State Intervention and the Economy

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It is widely believed by scholars that many of the varying levels of economic development between states are the direct result of a negative correlation between the aforementioned and the varying degrees of state intervention. In most cases it is evident that the more a state intervenes in its economy, the less the country will develop. While, at the same time, a country whose intervention exists at a minimal level will tend to have a stronger economy and a more rapid rate of development. However, it is also important to understand that as with many concepts there will always be extreme cases where the states may not strictly follow this model; in some cases they may even behave completely opposite. These extreme cases are often due to the idea that a state will either behave in a predatory or developmental manner.

In order to fully grasp the ideas of predatory and developmental states it is important to first understand that they are directly connected to the two polar views of market and government failure. An individual who is an advocate of the market failure would be likely to say that all markets will eventually fail unless the states intervene in attempts to correct or prevent this failure. While at the same time, a person who believes in government failure is likely to think that although a market may fail, that it is better for the market to correct itself compared to a government intervening. This idea roots from the belief that governments can also fail and that often times they may not be intervening in a way that promotes overall social good.

One major cause of market failure is often the inefficiency of a market to produce more or the same amount of goods while utilizing the same or fewer resources. If this we...

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... the revenues generated by exporting the country's impressive mineral wealth" (Bates 569). For this reason, although both states have a great degree of government intervention only Japan was able to economically advance due to the fact that its bureaucrats were chosen based on merit and a great deal of transformative government investment existed.

Overall, one could argue that it is not always true that a country with minimal government intervention will have the greatest economic growth as can be viewed in respects to both Japan and Korea. It is solely a issue of whether the state acts in a developmental or predatorial manner. Additionally, it is worth noting that although states such as Zaire and others in Africa didn't necessarily fail due to a extreme degree of government intervention but, because of the way many of the government's policies were implemented.

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