Since the end of the second world war, many East Asian economies have seen a “miraculous” growth. And with so many other nations still in poverty, economists and leaders are turning their eyes towards the “East Asian tigers” to see if they can replicate their results. When looking at the facts it is obvious that the the circumstances facing the East Asian nations were quite different than the ones that nations face today. But outside of these differences a loose model of the East Asian miracle can be utilized in Third World nations today and, considering the high success rate of so many of the East Asian economies, would most likely see positive results.
The secret to success of East Asian economies is the hand that the government has had in industrial affairs. Starting in the 1950s nations like china began taking steps towards centralized government through reform. One example of this would be the Chinese land reform of the 50s under the new Mao Zedong's communist regime (Blecher, 2010:p.27). This land reform took away the oligarchic control of the landlords, changing the feudalistic policy of landlordism over to a more capitalistic form of socialism in which the government has the control. This is clearly a very vital part of the industrialization process as many nations that have failed with the agrarian reform continue to find themselves struggling to get out of poverty. A modern example of this would be Brazil, where the rural landlords have stalled any sort of reform that might dismantle their rule over peasants farmers and tenants (Kay, 2002:p.1076). The institution of land reform was a vital part of industrialization in East Asia, unlike other nations it was introduced before the economies had gotten on their feet and w...
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... to ever truly practise total free trade, only even opened its borders in the 19th century (Chang, 2003:23).
Despite this, Industrialized nations, with the United States at the forefront, continue to advocate for more 'freedom' in the economies of developing nations, claiming that there is no other way to be free from poverty. By doing this they make themselves out to be hypocrites calling for more market-freedom when in fact nations who practice state intervention, as they did during earlier stages, have seen more economic success. Two great examples would be China and India who both have a high level of state involvement in their respective markets, yet both nations have become the model for developing nations in the 21st century (Chang and Grabel, 2004:13). But for whatever reason the West continues to advocate a policy that they themselves have barely used.
In the 19th century, Russia and Latin America responded similarly to industrialization in the formation of a growing middle class, in a “boom” in exports and new economic ties, in urbanization, and in similar acts of revolutionary disobedience against a dictator. Latin America, as a result of industrialization, created a small market for manufactured goods unlike Russia’s vast industrial market powered by foreign investments. Also, there were long-term effects to Russia’s revolution in which a socialist political party was created as a result of industrialization, unlike Latin America which was immobilized with regional conflicts and factionalism.
...conomically beneficial trade and technology development. In this regard the Epilogue uses sound logic to plausibly answer the wealth question. On the other hand, Mr. Diamond uses the same "national competition" thesis to purport that Asia's large, centralized governments were conspicuously growth-inhibitive. This argument would not seem to pass muster given what we have learned about the role of governments. Professor Wright's slides state that "Centralization may limit predation and even allow for growth" as "centralized predation = incentives to maximize the haul " This clearly refutes Mr. Diamond's argument that centralized, monopolistic Asian governments impaired societal advances. Thus, Guns, Germs, and Steel can scantly explain why China and the Middle East remain emerging markets while Western and Northern Europe enjoy significantly larger national wealth.
Industrialization provided many benefits for the nation but however, it also created serious problems that required action by the government. Most of the factories owners treated their employees unfairly and unequal. They made them work large amount of hours for underpaid wages. Most of the people even children, worked 16 hours for 25 cents a day. Their employees had to deal with unsafe machines that sometimes were extremely dangerous. If they got injured they didn’t have any financial aid or any kind of compensation that helps them to get better. Instead they were kicked out from their job. If a machine caught fire, they didn’t have safety measures such as fire drills or emergency exits that make the exit of the building such an easy task. Most of food factories, didn’t force their employees to wear gloves, masks and hair nets while they were working and manipulating the products. This lack of hygiene measures brought a large amount of diseases that easily spread out around the country through the food these factories sold. Sometimes costumers could find hair or even eat meat where someone had sneezed on it. Because of the excess of power that monopolies had believed they could treat their employees however they wanted. To achieve better hours, better wages, and better working conditions the government passed several laws th...
Vietnam’s economic improvement over the three decades from 1945 was therefore modest, particularly in comparison to the Asian Tigers (Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan) that enjoyed a golden period of high economic growth in these
The Chinese empire had once been one of the greatest and most powerful empires in the world. Before the 19th century, China had a large population and was ruled by families or dynasties. It was considered technologically advanced as China had a history of many miraculous inventions, such as: writing, magnetic compasses, movable sails, porcelain, abacus and paper money. Although China was isolated from the rest of the world, it coped well on its own, and saw no need to begin trading with the west, (as Lord McCartney proposed in 1793), since it was a self-sufficient nation. At that particular time, the Chinese empire was still able to exclude the ‘barbarians’, thus forcing them to only trade at one port. However, China soon took a turn for the worst as important ...
As Ian Fletcher pointed out in Free Trade Doesn’t Work: What Should Replace it And Why, nations need a well-chosen balance between openness and closure toward the larger world economy (Fletc...
Greenberg, Michael. British Trade and the Opening of China 1800 - 42. New York: Monthly Review, 1979. Print.
Taiwan has grown over the last half century from a poverty stricken nation to an economically-stable country and this has seriously caught the attention of some developed western countries. The country has had one of the largest populations lavishing in poverty over the years but through hard work from its people as well as the government’s commitment, its economy boasts as one of the fastest growing not only in Asia, but also globally. To achieve this economic and business growth, Taiwan has concentrated mostly in two sectors: agriculture and industrial growth. It’s therefore important to evaluate the strategies adopted by this country to achieve this economic stability and shift from a poverty stricken nation to a modern and growing economy.
In this essay we look in-depth on how government strategies and economic policy play a crucial role in the success of High Performance Asian Economies (HPAEs) during 1960 to 1990 (World Bank 1993).There are eight countries within HPAEs: South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan. Its economic development has significantly rise that it was name ‘East Asia Miracle’ (World Bank, 1993).
Malaysia is a country with developing economy. It belongs to group of the richest and developed countries among developing countries - to the group of New Industrial Countries. “In 2007, the economy of Malaysia was the 29th largest economy in the world by purchasing power parity with gross domestic product for 2007 was estimated to be $357.9 billion”-(from Wikipedia,free Encyclopedia).
The rapid development and national power in the developed countries after the revolution is due to the speedy recovery and upgrading of industries and especially technologies. Therefore, less developed countries have to focus their attention on how to develop or adopt the industries and technologies from developed countries. (Sheleifer et al., 1998; Rodrick, 1998,2001) suggests that the poor development performance in less developed countries is largely associated with their institutional problems such as political issues, market distortions, unfairness in income distributions, government interventions, colonial heritages, violent crimes, micro instability and so on (Lin and Lui).
In 1979, under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, China began to become economically globalized through many economic reforms. The first reform offered price and ownership incentives for farmers, which allowed them to sell a portion of their crops to the free market, rather than the government monopolizing the whole market (Morrison, 4). Four special economic zones, along the coast, were established by the government in order to try and attract foreign direct investment. This helped to boosts exports for China, and further, allows China to import better technology from the foreign investments (Morrison, 4). In addition to the four economic zones, other cities on the coast were “designated open cities” which allowed them to practice “free market
The question posed is best explored through the lens of Modernization Theory, which partly originated with Lipset's 1959 formulation that the prospects for democracy to thrive within a country are directly correlated to its level of economic development. Przeworski has elucidated Lipset's theories as hypothesizing that economic affluence dovetails with democracy because wealth reduces the intensity of group or individual conflicts over the distribution of resources. Democracy – which through representative rule is perceived as the most egalitarian form of government – is widely taken to be the fundamental criterion of what makes a country or nation-state 'modern'. Lipset proposes that economic development sets off a series of profound social changes, such as increased urbanization, education and communication, that in turn precipitate larger middle classes and greater social equality. All of these elements combined, Lipset contends in his 1963 award-winning book, Political Man, provide the necessary framework for the emergence of democratic institutions. Today China maintains all such socio-economic elements. Thus, we are presented with a conundrum of sorts. Either we must construe that Modernization theory is dead, or according to its principles, that China’s democratization is latent, and will materialize at a later date.
In order for any country to survive in comparison to another developed country they must be able to grow and sustain a healthy and flourishing economy. This paper is designed to give a detailed insight of economic growth and the sectors that influence economic growth. Economic growth in a country is essential to the reduction of poverty, without such reduction; poverty would continue to increase therefore economic growth is inevitable. Through economic growth, it is also an aid in the reduction of the unemployment rate and it also helps to reduce the budget deficit of the government. Economic growth can also encourage better living standards for all it is citizens because with economic growth there are improvements in the public sectors, educational and healthcare facilities. Through economic growth social spending can also be increased without an increase of taxes.
Throughout the chapter the text exerts more emphasis on the economical evaluation of a country's development rather than the alternative method. It begins to branch off quickly into the classification of countries deriving new topics all relating back to the economical approach. Beginning this discussion is the topic of underdevelopment.