This volume investigates the long-term transformation of the East Asian economic system and its integration into the global market from the eighteenth century to the modern era. Edited by A.J.H. Latham and Heita Kawakatsu, the work compiles scholarly research to analyze how regional trade networks, industrialization, and shifting geopolitical dynamics shaped the economic trajectory of East Asian nations. The contributors utilize historical data and comparative economic analysis to argue that the region's development was not merely a reaction to Western influence but a result of internal structural evolution and regional cooperation.

Experts recognize this collection as a specialized resource for historians and economists interested in the structural shifts of the Asian market. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which is intended for university-level research and professional study.