ABSTRACT
Aggressively following an outward-oriented development strategy, most East Asian economies not only accelerated the process of integration into the world economy but also upgraded their linkages in the years of their rapid economic growth. The Asian Crisis of 1997/98 radically changed perceptions and assessments of the East Asian economies, held popularly as the 'Miracle' story until the very onset of the crisis. The International Conference was organized by the African Economic Research Consortium as the first programme workshop on the thematic topic of Comparative Institutional Analysis for its collaborative research programme, Comparative Development Experiences in Africa and Asia. With growing populations, the economic growth performance in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), measured by per capita growth, has consistently lagged behind that of the rest of the world, particularly East Asia. Only Kenya recorded a high growth rate among the SSA countries. The chapter presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
