Already in the 1960s the four little dragons Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan started their industrialization moving steadily upwards with increasing growth rates, some of them double-digit in the 1980s. Most significant for these results has been their export-oriented growth strategy capitalizing on low labour costs and opening them up to the world market with all its benefits and pressures. Until today they have attracted quite a lot of foreign investors bringing technology and skills beside the pure capital. Thus, all four countries have reached a more sophisticated level of production and partly even developed into service and financial centres.Combining these developments with the already advanced Japan, the entire Asia-Pacific Region must be seen as an extremely dynamic area often also mentioned as the Pacific Challenge. Thus it is of high interest to examine the determinants of growth behind this challenge, behind the economic success.Because of the specific Asian dimension of the success, especially the Asian mentality, a transfer of the growth strategy can only be possible to a very limited degree. But the Asian experiences can at least be helpful to the formulation of a country related development strategy showing up generally important growth factors.The contributors to this book analyze important factors such as development planning, foreign investment, deregulation, government intervention, human capital, finance and banking (service sector), technology transfer and promotion, trade (export promotion), agriculture and regional cooperation. For this purpose experts in Science and Economics report from their experiences.

This paper studies the ability that exposure and sensitivity of the determinants to the South Eastern Asia economic growth. It analyzes the relationships between trade openness, foreign aid, domestic investment, long-term external debt, government spending and economic growth in South Eastern Asia. The South Eastern Asia's country concludes all the 11 countries, which were Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and lastly Vietnam. It examined the South East Asia's dramatic economic growth during the past forty years and explores the prospects for continued growth during the next forty years. This paper uses annual time series data for 11 Southern East Asia countries for the period 1970-2012. Data are retrieved from UNCTAD Statistics, Thompson Data Stream, Bank Negara Malaysia. The effects and impacts of trade openness, foreign aid, domestic investment, long-term external debt, and government spending on economic growth for the 11 South East Asian countries is assess using multiple model and regressions.

The four Pacific Basin countries (Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore) have emerged as dynamic and rapidly-growing economies. This study analyzes the economic factors that have led to this position.

It is well known that Taiwan and South Korea, both former Japanese colonies, achieved rapid growth and industrialization after 1960. The performance of former European and American colonies (Malaysia, Singapore, Burma, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, and the Philippines) has been less impressive. Some scholars have attributed the difference to better infrastructure and greater access to education in Japan’s colonies. Anne Booth examines and critiques such arguments in this ambitious comparative study of economic development in East and Southeast Asia from the beginning of the twentieth century until the 1960s. Booth takes an in-depth look at the nature and consequences of colonial policies for a wide range of factors, including the growth of export-oriented agriculture and the development of manufacturing industry. She evaluates the impact of colonial policies on the growth and diversification of the market economy and on the welfare of indigenous populations. Indicators such as educational enrollments, infant mortality rates, and crude death rates are used to compare living standards across East and Southeast Asia in the 1930s. Her analysis of the impact that Japan’s Greater Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere and later invasion and conquest had on the region and the living standards of its people leads to a discussion of the painful and protracted transition to independence following Japan’s defeat. Throughout Booth emphasizes the great variety of economic and social policies pursued by the various colonial governments and the diversity of outcomes. Lucidly and accessibly written, Colonial Legacies offers a balanced and elegantly nuanced exploration of a complex historical reality. It will be a lasting contribution to scholarship on the modern economic history of East and Southeast Asia and of special interest to those concerned with the dynamics of development and the history of colonial regimes.

People passionately disagree about the nature of the globalization process. The failure of both the 1999 and 2003 World Trade Organization's (WTO) ministerial conferences in Seattle and Cancun, respectively, have highlighted the tensions among official, international organizations like the WTO, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, nongovernmental and private sector organizations, and some developing country governments. These tensions are commonly attributed to longstanding disagreements over such issues as labor rights, environmental standards, and tariff-cutting rules. In addition, developing countries are increasingly resentful of the burdens of adjustment placed on them that they argue are not matched by commensurate commitments from developed countries. Challenges to Globalization evaluates the arguments of pro-globalists and anti-globalists regarding issues such as globalization's relationship to democracy, its impact on the environment and on labor markets including the brain drain, sweat shop labor, wage levels, and changes in production processes, and the associated expansion of trade and its effects on prices. Baldwin, Winters, and the contributors to this volume look at multinational firms, foreign investment, and mergers and acquisitions and present surprising findings that often run counter to the claim that multinational firms primarily seek countries with low wage labor. The book closes with papers on financial opening and on the relationship between international economic policies and national economic growth rates.

This paper examines the different arguments raised by the studies that addressed the East Asian growth experience. The original arguments presented in this paper are all on the negative side, highlighting problems associated with some of the possible explanations for the East Asian miracle. The paper concentrates mainly on four dimensions of the debate about the East Asian growth experience: (i) The nature of economic growth intensive or extensive?; (ii) The role of public policy and of selective interventions; (iii) The role of high investment rates and a strong export orientation as possible engines of growth; and (iv) The importance of the initial conditions and their relevance for policy.

Multinationals and East Asian Integration