An East Asian Development Model: Empirical Explorations

Since the 1970s, the development experiences of East Asia have increasingly become a focus of attention of those in social science circles, particularly those interested in development studies. Tremendous concentration was given to the delineation of the success story of the Asian newly industrialized countries (NICs), including Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. It goes without saying that the economic dynamism of Japan has gained fame among development and modernization experts since the 1960s. Moreover, practitioners and policymakers in the developed and developing world alike are even more anxious to find out what ingredients constitute the dynamism behind the success stories of East Asia, for counteractions or emulation. Much work has been devoted to describing the success in the aforementioned countries primarily in terms of economic performances.