An investigation into why most developing countries have failed to exploit their economic potential by China's most renowned economist.

Justin Yifu Lin is Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank. He obtained his PhD in economics from the University of Chicago in 1986 and returned to China in 1987, the first PhD in social sciences to return from abroad after China started economic reform in 1979. He was the founding director of China Center for Economic Research at Peking University from 1994 to 2008 and is the author of sixteen books, including The China Miracle (1996) and State-Owned Enterprise Reform in China (2001).

List of figures; List of tables; 1. Development, transition and divergence; 2. The search for a fundamental and changeable cause of prosperity; 3. Aspiration and social thought of modernization; 4. Development strategy, viability and performance; 5. Viability and strategies of transition; 6. Development strategy and development and transition performances: empirical analysis; 7. Why are East Asian economies so special? Are there any general lessons to be learned from East Asian development and transition experiences?; 8. Toward a right development and transition strategy; Appendix I. Development strategy and economic institutions in developing countries; Appendix II. Data description; References; Index.