The East Asian Miracle: Economic Growth and Public Policy (World Bank Policy Research Reports)

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 408 pages
• Published by: A World Bank Policy Research Report September 30, 1993
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0195209931
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0195209938
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 0.8 inches
• Weighs: 1.9 pounds

Product Review
"Excellent review of material on economic growth in Asia. Well written and well illustrated with graphs."--Raj Aggarwal, John Carroll University

"A very informative volume on economic development in East AsiaStudents found it helpful. It has many useful charts and figures, as well as some basic theoretical and policy arguments.I think the book offers a good text for courses in related areas. I recommend it to instructors who teach classes about East Asia and development."--Xiaobo Lu, Columbia University

"A thorough and comprehensive study of the economic performance of eight countries in East Asiaimpressive graphs.Highly useful for both graduate and undergraduate students in economic development in general and Asian studies in particular."--Choice

"A most impressive work And what makes it particularly impressive is the way it eschews any ideological baggage. It clinically and fairly analyses what actually happened."--The Weekend Australian

"An great and comprehensive overview of one of the world's greatest economic success stories."--Stephen D. Cohen, School of International Service, American University

"A comprehensive work, distilling decades of research on the most dynamic region in the world economy."--Morning Star

"The study is well-produced, in the style of the best American economics textbooks, and is well-linked to the academic literature; it will be useful for postgraduate teaching."--The Economic Journal

Product Description
The extraordinary growth enjoyed over the last several decades by many East Asian countries has amounted to nothing less than an economic miracle. Employing unorthodox policies, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand have all produced dramatic results with far-reaching improvements in human welfare and income distribution, leading many to ask whether a similar achievement can be duplicated elsewhere.
Written for the nonspecialist, this World Bank Policy Research Report--the first in an important new series--discusses in detail the means by which these high-performing Asian economies (HPAEs) realized their staggering success between 1965 and 1990. looking at how these countries stabilized their economies with sound development programs that led to fast growth, the book also shows how they shared the new prosperity by making income distribution more equitable.
The book makes clear how the HPAEs promoted rapid capital accumulation by making banks more reliable and encouraging high levels of domestic savings, while universal primary schooling and better primary and secondary education quickly increased their skilled labor forces. Also included are illustrative examples of productive agricultural programs, modest tax policies, the modification of price distortions, foreign technology and investment, and the cooperation of government and private enterprise.
Exposing to a broad audience the revolutionary process that transformed East Asia into the collection of economic juggernauts that it is today, this provocative World Bank report offers wisdom for today's up-and-coming markets, highlighting the policies that will make a difference as well as those that, despite their effectiveness in the Orient, could prove disastrous elsewhere.

Reader Reviews
This book explores the causes for the extraordinary growth experienced by a few Asian countries in the pre-1997 crisis era. It describes, in great detail, the policies adopted in each country that are believed to have spurred such development; to its credit (being a World Bank book), it even suggests that some unorthodox policies may have been beneficial, even though it does suggest that these benefits are not there to be reaped again by a country trying to emulate them. One of the main arguments is also that income distribution improvements have been a common experience across these countries, which is a topic not often discussed in development economics. There are, however, some obvious fallacies in this book. Having been written pre-1997 crisis, it does highlight the strenght of the banking system in many of these countries; these banking systems were later to be blamed for much of the pain in the 1997 crisis. I find this book fascinating, not as a source of development ideas (those can be found elsewhere), but due to the historical context in which it was written (praising economies that were about to collapse). Of course, these economies are still better off that most developing countries, so I do not believe that they are mistaken in many points, but there are certain contradictions that arose with the crisis that make it worth reading this book to determine what is good advice and what is hot air.