Book excerpt: First published in 2005. Some of the most important of the world's problems today concern affairs in Asia, and the relations between Asia and the West. To deal adequately with these problems it is necessary not only to master their more obvious elements as they present themselves today, but to go to their historical roots. In particular it is necessary to study the economic history of modern Asian society. In London the School of Oriental and African Studies, with the generous assistance of the Ford Foundation, began in 1959 a research programme on the economic history of East and South-East Asia. As part of this programme an international study group, composed of scholars from America, Europe and Asia, was held at the School in July 1961. This volume contains a selection of the papers presented to the study group.