The current economic crisis has called into question the long term viability of the decoupling between multinational firms and the banking system. It has also cast serious doubts on the US dollar-centred monetary system, and invited reassessment of the long term viability of US-China economic relations based on a US current account deficit absorbed by Chinese financial institutions. It is also an opportunity to analyse the rise in property prices, particularly in fast-growing economies. Long term food security is also an issue, bringing to the fore the multinational firms from emerging economies (such as China and India) and calling into question the response strategies of multinational firms from the West and Japan. This book engages these key issues within the broad theme of integration, to give an up-to-date consideration of the subject, opening debate on the future stimulating role that Asia could play vis-A -vis the West, particularly the European Union.

Written by a number of international experts in the area of Asian economics and business, the book presents the most recent and current macroeconomic outlook in East Asia.

Although Asia has been the world engine of economic growth since World War II, growth rates have differed sharply among the countries of the region. Still, all Asian countries have experienced some degree of growth limitation. Japan is facing the crucial issue of a quickly aging and shrinking population, a situation that South Korea is bound to face in the near future too. China, which still enjoys relatively high growth rates, is dealing with an exhaustion of its export-led growth model based on low wages, as well as huge and unprecedented environmental problems. In addition, food supply is still a concern for most Asian countries in spite of huge increases in productivity in the agricultural sector, the main reason being that global demand for food products has been increasing at an even higher speed. This edited collection focuses on the policies - at the macroeconomic level - and strategies - at the micro-meso economic levels - that need to be deployed in order to overcome the limits to growth in a post-global financial crisis and export-led growth context. It will be of interest to all scholars of economics, management and the political sciences who work on the economies of East Asia, and also to all those who work on the theme of 'transition economies'.

Written by a number of international experts in the area of Asian economics and business, the book presents the most recent and current macroeconomic outlook in East Asia.