Why Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China lead Asia economically
Draft Follow-ups:
- Compare the level of corruptions in these countries and find correlation with economic strength
- Compare the GDP Growth rates of these countries
Criteria to be considered a top Asian economy in this analysis:
- Population > 20 million
- This rules out Singapore, Hongkong, Taiwan etc. for example
- Not one of the oil-dependent economies
- This rules out Saudi Arabia, for example. A separate analysis of Saudi Arabia would be fascinating
- Higher weight for PPP per capita ranking versus total GDP ranking:
#1. Japan (#2 PPP per capita, #2 Total GDP)
#2. South Korea (#3 PPP per capita, #4 Total GDP)
- (A+) Has a democracy since 1954
- (A+) Capitalist economy at least since 1954
- Doesn't count: 1910 - 1945 Jap rule; 1945 - 1954 Civil War
- Relationship with the US
#3. Taiwan (#1 PPP per capita, #7 Total GDP)
- (A) Even though Kuomintang was corrupt and Chiang Khai Sik didn't die until 1975, Taiwan basically started their capitalist/ democratic journey since the 1950s
- (B) American aid 1950 - 1965
#4. China (#7 PPP per capita, #1 Total GDP)
- (A) Deng Xiaoping since 1978 - 1992(Mao died 1976). China had a late capitalist start but
- ...
A satisfying way to go about answering this would be to consider other Asian economies that could have been in the lead now, but are not. First let's list them out.
#x. Malaysia (#4 PPP per capita, #12 Total GDP)
#x. Thailand (#5 PPP per capita, #8 Total GDP)
#x. (Compared for reference even though technically not just Asia) Turkey (#6 PPP per capita, #6 Total GDP)
#x. Indonesia (#10 PPP, # 5 Total GDP)
#x. India (#14 PPP per capita, #3 Total GDP)
#y. (Compared for reference even though technically not just Asia) Russia
#y. (Not considered for obvious war and politics reasons) Iraq #8 PPP, Iran #9 PPP
#z. (Just for reference) Vietnam (#12 PPP per capita, #12 GDP)
Malaysia:
- In 1970 three-quarters of Malaysians living below the poverty line were Malays, the majority of Malays were still rural workers, and Malays were still largely excluded from the modern economy. The government's response was the New Economic Policy of 1971, which was to be implemented through a series of four five-year plans from 1971 to 1990.