Fiscal Frameworks and Financial Systems in East Asia: How Much Do They Matter?

Boon Ngee Cham is an associate professor specializing in Third World
politics at the Department of Political Science, Glendon College, York
University.

This fourth volume in the Hongkong Bank of Canada Papers on Asia
introduces Canadian investors and businesspersons to the fiscal
frameworks and financial systems of the Asia–Pacific region.

The three chapters that make up the volume were written by researchers
and experts in the field at the University of Toronto and the University
of Western Ontario. The first chapter, by Wendy Dobson, deals with the
connections between the fiscal–financial frameworks and systems and
the recent Asian financial and economic crisis, as well as with the
implications of this crisis for Canadian business. Written by Richard M.
Bird and Duanjie Chen, the second chapter traces the development of the
fiscal frameworks for business in the Asia-Pacific region and discusses
the tax effects on investment and production decisions. In Chapter 3,
Varouj A. Aivazian, Walid Hejazi, and J. D. Han consider financial
systems and economic growth in general and the Asia-Pacific financial
systems and lessons for international investors in particular. Two
annexes at the end of the book deal with “growth theories and the East
Asian economies” and “country profiles.”

Canadian investors and businesspersons will appreciate the book’s
timely treatment of the risks and opportunities involved in investing
and doing business in the Asia–Pacific region. The quality of research
is such that academicians and students interested in the subject will
benefit from the book as well.