More than the Market, More than the State: Global Commodity Chains and Industrial Upgrading in East Asia

Abstract

STATES AND MARKETS IN EAST ASIA'S “ECONOMIC MIRACLE”Japan and the newly industrializing countries (NICs) of East Asia — South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore — have been dubbed “miracle economies” because of their unparalleled accomplishments in the latter half of the twentieth century. They registered record economic growth rates not only during the prosperous 1960s when international trade and investment were expanding rapidly, but they also managed to sustain their dynamism through the 1970s and 1980s in the face of several oil price hikes, a global recession, and rising protectionism in their major export markets. In addition, the exceptionally rapid economic growth of the East Asian economies has been accompanied by high and rising per-capita incomes, relatively low levels of inequality in wealth and income distribu- tion, and dramatic improvements in other dimensions of human welfare, such as education, health, and housing.KeywordsExport IndustryCommodity ChainForeign BuyerOriginal Equipment ManufactureIndustrial UpgradeThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.