This landmark study is the result of a collaborative research effort among the East-West Center and a group of institutions in China (Taipei), Japan, and Korea, in consultation with experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Electric Power Research Institute of California. The first project of its kind to mobilize senior power experts in the three major countries of Northeast Asia for cooperative electric future assessment, Electricity in Economic Development highlights the critical role of the electric power sector in influencing a nation's future industrial development and its energy supply-demand pattern in the post-oil-crisis era.

The Asian economic crisis drew attention to the urgent need for reforming social welfare programs. Korea survived the brunt of the economic crisis, but is still faced with numerous socioeconomic problems that emerged during and after the crisis period. This book offers a comparative review of these problems and of welfare reforms that have already been tried, together with proposals for reforms that could be introduced to guarantee the the most important human needs.