ABSTRACT
It is widely agreed that much of Asia’s economic growth over the past two decades has been the product of expanding transnational capitalist flows that have been mobilized through rapid industrialization and infrastructure development (ADB, 2013; Chandra et al., 2012; World Bank, 2011). Heralded as “the most spectacular development experience the world has seen during the second half of the twentieth century” (Anderrson et al., 2008: 120), the region’s growth has led many economists, national governments, and international financial institutions such as those at the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to argue that ongoing poverty alleviation and development will be dependent on the further expansion of transnational trade networks and “accelerated investment in hard and soft infrastructure” (Zhai, 2009: xiii). However, the so-called rise of Asia has not come without its costs.
