This paper begins by looking at the long-running debate over the nature of growth. While the average resident of a non-Asian country in 1990 was 72 percent richer than his parents were in 1960, the corresponding figure for the average Korean is no less than 638 percent. These growth rates, sustained over a 30-year period, are simply amazing. The Tigers have had annual growth rates of output per person well in excess of 6 percent. This impressive achievement is, however, still modest compared with the phenomenal growth of Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan Province of China, known as the "Four Tigers" because of their powerful and intimidating economic performance. China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and Thailand did better, achieving growth rates of 3-5 percent.
The worst performer was the Philippines, which grew at about 2 percent a year (in per capita terms), about equal to the average of non-Asian countries. The western part of Asia grew during this period at about the same rate as the rest of the world, but, as a whole, the eastern half (ten countries: China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan Province of China, and Thailand) turned in a superior performance, although variations in achievement can be observed here too. Of course, this growth has not occurred at the same pace all over the continent. Since 1960 Asia, the largest and most populous of the continents, has become richer faster than any other region of the world.
#PDF SEARCH ASIA HOW TO#
The exercise has value because finding the right explanation might suggest how to replicate this success elsewhere and, as a bonus, might also satisfy the reader's urge to solve an engaging intellectual puzzle.
#PDF SEARCH ASIA TORRENT#
Rather than swelling the torrent of interpretations, this paper sets for itself the modest agenda of reviewing the weightiest arguments in the literature that attempt to identify the reasons for the extraordinary economic growth in East Asia and trying to decide which arguments make sense.
Confusion is compounded when he discovers that ideological debate has multiplied even further the analyses of this phenomenon. Articles on why the most successful economies of the region Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan Province of China have grown, to say the least, robustly invariably refer to the phenomenon as "miraculous." When practitioners of the Dismal Science have recourse to a Higher Power, the reader knows that he is in trouble. The spectacular growth of many economies in East Asia over the past 30 years has amazed the economics profession and has evoked a torrent of books and articles attempting to explain the phenomenon. Readers interested in the original Working Paper may purchase a copy from IMF Publication Services. Driscoll of the Fund's External Relations Department. The following paper draws on material originally contained in IMF Working Paper 95/98, "Growth in East Asia: What We Can and What We Cannot Infer From It," by Michael Sarel, an Economist in the Fund's Southeast Asia and Pacific Department. This material is refined for the general readership by editing and partial redrafting.
#PDF SEARCH ASIA SERIES#
The raw material of the series is drawn mainly from IMF Working Papers, technical papers produced by Fund staff members and visiting scholars, as well as from policy-related research papers. Its aim is to make accessible to a broad readership of nonspecialists some of the economic research being produced in the International Monetary Fund on topical issues.
The Economic Issues series was inaugurated in September 1996.
#PDF SEARCH ASIA PDF#
Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view pdf files. September 1996 PDF File (230k) also available. Michael Sarel ©1997 International Monetary Fund
0 kommentar(er)
