Burma's Economy in the Twentieth Century

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.

Ian Brown is a research professor in the economic history of Southeast Asia at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. He has published extensively on the modern economic history of Southeast Asia, initially focusing on Thailand but, since the early 1990s, turning his attention to Burma.