Insights & Publications  Commentary|McKinsey Quarterly  New
challenges for Asia’s governments  As the roles of the region’s
governments expand and change, they must transform their
capacity and performance.  June 2009 | byDavid Skilling  Across
the world, the role of government in the economy is expanding as
a result of the implosion of credit markets and the subsequent
sharp decline in economic activity, as well as concerns about
social and political stability.  In the West, this expansion has
provoked a debate about whether it’s just a temporary response
to great economic and financial turbulence or if it represents a
discontinuity that will redefine government’s economic role in a
significant and enduring way.  But in much of Asia, the
intensity of the West’s debate on the role of government is hard
to fathom. Big government hasn’t returned to Asia; it never
left. Long before the current crisis, governments in fast-
growing Asian economies such as Malaysia and Singapore routinely
endeavored to shape economi