East Asian Development

Given the impressive growth in East Asia after World War II, initially led by Japan, the region's development models have been scrutinized since the 1980s. The shared Confucian cultural heritage, strong government guidance, and export led economies were often cited as contributors to the impressive growth. However, major changes have taken place in Asia on and around the turn of the century: Japan experienced two decades of economic slow-down, while World Bank figures reveal that China is poised to become the largest economy in the world in 2014, overtaking the United States. Bearing this in mind, is it even possible to formulate an East Asian development model in the context of a shifting twenty-first century? And if so, what is it? This book addresses this issue by looking at the economic, political and cultural perspectives of China, Japan and South Korea, focusing on dynamism and potential consensus regarding an East Asian development model. The chapters offer a historical background to the East Asian development model, as well as in-depth case studies of each of the countries concerned to show that whilst the East Asian development model does have distinct characteristics as compared with other areas, and other countries may draw some insights from the East Asian experience, it is not a panacea that fits all circumstances and fits all times. This book will be welcomed by students and scholars of Asian economics, Asian politics, international political economy and development studies.

East Asia's development experience, at least until its crisis in 1997, has been a source of hope for other countries in the South. And in modern economic theory, it has been at the centre of the debate about how the role of the state relates to processes of intentional economic progress.

This collection of papers challenges the conventional view of East Asian development driven by open and efficient markets and suggests that considerable diversity both at the institutional level and in policy approaches lies behind the region's rapid economic growth.

East Asia's rapid economic growth and the crisis of 1997 have caught the world's attention. As the Asian miracle has turned to meltdown, the critical question has become whether growth will resume. Based on research and conferences at ICSEAD in Kitakyushu, Japan, this book brings together the work of Asian economic development experts. It considers the forces behind the East Asian growth miracle, the process of growth, the effect of saving, and the effect of foreign direct investment and multinationals. Taking an optimistic view, the authors conclude that rapid growth may resume in East Asia once the crisis has been resolved. The authors argue that a growth process links East Asian countries to each other and to the industrial world, and that growth reflects a process that combines capital formation and technical and institutional change. The 1997 crisis grew out of excessively rapid boom and must be handled before growth will resume. But, the authors conclude, once the crisis has been resolved, the linked process of growth supported by appropriate policies, high levels of savings and investment, and foreign investment will allow growth to resume, although perhaps with a different geographic center of gravity.

"Easily the most informed and comprehensive analysis to date on how and why East Asian countries have achieved sustained high economic growth rates, [this book] substantially advances our understanding of the key interactions between the governors and governed in the development process. Students and practitioners alike will be referring to Campos and Root's series of excellent case studies for years to come." Richard L. Wilson, The Asia Foundation Eight countries in East Asia--Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia--have become known as the "East Asian miracle" because of their economies' dramatic growth. In these eight countries real per capita GDP rose twice as fast as in any other regional grouping between 1965 and 1990. Even more impressive is their simultaneous significant reduction in poverty and income inequality. Their success is frequently attributed to economic policies, but the authors of this book argue that those economic policies would not have worked unless the leaders of the countries made them credible to their business communities and citizens. Jose Edgardo Campos and Hilton Root challenge the popular belief that East Asia's high performers grew rapidly because they were ruled by authoritarian leaders. They show that these leaders had to collaborate with various sectors of their population to create an environment that was conducive to sustained growth. This required them to persuade the business community that their investments would not be expropriated and to convince the broader population that their short-term sacrifices would be rewarded in the future. Many of the countries achieved business cooperation by creating consultative groups, which the authors call deliberation councils, to enhance accountability and stability. They also obtained popular support through a variety of wealth-sharing measures such as land reform, worker cooperatives, and wider access to education. F

In light of the growing global economic importance of East Asia, this book analyzes and compares the extraordinary development paths and strategies of Japan, South Korea, and China. It examines both the factors that enabled these countries’ prolonged periods of high-speed economic growth, and the reasons for their subsequent “cool-downs.” In addition, the book illustrates how their development strategies served as role models for one another, and what current and future developing countries can learn from the East Asian success stories. This book will appeal to scholars and students of economics and development studies with an interest in the East Asian development model.

In the early 1960s fewer than five percent of Japanese owned automobiles, China's per capita income was among the lowest in Asia, and living standards in rural South Korea put it among the world's poorest countries. Today, these are three of the most powerful economies on earth. Dwight Perkins draws on extensive experience in the region to explain how Asia sustained such rapid economic growth in the second half of the twentieth century. East Asian Development covers Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan, as well as Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and China--a behemoth larger than the other economies combined. While the overall picture of Asian growth is positive, no single economic policy has been effective regionwide. Perkins uncovers why some initially egalitarian societies have ended up in very different places, with Japan, for example, maintaining a modest gap between rich and poor while China has become one of Asia's most unequal economies. With Korean and Japanese growth sluggish and China losing steam, Perkins asks whether this is a regional phenomenon or typical of all economies at this stage of development. His inquiry reminds us that the uncharted waters of China's vast economy make predictions speculative at best.

No region has been more dynamic in recent years than East Asia. Despite its successful economic development, evaluations of the East Asian development model have often been capricious, shifting from "miracle" to "cronyism." How can we explain East Asia's ups and downs consistently? To respond to this challenge, it is necessary to study the progress of East Asian development and to trace the influence of Asian cultural values. This study mainly focuses on cultural aspects of economic progress and analyzes East Asia's philosophical and historical backgrounds to explain the dynamic process. East Asians believe that balance between opposite but complementary forces, Yin and Yang, will ensure social stability and progress. Through repeated rebalancing to maintain harmony, the society comes to maturity. In traditional East Asian societies, a balance was maintained between Confucianism (Yang) and Taoism, Buddhism, and other philosophies (Yin). In modern societies, the challenge is to balance traditional systems (Yang) and Western style capitalism (Yin). This East Asian development model explains the Republic of Korea's rise, fall, and recovery. Korea was a poor country until the early 1960s, during the time when spiritualism (Yang) dominated. From the 1960s through the 1980s, Korea achieved rapid growth by finding a new balance and moving toward materialism (Yin) from spiritualism (Yang). But the failure to maintain a harmonious balance between cooperatism and collectivism (Yang) and individualism (Yin) led to major weaknesses in labor and financial markets that contributed significantly to the financial crisis in 1997. As Korea arrived at a new balance by instituting reform programs, the venture-oriented information and communication technology (ICT) industry blossomed and led to a rapid economic recovery. Since 2000, domestic financial scandals and political corruption have emerged as new social issues. Korea's next challenge is to find a new harmonization between moralism (Yang) and legalism (Yin). This paper-a product of the Office of the Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, Development Economics-is part of a larger effort in the Bank to examine institutional and cultural foundations of development across regions and countries.