This chapter begins by highlighting that public anger over corruption can have punishing political effects, making curbing it a critical issue for powerholders everywhere. I note that existing scholarship on corruption control focuses heavily on democracies and does not explain under what conditions authoritarian regimes combat and reduce corruption. I discuss the conventional wisdom about how autocrats do not have incentives to curb corruption and how my book challenges this view by showing a surprising number of meaningful anti-corruption efforts by authoritarian regimes. I lay out my argument for when and why authoritarian regimes are most likely to curb corruption, describe this book’s main cases in China, South Korea, and Taiwan, and introduce my novel scoring system for anti-corruption efforts. I then discuss the various theoretical implications of my argument for the broader study of authoritarian politics and governance. Finally, I give a chapter-by-chapter outline of the book to come.

This concluding chapter outlines the implications of the shifting scientific landscape in Asia for future generations of Asian scientists. The chapter reviews the theoretical implications of the key findings from the book, and revisits the new concepts and ideas introduced throughout the book, which have relevance for the fields of migration studies, science & technology studies and also gender studies. The chapter highlights what is yet to be studied on this topic, and lays out a future research agenda for scholars from these fields. Finally, the chapter highlights the policy implications of these developments for Asian and non-Asian countries, and ends with a set of policy recommendations for government officials and research leaders in these countries as they seek to make themselves attractive destinations for native (and nonnative) research scientists and raise their relative profile in the global scientific field.