The Economic Development of Southeast Asia (review)

of data for analysis but it was found to be littered with far too many abbreviations in the text. The chapter on the possibility of mergers and acquisition activity in Southeast Asia was also well written by Bartels and, once again, his illustrations of existing companies in the region provided the necessary focus on various issues. The opening up of the second largest economy in the world, China, and its grand entry into WTO was also analysed in the light of its implications on FDI into Southeast Asia, and viewed with apprehension and appreciation. The overview of FDI flows into the transition economies of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam was a definite welcome in providing a broader picture ofFDI in the region. The chapter on the future of foreign portfolio investment added breadth to the discussion on foreign investment. This is a crucial topic in the wake of the financial crisis experienced by the region. Another appropriate inclusion was the ASEAN regional co-operation in investment and attracting FDI. Here, issues on investment promotion, investment facilitation, investment liberalization and surveillance was extensively discussed but the thirty-three page appendix highlighting "selected investment issues" could have done with better selection as the length of this appendix was longer than most of the chapters themselves! Perhaps if more space was provided to the one and only empirical investigation on the impact of the ASEAN free trade agreement implemented in 1993, it might have improved considerably. The empirical chapter was disappointing on many grounds — it was hardly appropriate to study the impact of this agreement for just the last four years using data from 1968-97. The chapter was cluttered with far too many tables. The error correction model (ECM) for each country was estimated using different sets of variables without any explanation or justification. The estimation of the ECMs also suffered from insufficient degrees of freedom for any of the results to matter. With the panel data estimation, it was unclear if it was based on the fixed or random effects model. All these econometric issues were not discussed, rendering little faith in the results and any implications based on it. The other chapter that could have been more focused was the second chapter that attempts to highlight the challenges of the new economy for multinational firms. While the new economy was narrowly defined to mean e-commerce, the discussion itself was too general and did little to focus on the region itself or draw specific examples from e-commerce firms to validate the discussion. Apart from these weaknesses, overall, the book is very well put together and makes an excellent contribution to the understanding of the dynamics underlying FDI in Southeast Asia. RENUKA MAHADEVAN University of Queensland, Australia The Economic Development of Southeast Asia, Vols. I to IV. Edited by HaI Hill, Cheltenham, U.K. and Northampton, U.S.: Edward Elgar Publishing Co., 2002. Pp. 631 (Vol. I), pp. 650 (Vol. II), pp. 622 (Vol. Ill), pp. 618 (Vol. IV). The four volumes cover analytical contributions on the ten economies of Southeast Asia, namely, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, which form the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In six parts, these volumes survey Southeast Asia's development record by individual experts in and outside the region, in previously published book chapters, journal articles and other papers. The areas covered include macroeconomics management and international dimensions, social and distribution issues, institutions, actors and public policy, which attempt to offer explanations as they record the performance. By structure, the four volumes are: Vol. I Part I: Introduction — 1. Historical backdrop; 2. Country overviews. Part II: Macroeconomics and International Economics — 1. Outcomes and policy instruments; 2. Exchange rate policy; 3.International financial markets; 4.Financial policy; 5. Domestic saving ASEAN Economic Bulletin 334 Vol. 21, No. 3, December 2004 and external debt; 6. ASEAN economic co-operation. Vol. II Part III: Explanation — 1. Growth; 2. The crisis. Part IV: Social and Distributional Issues — 1. Poverty and income inequality; 2.Labour markets and human resources; 3.Demographics; 4. Environmental issues; 5. Rural development. Vol. Ill Part V: Public Policy, Institutions and Ownership — 1. Overviews; 2. Case studies of...