Multilateral development agencies have increasingly focused on underdeveloped Asian countries as potential new sites for financial capital. Often referred to as `emerging markets', these economies are seen as ripe for private sector investment and, at the same time, in need of foreign capital to support rapid industrialisation, modernisation and poverty reduction. This confluence of interests suggests a means for quickly closing the `development gap', primarily through mobilising regulatory, institutional and governance reforms designed to reduce barriers to foreign capital, institutional...