Who is winning the infrastructure war?

Why does infrastructure matter? Anthony Rowley, a veteran economic commentator, argues that advanced economies neglect infrastructure at their economic, social and strategic peril and risk being overtaken by more infrastructure-conscious emerging economies.

Infrastructure is one of the literal “foundations of the future” and those foundations are in serious danger of being undermined or even collapsing in some advanced economies so far as transportation, energy, water, sanitation and other services are concerned. Communications (including digital infrastructure) generally fare better but without more attention to basic physical infrastructure, economic progress will be set back.

Foundations of the Future: The Global Battle for Infrastructure seeks to bridge the gap between economic specialists and the general reader on a subject which is of critical importance in terms of the quality of economic and social life, of public safety, security and of environmental sustainability. The book reveals a history of neglect of infrastructure in recent decades by many advanced economies (the United States especially) while key emerging economies (China in particular) have realised the huge potential advantage — strategic as well as structural — of investing heavily in this key socio-economic sector.

Targeted at general readers, economists, financial analysts, engineers, politicians, diplomats, university students, logistics specialists and academics, Foundations of the Future retails for US$38 / £30 (hardcover) and is also available in electronic formats. To order or know more about the book, visit http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/11765.

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About the Author

Anthony Rowley is a veteran journalist and commentator on economic and financial affairs, in Asia especially. A former Business Editor and International Finance Editorof the Far Eastern Economic Review, he has also served as Field Editor (Japan) for Oxford Analytica. He was chief external editor of the World Bank’s World Development Report on infratructure in 1994 and contributed moe recently to Asian Development Bank rerports on infrastructure. he is the author of several books.

About World Scientific Publishing Co.

World Scientific Publishing is a leading international independent publisher of books and journals for the scholarly, research and professional communities. World Scientific collaborates with prestigious organisations like the Nobel Foundation and US National Academies Press to bring high quality academic and professional content to researchers and academics worldwide. The company publishes about 600 books and over 140 journals in various fields annually. To find out more about World Scientific, please visit http://www.worldscientific.com.

For more information, contact Amanda at [email protected].