ABSTRACT
In 1999, the Asian Development Bank published its annual Asian Development Outlook. An early chapter dealt with the “The Financial Crisis in Asia,” and that very readable discussion can be commended to anyone interested in both the causes of the crisis and the major ways to avoid a new one. More to the point of this book, the 1999 Outlook also included, as part of its special chapter on Asia’s “growth and recovery,” an important and provocative section on “Regionalism.” The chapter’s overall tone and message were reflected in its brief first sentence, “Openness matters,” by which it meant that the principles of liberal trade regimes, with their key features of export promotion and outward orientation, were largely responsible for the welfare gains in East and Southeast Asia.
