Taiwan's information technology industry

Abstract

The outstanding performance of the Taiwan economy during the past four decades is well documented (Galenson, 1979, 1985; Tsiang and Wu, 1985; Lau, 1990; Schive, 1990; Tsiang, 1984). The basis of Taiwan’s economic development and the elements that contributed to it have been the focus of attention. Numerous theories and institutional factors have been advanced to explain the achievements of Taiwan’s ‘economic miracle’. With a few exceptions, almost all these efforts concentrate on macro-analysis, in which trade-related policy has been most prominent. This chapter re-examines the development of Taiwan’s economy and tries to provide some new insights into Taiwan’s success story by using an institutional approach to see if the government has been instrumental in enhancing private sector competitiveness by looking at the rapid development of Taiwan’s information technology industry in the past ten to fifteen years.