Explain the role of the state in East Asia’s economic miracle
“the developmental state model (inferred from the East Asian cases) assumes at the political level an elite
consensus on the following:
1. High priority given to achieving high and sustained economic growth rates, so as to catch up with
developed countries ‘quickly’ (within a few decades);
2. VeryhighratesofinvestmenttoGDPsoastoachieverapidmovement of the production structure into
higher productivity activities;
3. The need for the state to coordinate the catch-up strategy and promote some sectors and functions
ahead of others, whether through public enterprises or through steering private actors into sectors
they would otherwise not enter;
4. The need for the state to curb the growth of consumption by the urban labour force and farmers,
so as to free up more resources for investment;
5. The need for the state to strenuously promote exports, so that the high investment can be
profitable despite restrained growth of consumption at home; but at the same time, state industrial
policy must target the feasible replacement of imports and concentrate foreign exchange on
imports of capital goods, intermediate goods and raw materials (not
consumer goods) by means of a managed trade policy, not free trade.”
Development state dead or alive pg. 525