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[ 170 ] asia policy Crisis as Catalyst: Asia’s Dynamic Political Economy Andrew MacIntyre, T.J. Pempel, and John Ravenhill, eds. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008 • 336 pp. This book analyzes the political and economic changes in East Asia ten years after the crisis of 1997–98. main findings • The crisis had a profound effect on preexisting patterns of political economy within the region, generating major changes in banking, corporate regulation, and social protection. • There was no common movement by all countries toward marketization, nor was there wholesale abandonment of the soft pegging of currencies to the U.S. dollar. • Major moves toward denationalization of ownership and liberalization occurred, but long-standing national commitments to “growth with equity” were not abandoned. • Though not immediately affected economically by the crisis, China respondedbothwithatighterembraceofcapitalismandwithacommitment to regionalism. • A variety of region-wide solutions grew out of the crisis, including enhanced foreign reserves, numerous bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs), and new regional institutions whose memberships were largely “Asians only” rather than being pan-Pacific. • The U.S. market has become less central to East Asian export economies. policy implications • If the U.S. reasserts its prior commitments to pan-Asian bodies such as the APEC forum and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Asian governments would welcome Washington’s reengagement on region-wide economic and security matters. • Trade and investment, long the main tools for Asian growth, remain open to participation both by private U.S. corporations and through governmental pursuit of bilateral free trade agreements. • Ongoing tensions among states in the region lead many to hedge by reinforcing extraregional linkages. The unchallenged porosity of the region leaves it open to continued deepening of cross-Pacific ties. • As Asian financial and economic growth continues, Asian governments will demand stronger representation in global institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). ...

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