HOW quickly is Asia’s middle class growing? Not as fast as it needs to keep pace with aspirations. Policymakers need to focus on boosting livelihoods – and also on improving the quality of lives – for citizens to achieve the “Asian Dream.” Until that happens, it will be more myth than reality.
There is no concrete definition of what such a dream with Asian characteristics means, but inspiration could come from the American Dream, a term coined by writer James Truslow Adams in 1931, when he wrote that it “is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.”
