Macroeconomics for Emerging Asia
The experience of teaching macroeconomics to students from across Asia for two years at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore convinced me that the standard western textbooks now used pervasively in the region are inappropriate. The emerging economies of Asia differ fundamentally from the mature market economies in ways critical to macroeconomic analysis and policy: they are for the most part highly open and make use of managed exchange rates; sustainability of fiscal and external positions is a concern; and their financial systems are typically bank dominated and fragile. To be relevant, a textbook aimed at an Asian audience must lay foundations in exchange rates and the balance of payments at the outset and place the domestic economy within a global context. The text must further take account of limitations in the emerging market setting on public sector financing and access to global capital markets and must accordingly address vulnerability to crisis and how to cope with it. While commonalities among the emerging economies of Asia are such that a single text can be broadly applicable, the diversity of experience within the region calls for a text that is rich in case studies and empirical comparison. My co-author in this project is Charles Adams of the LKY School.