"A good read for anyone who wants to understand what actually determines whether a developing economy will succeed." —Bill Gates, "Top 5 Books of the Year"An Economist Best Book of the Year from a reporter who has spent two decades in the region, and who the Financial Times said "should be named chief myth-buster for Asian business."In How Asia Works, Joe Studwell distills his extensive research into the economies of nine countries—Japan, ...

'One of the most original and important books on Africa in years' FINANCIAL TIMESThe birth of new nations, independent democracies, the unprecedented growth of cities from Lagos to Cairo; the African continent is booming. So why do myths about underdevelopment, unproductive land and overpopulation remain?In a groundbreaking new study of Africa's developmental history, economist Joe Studwell debunks long-held views about the contine...

Until the catastrophic economic crisis of the late 1990s, East Asia was perceived as a monolithic success story. But heady economic growth rates masked the most divided continent in the world - one half the most extraordinary developmental success story ever seen, the other half a paper tiger.Joe Studwell explores how policies ridiculed by economists created titans in Japan, Korea and Taiwan, and are now behind the rise of China, while the best advice the West could offer sold its ...

The author of How Asia Works follows the money. "Alarming . . . enlightening . . . Joe Studwell should be named chief myth buster for Asian business" ( Financial Times).Hong Kong and Southeast Asia are home to five hundred million people, yet their economies are dominated by only fifty families whose interests range from banking to real estate, shipping to sugar, gambling to lumber. At their peak, eight of the world's two dozen richest men were So...

“[O]ne of the most original and important books on Africa in years.”—Financial Times“Challenges outdated narratives and makes a compelling case for the continent's economic potential.”—Bill GatesThe acclaimed author of How Asia Works brings his “pithy, well-written and intellectually vigorous” (Financial Times) reporting to Africa, revealing essential, promising lessons about the engines of economic growth...

40 or 50 families control the economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. Their interests range from banking to property, from shipping to sugar, from vice to gambling. 13 of the 50 richest families in the world are in South East Asia yet they are largely unknown outside confined business circles. Often this is because they control the press and television as well as everything else. How do they do it? What are their secrets? And is it good news or bad for t...

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 Wester...

In the 1980s, countries across Asia stunned the world with meteoric economic growth—but when eyes turn to Africa today, it is often to lament corruption, violence, and poverty rather than to scout the next developmental frontrunners. Yet some African nations, even in the face of challenging geography and the crippling legacies of colonialism, have found remarkable success. In How Africa Works, Joe Studwell draws on extensive research and travel across the continent to explore what...