III. Commentary

Mr. Paauw's paper on Chinese government expenditures during the Nanking period and Mr. Wolf's paper on contemporary development problems in South and Southeast Asia differ appreciably in scope and emphasis. In a sense however Mr. Wolf's paper picks up the discussion where Mr. Paauw leaves it. For Mr. Paauw concludes in his last paragraph that in China between 1928 and 1937 loan-financed government expenditures did not stimulate investment and output because “... the whole political, cultural, and economic milieu of Nanking China ... discouraged the expansion of output in response to increased monetary demand. The repressive influence of each of these factors remains to be investigated in detail.” Mr. Wolf's paper is essentially an analysis of these factors which inhibit and restrict productive investment and economic development in Southeast Asia and what might be done through MSA to improve matters. Consequently Mr. Paauw's paper is perhaps more easily discussed against the analysis put forward by Mr. Wolf rather than the other way about

Asian Studies and History · Psychology · Socioeconomic Development in Asia