as one of the most remarkable stories of ''catch-up'' from very low to high levels of development. This book, by one of the leading Korean experts on industrial policy, argues that catch-up is not about following the paths of frontrunners but rather about finding new path to technologically ''leap-frog''. The application of this fundamental insight into the Korean story will be recognized as a landmark in this debate.' - Jose Antonio Ocampo, Columbia University, US and Formerly United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, and Minister of Finance of Colombia 'This book gives a full picture of the factors that made it possible for South Korea to move from being a poor economy to become close to Japan in terms of income per capita. It shows that earlier debates on the role of respective market and state are misleading and that the key to understand economic catching-up lies in specific technological strategies that were outcomes of an interplay between state policies and firm strategies. It is demonstrated that a key to understand catching-up in South Korea is 'technological leap-frogging' where dominant firms enter into technologies that are both new and in a process of rapid change. The book studies the phenomenon of leap-frogging and catching-up at respectively macro, meso and micro-level. It is thus of great interest for those who are involved in designing national, sectoral and enterprise strategies aiming at economic development and especially when the aim of the strategy is to take the step beyond a middle-income country. The combination of macro-economic analysis with sectoral and enterprise perspectives gives a more adequate understanding of economic dynamics than what traditional textbooks can offer.' - Bengt-Ake Lundvall, Aalborg University, Denmark and Founder of Globelics This book elaborates upon the dynamic changes to Korean firms and the economy from the perspective of catch-up theory. The central premise of the book is that a latecomer's sustained catch-up is not possible by simply following the path of the forerunners but by creating a new path or 'leapfrogging'. In this sense, the idea of catch-up distinguishes itself from traditional views that focus on the role of the market or the state in development. The author provides a comprehensive account of the micro and macro level changes, deals with both firm- and country-level capabilities, and explores the issue of macroeconomic stability to overcome financial crisis. The book demonstrates that at the firm level the focus is on innovation capabilities, diversification, internationalization and job creation. It goes on to examine the rise and upgrading of big businesses, such as Samsung, as well as the global success of SMEs. Comprehensive and illuminating, this is an ideal book for students, academics and researchers interested in the economics of development and technological innovation. It will also be a valuable source book for policy makers in international development agencies, governments and the public sector.

Under the ethnic affairs management regime established by the People's Republic of China, every Chinese citizen is classified within one of 56 state-recognised 'nationalities'. Government policy assumes that these nationalities differ from one another primarily in their levels of economic development, and asserts that ethnic divisions and identities fade with the gradual achievement of economic and social equality. As a result, economic development policy in minority nationality areas has often constituted a replica of the model which has already proven successful in China's Han-Chinese dominated east. Research conducted across five locations in China's Northwest paints a far more complex picture, however. This book considers for the first time how identity informs the nature of economic participation among ethnic minority entrepreneurs in China's remote Northwest. Through interviews with entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds, including Tibetan, Han and Muslim Chinese, this book highlights how ethnic-and other-identities inform the nature of economic participation. Furthermore, it explores the broader implications of this de-facto economic segregation for China's ongoing social harmony and political stability. Ultimately, this book demonstrates how economic participation, even when successful in achieving its economic outcomes, may actually serve to reinforce and strengthen minority national identity-perhaps even at the expense of national Chinese identity. This book will be useful for students and scholars of Chinese Studies, Ethnic Studies and Economics.

In the years following the financial crash, two issues have become central to the debate in economics: inequality and the uneven nature of sustainable development. These two issues are at the core of this book which aims to explain three key questions: why inequality has increased so much in the last three decades; why most advanced economies are stagnating or are experiencing moderate economic growth; and why, even where economic growth is occurring, the quality of that growth is questioned. Inequality and Uneven Development in the Post-Crisis World is divided into three parts. The first part concerns the theoretical aspects of inequality, and ethical issues regarding economics and equality. The second part explores empirical evidence and policy suggestions drawing on the uneven levels of development and unprecedented levels of inequality experienced among advanced economies in the context of global financial capitalism. The third part focuses on sustainable development issues such as full employment, social costs of global trade liberalization, environmental sustainability and ecological issues. Along with inequality these issues are central for capitalism and for economic development. This volume is of interest to those who study political economy, sustainable development and social inequality.

Stories and narratives are powerful tools for explaining the world around us. This book explores storytelling as a way of engaging audiences with sustainable development issues and reflects on the opportunities and limitations of storytelling for sustainability as an innovative approach to sustainability communication. Bringing together voices and perspectives from research and practice, this volume explores the ways in which storytelling can support change toward sustainability. Unlike other anthologies, the book first provides a sound scientific basis by unfolding the storytelling approach and presenting empirical studies on its impact on effects. It clarifies important terms and presents recent findings on the impact of storytelling on sustainability from an extensive 3-year research project on this question. The second part shows how storytelling can be used in different fields of practice to communicate sustainability in more engaging and effective ways. Here, the main focus is on not only case-based accounts of positive change, but also tensions, arising from the application of storytelling for sustainability in journalism, higher education, corporate communication, or science communication. Combining theory with practical examples, this innovative book will be a great resource for students and scholars of environmental communication and sustainable development, as well as professionals working in related fields.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of Brazilian economic thought ranging from colonial times through to the early 21st century. It explores the production of ideas on the Brazilian economy through various forms of publication and contemporary thoughts on economic contexts and development policies, all closely reflecting the evolution of economic history. After an editorial introduction, it opens with a discussion of the issue of the historical limits to and circumstances of the production of pure economic theory by Brazilian economists. The proceeding chapters follow the classical periodization of Brazilian economic history, starting with the colonial economy (up until the early 19th century) and the transition into an economy independent from Portugal (1808 through the 1830s) when formal independence took place in 1822. This book is ideal for international and national scholars in social sciences, students in both undergraduate and graduate courses in economics, and any individuals interested in Brazilian economic and intellectual history.

Economic growth and its relevant subjects have been given the first priority in the research agenda since China initiated economic reforms in 1978, while the topics of social protection and gender equality have been largely left at the periphery for a long period. This book is a collection of evidence-based studies conducted mainly in poor areas of rural China during the recent two decades. Based on individual interviews and sample data analyses, this book emphasizes the importance of cooperative organizations to poverty reduction, and puts forward that gender equality is closely related with sustainable development. In addition, it addresses the issues of food security and elimination of social exclusion - the key to bridging economic divide. It also studies social protection, including basic health protection system, nutrition and healthcare for children, old age security for landless farmers and rural migrant workers. By providing first-hand accounts of different vulnerable groups, such as the poor, women, migrant workers, ethnic minorities and small farmers, this book offers valuable insights into studies of contemporary Chinese society and economy.

In addition to constituting an evolving area of inquiry within the social sciences, agricultural certification, and particularly its Fair Trade and organic components, has emerged as a significant tool for promoting rural development in the global South. This book is unique for two reasons. First, in contrast to existing studies that have tended to examine Fair Trade and organic certification as independent systems, the studies presented in this book reveal their joint application within actual production settings, demonstrating the greater complexity entailed in these double certification systems through the generation of contradictions and tensions compared with single certification systems. Second, the authors, who are both Asian, reveal the realities of applying Fair Trade and organic certification systems within Asian agriculture. In doing so, they challenge the fact that most Fair Trade studies have been undertaken by Western scholars who have tended to focus on Latin American and African producers. Drawing on a wealth of grounded case studies conducted in India, Thailand, and the Philippines, this pioneering study on double certification makes a significant contribution to studies on Fair Trade and organic agriculture beyond Asia.

At a time of global economic crisis and disillusionment with capitalism, Adodo offers refreshing and positive insight into a more integral way of business management, enterprise and community development as well as holistic healing in Africa. For over three decades, Africa was the recipient of billions of dollars in aid funds that were meant to catapult the continent from undeveloped to developed status. Yet the more the aid poured in, the poorer African countries became. The devastating effect of western economic models in Africa that followed is well documented. Integral Community Enterprise in Africa exposes the limitations of existing theories, such as capitalism, socialism and communism, and shows how western theories were imposed on Africa. Such imposition of concepts and ideas is not only demeaning but also unsustainable, serving only the interest of the elite. Father Anselm Adodo argues for the need to have a southern theory to serve as an alternative to western theories. The majority of African intellectuals and activists, while criticizing existing theories, often do not provide alternative theories to address the prevalent inadequacies entrenched in conventional social, political and economic systems. This revolutionary book aims to address this lapse and proposes the theory of communitalism as a more indigenous, sustainable and integral approach to tackling the social, political, economic and developmental challenges of today's Africa. There is an African alternative to capitalism, socialism and communism - a surer path to sustainable development in and from Africa. This is a book that is positioned at the very core of a much needed African Renaissance. A profoundly new approach to development in Africa, this is essential reading for anyone concerned with authentic development in Africa and in the world.

This is an easy-to-read book that explains how and why Japan industrialized rapidly. It traces historical development from the feudal Edo period to high income and technology in the current period. Catch-up industrialization is analyzed from a broad perspective including social, economic and political aspects. Historical data, research and contesting arguments are amply supplied. Japan's unique experience is contrasted with the practices of today's developing countries. Negative aspects such as social ills, policy failures, military movements and war years are also covered. Nineteenth-century Japan already had a happy combination of strong entrepreneurship and relatively wise government, which was the result of Japan's long evolutionary history. Measured contacts with high civilizations of China, India and the West allowed cumulative growth without being destroyed by them. Imported ideas and technology were absorbed with adjustments to fit the local context. The book grew out of a graduate course for government officials from developing countries. It offers a comprehensive look and new insights at Japan's industrial path that are often missing in standard historical chronicles. Written in an accessible and lively form, the book engages scholars as well as novices with no prior knowledge of Japan.

This collection brings together Peter Nijkamp's work in the areas of innovation, entrepreneurship, growth and spatial development. The first part comprises work of a theoretical nature and addresses issues such as the micro-economic foundation of spatial development, the relevance of spatial innovation and urban incubation theory, the role of network growth, policy and the importance of novel evolutionary perspectives for understanding regional economic dynamics. The second part focuses attention on empirical macro and meso dimensions of economic development, dealing inter alia with the economic growth impact of public policy, the local factors critical for successful innovation, the importance of networks for regional growth and the implications of the rational expectations paradigm for industrial dynamics. The third part focuses on empirical micro-studies of economic performance and the final part emphasises the scope and effect of public policy for spatial-economic performance, including policies for ICT, regional development, urban sustainability and learning capabilities. This collection will be essential reading for scholars and students interested in regional science, innovation studies, entrepreneurship and economic development.

Over the last 50 years, Nepal has been considered an experiential model in determining the effectiveness and success of global human development strategies, both in theory and in practice. As such, it provides a rich array of in-depth case studies in both development success and failure. This edited collection examines these in order to propose a novel perspective on how human development occurs and how it can be aided and sustained. Aid, Technology and Development: The lessons from Nepal champions plural rationality from both a theoretical and practical perspective in order to challenge and critique the status quo in human development understanding, while simultaneously presenting a concrete framework with which to aid citizen and governmental organisations in the galvanization of human development. Including contributions by leading international social scientists and development practitioners throughout Nepal, this book will be of great interest to students, scholars and practitioners working in the field of foreign aid and development studies.

Change manifests itself in all facets of the economy. This important collection of previously published essays illustrates how the evolutionary approach can reveal not only where change comes from, and how it happens, but also where it will lead. The Evolving Economy covers a broad spectrum of issues ranging from the biological foundations of economic behavior to the co-evolution of firms, markets, and institutions. Ulrich Witt's individualistic approach synthesizes elements familiar from the writings of Veblen and Schumpeter on economic evolution. A conceptual debate on what the notion of evolution means in the economic context is as much emphasized as is the discussion of concrete hypotheses explaining why and how evolutionary economic change comes about. Offering an outline of a paradigm focusing on endogenous economic change, this book will be of great interest to economists and economic historians. Sociologists, philosophers and anthropologists will also find this work invaluable as it presents an encompassing assessment of the role of Darwinian thought for understanding human behavior and societal evolutio

Although decentralization and reactions against it have become increasingly important policy trends in developing countries, the study of this nearly ubiquitous phenomenon has been largely fractured across academic disciplines, geographic regions, and the academic-practitioner divide. The contributors to this edited volume begin to cross some of these constraining, artificial boundaries. Considering decentralization from an interdisciplinary, historical, and comparative perspective, they collectively explore why it has evolved in particular ways and with varied outcomes. In addition to taking an atypically comparative perspective, the volume highlights the importance of an historical analysis of decentralization and links this to institutional and public policy outcomes. Placing decentralization in this context illustrates why it has taken dissimilar shapes and produced varying results over time in different countries. This in turn helps to clarify the types of institutions and conditions required for the development and survival of decentralization, paving the way for more creative thinking and informed policymaking. The countries covered include: Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Bolivia, Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Brazil. Students and scholars of economics, political science and development will find the policy and theoretical discussions enlightening. The volume will also prove useful to policymakers and development institutions confronting issues of decentralization.

This seminal edited collection examines the impact of austerity and economic crisis on European cities. Whilst on the one hand the struggle for competitiveness has induced many European cities to invest in economic performance and attractiveness, on the other, national expenditure cuts and dominant neo-liberal paradigms have led many to retrench public intervention aimed at preserving social protection and inclusion. The impact of these transformations on social and spatial inequalities - whether occupational structures, housing solutions or working conditions - as well as on urban policy addressing these issues is traced in this exemplary piece of comparative analysis grounded in original research. Unequal Cities links existing theories and debates with newer discussions on the crisis to develop a typology of possible orientations of local government towards economic development and social cohesion. In the process, it describes the challenges and tensions facing six large European cities, representative of a variety of welfare regimes in Western Europe: Barcelona, Copenhagen, Lyon, Manchester, Milan, and Munich. It seeks to answer such key questions as: What social groups are most affected by recent urban transformations and what are the social and spatial impacts? What are the main institutional factors influencing how cities have dealt with the challenges facing them? How have local political agendas articulated the issues and what influence is still exerted by national policy? Grounded in an original urban policy analysis of the post-industrial city in Europe, the book will appeal to a wide range of social science researchers, Ph.D. and graduate students in urban studies, social policy, sociology, human geography, European studies and business studies, both in Europe and internationally.

This book examines how increasing Africa-China relations in the fields of trade, development finance and investment have impacted productive capacities and structural economic transformation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The book argues that statistical and empirical evidence shows that China's influence has not substantially altered the fundamentals in Africa, and instead outlines a framework of policy conclusions and recommendations to help achieve transformational growth and development. Despite increased Chinese investments in transport, energy, communications, and manufacturing, sub-Saharan Africa is yet to see tangible economic and development benefits according to the multidimensional Productive Capacities Index (PCI). External trade is dogged by the same problems as during the colonial era, with primary commodities dominating exports to China, and industrial or manufacturing products dominating imports, thereby leaving the region exposed to external economic shocks. The book considers whether there are lessons to be learned from the experience of Asian countries such as Vietnam, proposing pragmatic, coordinated, non-ideological, and non-confrontational policy approaches to development. This book will be of interest to researchers, policymakers, advisors, academics, and practitioners with an interest in development in Africa, and China's increasing role in the continent.

Examining cutting-edge issues of international relevance in the ongoing redesign of the South African local government fiscal system, the contributors to this volume analyze the major changes that have taken place since the demise of apartheid. The 1996 Constitution and subsequent legislation dramatically redefined the public sector, mandating the development of democratic local governments empowered to provide a wide variety of key public services. However, the definition and implementation of new local functions and the supporting democratic decision-making and managerial capabilities are emerging more slowly than expected. Some difficult choices and challenges commonly faced by developing countries must be dealt with before the system can evolve to more effectively meet the substantial role envisioned for local governments. The contributors outline these choices and challenges, consider options for meeting them, and review the implications of different decisions. Their analyses also highlight the interrelationships among the elements of the local fiscal structure, and emphasize the often-ignored challenge of how to define an appropriate fiscal decentralization implementation strategy in an environment where local governments are extremely diverse in terms of needs, resources and capacities. Though the research, much of it based on newly collected data, is specific to South Africa, the approach provides a model for other countries facing similar fiscal decentralization policy challenges. Applied public finance and policy academics, policymakers in developing countries, researchers and program managers in international development organizations, and students interested in local government finance in developing countries will find this timely and comprehensive volume a valuable addition to their libraries.

In little more than a generation, Asia has emerged from centuries of stagnation to become the rising force of the global economy. This transformation has been so spectacular that some have called it a miracle. How did it happen? Taking the reader from the docksides of Korea to the halls of India's finance ministry, The Miracle details the courageous decisions and heroic self-sacrifice that made Asia's ascent possible. Spanning nine countries and probing major historical currents, this account illuminates not only Asia's extraordinary economic rise but also how its causes might emancipate the developing world from poverty and guide the developed world to further prosperity.

Using more than a decade of reporting and analysis, Time magazine and former Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Schuman uncovers how outsourcing to Asia began; how Asia's most famous companies, such as Sony and Honda, became global corporations; and how technological changes and global economic shifts made Asia's boom possible. He reveals the compelling human side to this economic story, introducing readers to the political strongmen, entrepreneurs, and policymakers who made the Miracle a reality. This engaging historical narrative brings to life the ideas and actions of a diverse group of Asians--dictators and democrats, generals and technocrats, economists and engineers.

Some of the characters in the book have captured the global imagination for years, such as China's reformer Deng Xiaoping and Sony founder Akio Morita. Others are less well known, including Park Chung Hee, Korea's tightfisted nation builder; Liu Chuanzhi, the risk-taking founder of PC maker Lenovo; and Azim Premji, the mastermind behind Wipro, one of India's technology giants. All of them shared a dream--to elevate Asia to its proper place of influence in the world and eradicate the poverty around them.

The Miracle not only offers profound insight into Asia and its increasing wealth and power; it also reveals how these seismic shifts continue to reverberate through the global economy. The implications of Asia's economic ascent for the rest of the world are surprising, promising, and inspiring. Readers of The Miracle will gain a deep understanding of Asia's place in the global economy--and of their own.