As the East Asian financial crisis continues to leave a path of economic and political destruction in its wake, people all over the world seek to know what went wrong. Many blame the illiberal markets of the countries involved, and many blame their political leadership. This book explores how strong, open, liberalized markets create a counterbalance to crony capitalism and corruption and form the basis for a foundation of political liberalization. Using both a quantitative model and qualitative country studies, this work analyzes the experiences of China, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Korea in moving toward both marketization and democracy.