Understanding East Asian Economic Development

Anindya Datta The atypically high growth rates of the economies of Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore have led to these countries being held up as models to be followed by other less developed countries regardless of their respective circumstances. An endlessly repeated theme has been that it was the magic of the unhindered free- market mechanism, with its concomitant of unrestrained export-orientation, which did the trick for all these countries.