An Enquiry into the Asian Growth Model

by Das, Dilip K.

• ISBN13: 9781137529268
• ISBN10: 1137529261
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2015-04-13
• Publisher: Palgrave Pivot

Summary

During the post-World War-II period, several Asian economies turned in stellar performances. They achieved sustained growth with low inequality in a short time span. The term economic 'miracle' was sequentially used for several of them. How they achieve the onerous and elusive goal of rapid and sustained growth when many other regional and global economies could not is the all-important question. This is a serious, intense and meaningful inquiry and has given rise to new and influential theoretical concepts in economics. There are significant differences in economic structures as well as the growth paradigm chosen by each individual Asian economy. However, there are common threads that underlie the differences in development strategies. Export-led growth, government intervention and state-capitalism are among the common policy strands. Asian economies are also known for benign government-business relationship.

Sound macroeconomic fundamentals, disciplined government leadership and intervention are regarded as some of the ingredients of success of the Asian economies. Das argues the dynamic Asian economies maintained high rates of saving and investment, controlled fiscal spending and pursued a government-led export-oriented industrial policy. They consciously maintained high quality education, both primary and secondary, as well as flexible labour markets. Going counter to the grain of neoclassical economic policies, the governments intervened heavily in credit allocation through public and private financial institutions. State was involved in both capital formation and allocation. With supporting policies, this 'winning mix' seemed to work. However, it should be noted that this model was far from perfect. Japan suffered from its vulnerabilities learned in the early 1990s and the other Asian economies in 1997. While the model was successful in mobilizing domestic and international capital, it performed unsatisfactorily in capital allocation. It did not flow to the most productive economic activities.

Author Biography

Professor Dilip K. Das was educated at the graduate Institute of International Studies, University of Geneva, Switzerland, where he did his Ph.D. in international economics and M.Phil. He was associated with several prestigious business schools around the globe, including the European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD), Fontainebleau, France; the ESSEC, Paris; the Graduate School of Business, University of Sydney. He is presently Professor of International Finance and International Banking and Director of the Institute of Asian Business, SolBridge International School of Business, Woosong University, the Republic of Korea. His areas of expertise include international finance and banking, international trade and WTO-related issues, international business and strategy and the Asian economy, including the Chinese and the Japanese economies. His most recent interest is globalization, financial globalization and the global business environment. Professor Das has worked as a consultant for several international organizations, such as USAID, the World Bank, and the World Commission on Development and Environment in Geneva. He has organized thirteen large international conferences during the last ten years. He has immense appetite for research. He has written extensively and published widely. He is author or editor of more than thirty three critically acclaimed books. His most recent book are The Asian Economy: Spearheading the Recovery from the Global Financial Crisis published by Routledge in 2011 and China and the Asian Economies: Interactive Dynamics, Synergy and Symbiotic Growth, also published by Routledge in 2014. Several of his books have been translated in Mandarin and Korean. He has contributed 101 articles to professional journals of international repute, many of which are EconLit or SSCI-listed journals. Ninety of his papers have appeared well-known research and working paper series, thirty-four of them have also been posted on well-regarded websites of business schools and universities. The author is fluent in French and his other language skills include Mandarin, Japanese and Korean.

Table of Contents

PART I: AN ENQUIRY INTO THE ASIAN GROWTH MODEL
1. Growing Interest in Asia and its Growth Trajectory
2. Burgeoning Clout of the Asian Economy
3. Integration: Regional and Global
4. Sequence of Argument: An Asian Growth Model
PART II: THE ASIAN GROWTH MODEL: MYTH OR REALITY
1. Introduction
1.1 Objectives, Queries and Scope
2. Industrial Policy: Formulation and Utilization
2.1 Industrial Policy and Development Strategy
2.2 Strategic Shift: From Non-Intervention to Intervention
2.3 Asian Economies and Market Intervention
3. Structural Economics and Government Intervention
4. From the Washington Consensus …
4.1 Limitations of the Washington Consensus
4.2 Taking Government out of the Development Equation
5. …to the Beijing Consensus
5.1 A Myth or a Coherent and Persuasive Development Strategy?
6. State Capitalism
6.1 Changing Nature of State Capitalism in Asia
7. Is there a China Model?
7.1 China Turning to Market Econmy Principles
8. Asian or Sino-Capitalism
8.1 Stylized Classification
8.2 Is it a threat?
9. Summary and Conclusions
PART III: THE GROWTH PACT OF DYNAMIC ASIAN ECONOMIES: SOME OF THE NEWER ELUCIDATIONS
1. Introduction
2. Structuralist Explanations: Newer Versions
3. Heterogeneity in the Asian Growth Performance
4. Greater credit for State Capitalism
5. Summary and Conclusions
PART IV: THE ASIAN GROWTH MODEL: A META-ANALYSIS
1. Genesis and Initial Deliberations
2. Theoretical Concepts
2.1 Basic Modes of Export Promotions
3. Trade-Growth Nexus
3.1 Export-Led Growth Hypothesis and its Endless Testing
4. FDI-Trade Nexus
5. Supportive Factors and Policy Strands
6. Controversy over Perspiration or Inspiration
Summary: Implications for Theory and Policy
Bibliography