Japan and China in the World Economy (Politics in Asia Series) By Kellee S. Tsai (Editor) and Saa- dia Pekkanen (Editor). Routledge, November 2006, 272 pages. Japan and China have become the determining factors for the eco- nomic and commercial prospects of East Asia. Though many works have been done on China and Japan's economic institutions and development approaches, few of them analyze the two countries in a comparative framework. This book, however, provides a comprehensive comparison by review- ing the two countries' growth in the areas of development, trade, investment, fi nance and technology from the 1980s through the beginning of the 21st century. In this way political scientists, politi- cal economists, business concerns, and policy analysts can better understand the role Japan and China play in the world political economy.

China's Financial Markets: Theory, Estimation and Forecasting. By Salih Neftci and Michelle Me- nager-Xu. Academic Press, April 2006, 320 pages. China's US$2 trillion fi nancial markets are expected to quintuple to US$10 trillion by 2008, which makes it essential for potential market players to have a thorough grasp of how they operate. In this book, fi nance professionals Salih Neftci and Michelle Menager- Xu lead a galaxy of China insid- ers to provide detailed and up-to-date descriptions and analysis of all the major fi nancial sectors, including the banking system, equities, futures, foreign exchange, bond markets, the insurance sector, the mortgage market and mortgage instruments and the regulators. Readers will learn how each fi nancial sector operates as well as how the government, regulators and the central bank work.