Joe Studwell, the author of How Asia Works, was a recent guest on The Investors Podcast. You can listen to the full episode here. The interview expands on some of the topics covered in the book including why some countries are rich while others are poor, how much of Asia’s economic progress is due to Western influence (and why) and if South America and Africa can achieve similar economic growth to Asian countries such as Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.

For more on the themes explored in the book, also see Bill Gates’ book review from 2014.