The book is a key reading which provides a comprehensive and systematic overview of the contemporary Asian economy.

The book focuses on the structural changes that are rapidly transforming the regional economic landscape in the 21st century. It highlights the concomitant challenges that have arisen, and further discusses prospects and potentialities of Asian economies given this new economic environment. The book also looks at broader social issues that are both the cause and result of these new and complex economic dynamism in Asia. Understanding the Asian economy cannot be achieved without understanding the new interrelationships and complexities that have evolved from this context, which continue to be driven by drastic changes in technological, demographic, and social structures, among others.

Each of the chapters are titled based on "issues" and are framed in present continuous tense, intended to capture and emphasize the progressiveness of this new dynamism that are transforming the region in a fundamental way.