The focus of this study is the economic performance of East Asia since the 1960s. It looks at the common forces, generated by each country's policies, that jointly produced successful outcomes. The roles of macroeconomic and microeconomic factors are analysed. For comparison, the same framework is used to examine the less successful performance of the Indian economy. The analysis emphasises the significance of the overall institutional context in which policies are implemented in determining their effectiveness.

Food problems - the efficient production or procurement of food and its appropriate distribution among members of society - are problems endemic to mankind. Yet the nature and dimensions of these problems have been changing over time. As economic systems have developed, specialization has increased; and this has led to increased interdependences of rural and urban areas, of agricultural and nonagricultural sectors, and of nations. When the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) began the Food and Agriculture Program (FAP) in 1976, we started with these objectives: (1) To evaluate the nature and dimensions of the world food situation. (2) To identify the factors that affect it. (3) To suggest policy alternatives at national, regional, and global levels: (a) To alleviate current food problems. (b) To prevent food problems in the future. To realize these objectives, FAP was organized around two major tasks. The first task was directed at national policy for food and agriculture in an international situation. Here, computable general equilibrium models were developed for nearly 20 major developed and developing countries and were linked together to examine food trade, aid, capital flows, and how they affect hunger, in addition to the effects of national government policies, which were also considered in detail. This approach, however, needed to be complemented by another approach that dealt with food production at the farm level.

This book provides a comparative picture of the restructuring experiences of five Asian economies: South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and India. In the case of Indonesia and Thailand, the focus is on short-run structural adjustment measures, and in the case of South Korea and Singapore, the emphasis is on longer term industrial, trade, labour and financial sector policies. The chapter on India views the country's economic development in the light of the above analysis. The political economy of the policy-making process is examined in each case.

Food problems - the efficient production or procurement of food and its appropriate distribution among members of society - are problems endemic to mankind. Yet the nature and dimensions of these problems have been changing over time. As economic systems have developed, specialization has increased; and this has led to increased interdependences of rural and urban areas, of agricultural and nonagricultural sectors, and of nations. When the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) began the Food and Agriculture Program (FAP) in 1976, we started with these objectives: (1) To evaluate the nature and dimensions of the world food situation. (2) To identify the factors that affect it. (3) To suggest policy alternatives at national, regional, and global levels: (a) To alleviate current food problems. (b) To prevent food problems in the future. To realize these objectives, FAP was organized around two major tasks. The first task was directed at national policy for food and agriculture in an international situation. Here, computable general equilibrium models were developed for nearly 20 major developed and developing countries and were linked together to examine food trade, aid, capital flows, and how they affect hunger, in addition to the effects of national government policies, which were also considered in detail. This approach, however, needed to be complemented by another approach that dealt with food production at the farm level.