Stephen Roach on the Next Asia: Opportunities and Challenges for a New Globalization

Written by Stephen S. Roach, Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, “The Next Asia: Opportunities and Challenges for a New Globalization” peers into the future of the world’s most dynamic region and will help readers understand the economic imperatives of Asia and how it will shape the world economy.

The Next Asia provides a timely assessment of the region’s potential to provide a new source of growth for a post-crisis global economy. Roach points out that many have presumed that the baton of economic leadership has already passed from the West to the East, heralding the onset of the Asian Century. If it were only that easy! The current Asia remains very much an export machine, with auxiliary fuel provided by capital investment. It’s a supply-oriented growth model that leaves Asia heavily dependent on external demand from others. Roach argues in this book that the region can lead — if and only if it becomes better balanced, drawing increased support from internal private consumption. Notwithstanding the tensions of the globalization debate and the risks of US-China trade frictions, The Next Asia makes the case for this daunting transition.

Featuring more than 70 of Roach’s essays, the book has five critical building blocks: The world after the financial crisis; Asia’s critical role in globalization; the upcoming rebalancing of the Chinese economy; a new pan-regional framework for integration and competition; and a frank discussion of the biggest risk to this remarkable transformation in the form of US-China trade tensions.

“Change and growth have been the mantra for Asia for the past quarter century. But the current global recession is an important wake-up call for Asia” said Stephen Roach at a book launch event for The Next Asia on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Dalian, PRC. “This crisis is in effect a challenge to the old way, and a not-so-subtle hint to find a new recipe for Asia’s growth model – one that is better balanced, more stable, coordinated, integrated and sustainable. This is the essence of a critical transformation that could well usher in more of a pro-consumption, lighter, and greener Asian economy than is the case today. The Next Asia will need to measure its success increasingly on those counts.”