This study reviews the available evidence and uses available statistics to assess the extent to which macroeconomic management has helped or hindered the goal of attaining full and productive employment, with case studies on Vietnam and Thailand. On the basis of this assessment, the study suggests policy options for the developing countries in the region. Increasingly serious concerns about the benefits of focusing on a narrow definition of macroeconomic stability motivate this study. Of main concern to the study is the tendency over recent decades to equate policy reform with non-interventionist or "neutral" macro policy.