Common Foundations of American and East Asian Modernisation

Alexander Hamilton’s profound influence on American life is well- documented. Less well-appreciated is the story of how Hamilton’s works travelled abroad; leaders in Germany, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea came to keenly appreciate the relevance of Hamilton’s works to the modernisation challenges facing their own nations. This book reveals East Asian leaders’ close association with Hamiltonian thought and practice, and shows that American and East Asian economies share common foundations of state activism that transcend political rhetoric.

The global financial crisis of 2007-09 is far from unique either in the level of unbridled speculation on display, or the pro-activist response of the federal government in intervening to prevent systemic failure. This book argues that the future prosperity of not only the USA, but also East Asia, will be defined not by the response to the financial crisis itself but the willingness or otherwise of the political leadership to embrace Hamilton’s central intellectual insight: the state cannot abdicate its governance function and is obliged to harness financial market exuberance to enhance national life.