Burma's Economy in the Twentieth Century

An incomparable introduction to Burma's political and economic history written by one of the premier economic historians of Southeast Asia.

Ian Brown (Author)

9781107015883, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 7 November 2013

244 pages, 16 b/w illus. 1 map 4 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm, 0.5 kg

'Professor Brown's very readable, but erudite, volume Burma's Economy in the Twentieth Century achieves more than it promises. It is indeed a succinct, thoughtful, and intellectually stimulating study of what its title describes. However, it is something rarer, a history of Burma with the perspective necessary to explain why the country is as it is today.' Robert H. Taylor, Visiting Professorial Fellow, Institute of South East Asian Studies, Singapore, and author of The State In Myanmar

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Burma was among the most prosperous territories in the East. Yet since gaining independence in 1948, its economy has struggled. Burma's developmental failure has often been attributed to gross mismanagement of the economy by the military who took power in 1962 but in this illuminating book, Ian Brown, one of the leading economic historians of Southeast Asia, provides a fresh examination of the country's economic past, thereby setting that failure in the context of the colonial period. For the first time, a review of Burma's economic experience in the final decades of British rule is integrated with an analysis of its economy since independence, providing a detailed understanding of the complex origins of Burma's economic failure in the second half of the twentieth century. This is a compelling introduction to Burma's political and economic history for students in Southeast Asian history, development studies and political science.

Introduction
1. The economy at the beginning of the twentieth century
2. Strains in the late colonial economy
3. War and independence
4. In pursuit of socialism
5. Toward the market: the economy from 1988
Conclusion: themes and threads
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ], Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000 [HBLW3], Asian history [HBJF]