Compressed Development is an eye-opener for those of us who study capitalism, globalisation and development. Developing countries have faced intense pressure to 'run faster to stand still', meaning to make institutional changes faster and across a wider range of institutions than the 'late developers' of the post-war decades. The book compares Japan earlier and China more recently, with side analyses of the United States and 'emerging Asia'; and draws in
debates about global value chains, the middle-income trap, the developmental state, health and education, financialization, and the digital economy. It concludes that progress in reducing the enormous differences in living conditions across the world's territories depends on navigating through the new dynamics
of 'compressed development'.
D. Hugh Whittaker is Professor in the Economy and Business of Japan, and Fellow of St Antony's College, University of Oxford. His research encompasses Japanese and comparative employment, innovation and technology management, small firms and entrepreneurship, and development.
Timothy Sturgeon is Senior Researcher at the Industrial Performance Center, MIT. His research explores how evolving technologies and business models are altering linkages between industrialized and developing economies, with an emphasis on offshoring and outsourcing practices in the electronics, automotive, and services industries.
Toshie Okita is Research and Teaching Associate at the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, University of Oxford. Her research focuses on international and comparative education, sociology of the family, socio-linguistics, youth transition, and social policy.
Tianbiao Zhu is Professor, Deputy Chair for the Department of Sociology, and Executive Director for the Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities and Social Sciences at Zhejiang University. His research interests include international and comparative politics, international and comparative political economy, and the political economy of development.