The East Asian Miracle: Roaring Tigers and Flying Geese

The East Asian Miracle: Roaring Tigers and Flying Geese
Name
Institution
Course
Tutor
Date
Abstract
The period between the year 1965 to 1990 presents a remarkable growth in the East Asian economies. Commonly referred to as the East Asian Miracle, the rapid economic growth witnessed in the region was spearheaded by eight high-performing Asian economies through the integration of various factors and economic models. The rapid rise further evoked various opinions across a wide range of sectors to understand the steady rise in economic growth in the region coupled with the equitable distribution of income. The article serves to analyze the key factors contributing to the steady economic development in the East Asian region by elaborating on the key aspects of the flying geese model, which served as the basis for the achievement of the rapid economic rise.
Introduction
Countries from the Asia Pacific region are today making headlines in the global market economies as well as being among the frontier regions in the social, cultural, and political development. The East Asian countries, to be specific, have over the years witnessed tremendous growth and development in the regional economy. The remarkable economic growth in the region from the mid-1960’s to the early 1990’s surpassed the growth rate of both the developed and the developing countries in the same period. The outstanding achievements resulting from the high rate of economic growth and sustainability in the East Asian countries are subject to extensive research and analysis from both the academic and financial or economic sectors around the world. Comprehensive research and analysis of the rapid economic growth in the region serve to provide an in-depth understanding of the underlying factors leading to the miraculous transformation of East Asia.
In essence, the East Asian Miracle refers to the rapid economic growth recorded in the region between 1965 to 1990. The intense economic development in the East Asian countries over the two and half decades was characteristic of a steady rise in the gross domestic product for individual countries and the region as a whole. Other conspicuous features of the economic growth included a significant reduction in the poverty levels, increased equality in income distribution, internationalization of trade through exports, and conducive market environments for foreign investments. The governments of the East Asian nations actively facilitated the growth by implementing policies favorable to the economic development of individual countries based on their local needs and the available resources. In embracing both the principles of free market economy and positive interventional measures by the governments, the East Asian nations achieved great success in the region’s economic development. The East Asian countries or rather the economies responsible for the miraculous achievement include Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and three nations from the Southeast of Asia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. In the effort to understand the underlying reasons for the remarkable achievement in just over two decades, the following research questions emerged;
-What were the contributing factors to the East Asian Miracle or the rapid growth in the East Asian region?
-how effective were the driving factors in the successful achievement of the growth?
-what role did the East Asian governments play in facilitating the steady economic growth?
A comprehensive analysis of the growth factors including the public policies and the economic framework adopted by the highlighted economies serve to address the research questions while also creating an informed understanding of the East Asian Miracle.
Literature Review
The East Asian Miracle has been the subject of a range of diverse research studies and reviews from individuals and institutions alike in both the economic and scholastic sectors around the world. The achievement of steady economic growth for over two decades and that which is also characteristic of the equitable distribution of income and other positive outcomes of the growth evokes diverse views and perspectives on the matter. At the core of the discussions, reviews, and even criticism is the efficacy of the economic theories and government policies in facilitating the economic growth among the East Asian nations and the Asia Pacific region as a whole.
Kojima (2000) provides a comprehensive analysis of what is believed to be the economic model or theory responsible for the East Asian economic growth. The author builds the article’s argument on the Flying Geese (FG) model that was originally developed by Kaname Akamatsu from Japan (Kojima 2000, p.375). Besides revisiting the origin of the model and its key components, the author further develops logical extensions that indicate the model’s application in other countries within the region other than Japan. The logical extensions function to highlight the diversity of the specific needs of individual countries upon which the host government form and implement favorable policies towards the rapid growth of their economies CITATION Koj00 \l 2057 (Kojima, 2000). However, the high performing Asian economies (HPAEs) exhibit some common features in their economic development strategies which coincide with aspects of the Flying Geese (FG) model (Kojima 2000, p.376). The Flying Geese model thus provides an excellent platform for understanding the various factors contributing to the rapid economic growth in the East Asian economies. The article addresses the issue of contributing factors to the rapid economic growth in the region, their efficacy, and the governments’ role in maintaining and sustaining the growth over the period of study.
Kasahara (2013) also highlights the influence of the Flying Geese (FG) model in driving the rapid and equitable economic development in the East Asian economies. The author gives a historical background of the East Asian economies while also analyzing the current variations in the nation’s economic objectives in adopting the flying geese model (Kasahara 2013). The article further suggests that the effective application of the model depended on the governments’ interventional measures instituted through favorable policies and the monitoring of key institutions formed to facilitate the steady growth. It affirms the findings of Kojima (2000) while also portraying the model's transformation to meet the shifting market dynamics resulting from the internationalization of trade (Kasahara 2013, p.10).
Stiglitz (1996) intimates that the steady economic growth in the region results from the synchronization of some factors. In an article titled Some lessons from the East Asian Miracle, Joseph Stiglitz highlights some of the contributing factors towards the region’s economic boom. The author provides an articulate analysis of the primary factors that influenced the growth while showcasing their interaction in delivering the important economic outcomes. According to the article, the East Asian rapid economic growth built around the increased rate of high savings, favorable market environment, government interventions in a collaborative manner (Stiglitz 1996, p.151). Effective industrial policies, cooperation and healthy competition among the business entities coupled with government stability also form part of the author’s comprehensive analysis of the topic CITATION Sti96 \l 2057 (Stiglitz, 1996). The efficacy of the implementation of the outlined factors in the economic development of individual countries and the East Asian region as a whole is also provided in the article, and thus serving to address the research questions.
The World Bank Policy Research Report (1993) on the East Asian Miracle focuses on the economic growth and the influence of public policy in achieving the positive outcomes in 25 years. The report attributes the supernatural phenomenon to those above eight high-performing East Asian economies (HPAEs), which makes for the majority of the article's discussion (World Bank, 1993). According to the report, the tremendous economic growth in the East Asian countries was a factor of their unmatched accumulation of both the physical and human capital (World Bank 1993, p.5). The high rate of accumulating the physical and human capital was facilitated by effective government policies in the distribution and allocation of the highly significant resources. The report also highlights the diversity of the policy implementation among the high performing East Asian economies as they were based or rather implemented in accordance with the individual nation’s development goals and needs. Nevertheless, the policies served a common purpose across the East Asian economies by creating market-friendly environments upon which formed the basis for the rapid accumulation of physical and human resources as well as the equitable distribution of income (World Bank 1993, p.6). It is the effective application of the country-specific policies aimed at developing and enhancing the resources that account for the rapid and sustainable economic growth.
Pack and Nelson (1999) also offer a different perspective on the subject claiming that the intense assimilation of technology by the East Asian economies was instrumental in driving the rapid economic growth. The authors suggest that the nations’efficient incorporation of advanced technology from the developed countries played a significant role in revolutionizing the industrial sector (Nelson & Pack 1999, p.416). Favorable educational policies enhanced the learning process for the assimilation of modern technology and thus enhancing the human capital’s role in spearheading the economic development. The adoption of modern technology further influenced the restructuring of the industrial sector leading to increased accumulation of physical capital, a key factor in the economic development of East Asia. A majority of the reviewed materials rotates around the fundamental principles of the flying geese model, whose effective application leads to increased accumulation of both the physical and human capital. The model constitutes the implementation of public policies and government interventions for the achievement of the rapid economic growth in the East Asian economies.
Data Analysis
The East Asian Miracle was characteristic of various positive outcomes witnessed across the involved economies and the region as a whole. Japan, for instance...