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chapter brings forward the growing importance of bilateral regional trading agreements in the region and their likely implications on attracting FDI flows from within Asia. The last three chapters are rather disjoint from the discussion in the earlier parts of the book, and focus on three different aspects. Chapter 10 by P. K. Vasudeva, the weakest chapter in terms of analysis in this book, undertakes a case study of foreign investment and foreign trade issues for India and China. However, in real sense, the chapter does not go into any detailed micro-level case study, but instead focuses on the macro aspects, many of which are well known and do not contribute in any way to the existing literature. The author's comparisons of FDI data on India and China seems to be a direct copy from an earlier study on this issue by Srivastava (2003). Further, the discussions on IMF and RBI reports are devoid of any analysis. While most empirical studies focus on FDI issues in Asian economies, Chapter 11 by Dale Colyer changes focus to study the impact of FDI in the primary sector of the Mexican economy. While the discussion is useful, this chapter is also more descriptive than the previous ones, and appear disjoint from the previous ones. The last chapter by Richard Fletcher provides a theoretical perspective on the issues of cultural differences between source and host countries and how this can impact on FDI flows. While this is a very interesting contribution in this book, it is completely unrelated to any of the previous chapters, yet again. Overall, the book is a valuable source of information and policy analysis on FDI issues in Asia, and contains some important contributions in this area to the theoretical and policy literature. Nevertheless, the diverse nature of topics covered, and the wide differences in quality of the chapters, highlights the fact that the book has not been properly edited for its contents and quality of research. Nevertheless, given the importance of the topic and some of the countries covered, the book would be useful for students and academics working in this area. REFERENCE Srivastava, S. "What is the True Level of FDI Flows to India?". Economic and Political Weekly 38, 15 February 2003, pp. 608-11. AMARENDU NANDY National University ofSingapore, Singapore Innovative East Asia: The Future of Growth. By Shahid Yusuf et al. Washington, D.C.: World Bank and Oxford University Press, 2003. Pp. 439. The seduction of the universal applicability of successful institutions in a global society has increasingly been based on the assumption that successful institutions can be replicated and that success in the originating country is more important than context. This has resulted in various instances of replication failures such as Taiwan's Hsinchu Science City, modelled after the successful Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park, and other science parks modelled after Silicon Valley. The cases of Silicon Valley-emulators illustrate the dichotomy between universalism and contextualism in replicating successful institutions. It is against this backdrop that Innovative East Asia, a book by Shahid Yusuf and seven other contributors, offers the timely lesson that many East Asian countries, particularly the high and middle-income economies, need to move on to new ground. As the main volume in a series of publications on the economic future of East Asia co-sponsored by the Japanese Government and the World Bank, the book argues that institutional growth and competitiveness can no longer depend solely on foundations of past success that had been characterized by strong macroeconomic fundamentals. Instead, East Asian countries need to go beyond the "catch up" or imitative phase of development to the innovative phase, where the countries would move up the value chain of production to stay ahead of lower cost producers. ASEAN Economic Bulletin 248 Vol. 22, No. 2, August 2005 The book starts by laying out a comprehensive survey of the East Asian economies with notable emphasis on the problems carried over from the financial crisis of the late 1990s, and goes in-depth into the various regional co-operation efforts that spans exchange rate and monetary policy, financial, trade, and other areas. Strong emphasis is placed on addressing revealed weaknesses in...

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