Found in 2 comments on Hacker News
eru · 2010-03-15
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Yes. We need more bank failures! We should get to the point where a bank failure gets the same attention as any other bankruptcy.
The book "Just get out of the way" (http://www.amazon.com/Just-Get-Out-Way-Government/dp/1930865...) has some interesting ideas on how to apply the lessons of now-developed nations to developing ones: Don't copy the bloated institutions the rich world has now, but get inspired by what made them great in the first place. Often these were simpler policies. (Of course this also applicable to developed economies, again.)
The author also advocates ridding banks of any (even implicit) government guarantees, to make customers look out for their money instead of relying on glorified ponzi schemes. (Which banks are in a lot of developing countries.)
Mostly, a big part of the book is just a warming up of the tired 'Infant Industry argument'. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_industry_argument
For now, have a look at https://mises.org/journal-libertarian-studies/prejudice-free... to get an alternative look at Malaysia, one of the recurring example in 'How Asia Works'. (That paper is also just a really good read by itself.)
I don't particularly like Noah Smith (he's also in favour of protectionism and 'industrial policy'), but his https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/the-polandmalaysia-model has some good points also about Malaysia.
https://www.amazon.com/Just-Get-Out-Way-Government/dp/193086... is an alternative view at development economics. The title is a bit provocative, (even the author wasn't really happy with it, when I had a chat with him about it). The main thesis of the book is that honest and competent civil servants are the most rare and precious resource a country has, especially a poor one, so policies should economies on their labour.
So eg you should privatise a state-owned company by auctioning it off in one piece to the highest cash-bidder open to all comers from anywhere, no questions asked. Instead of having your civil servants set up a complex system or worse trying to evaluate proposed business plans. Complexity breeds corruption in the worst case, and in the best case still takes up civil servants' limited time.
Directly about 'How Asia Works' https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/book-review-how-asia-works mentions some critiques in the 'Conclusion' section. See also https://open.substack.com/pub/astralcodexten/p/book-review-h...