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Governing the Market: Economic Theory and the Role of Government in East Asian Industrialization Revised Edition
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Published originally in 1990 to critical acclaim, Robert Wade's Governing the Market quickly established itself as a standard in contemporary political economy. In it, Wade challenged claims both of those who saw the East Asian story as a vindication of free market principles and of those who attributed the success of Taiwan and other countries to government intervention. Instead, Wade turned attention to the way allocation decisions were divided between markets and public administration and the synergy between them. Now, in a new introduction to this paperback edition, Wade reviews the debate about industrial policy in East and Southeast Asia and chronicles the changing fortunes of these economies over the 1990s. He extends the original argument to explain the boom of the first half of the decade and the crash of the second, stressing the links between corporations, banks, governments, international capital markets, and the International Monetary Fund. From this, Wade goes on to outline a new agenda for national and international development policy.
- ISBN-100691117292
- ISBN-13978-0691117294
- EditionRevised
- PublisherPrinceton University Press
- Publication dateNovember 30, 2003
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions6 x 1 x 9 inches
- Print length496 pages
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"[This] study by Robert Wade is one of only a handful that describes how economic policy in East Asia has actually worked. . . . A superb book. . . . Governing the Market demystifies East Asia's miracle without making it seem any less remarkable. It assaults idle prejudice on every side of the debate about markets and the role of government. It is long overdue, and deserves to be widely read." ― Economist
"This valuable book provides a quite detailed and carefully analytical account of the economic development of Taiwan and its political and social setting. . . . [Wade] makes a good case for his view that while market forces, at home and abroad, have been given much play, the government has also played a key part." ― Foreign Affairs
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- Publisher : Princeton University Press; Revised edition (November 30, 2003)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 496 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0691117292
- ISBN-13 : 978-0691117294
- Item Weight : 1.5 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,465,389 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #419 in International Business (Books)
- #705 in Business Development
- #1,113 in Free Enterprise & Capitalism
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Wade focuses on Taiwan (with comparisons to Japan and South Korea). Taiwan developed a dualistic economy where most of the businesses (~70%) were small firms that operated on a relatively free market. However, the rest of the economy (which accounts for most of the countries production) were highly regulated and controlled by government intervention. Taiwan's government led the market by coercing private firms into investing in new industries that were deemed economically viable. When a private firm would not step in the government went ahead and formed their own public enterprises (which account for a large part of Taiwan's economy). Through highly selective use of import-substitution and export-promotion strategies the economy flourished with unprecedented growth.
The other Tigers followed a similar path as Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan but without selective development policy. This is predominantly why they had lower growth rates. Even Hong Kong, the neoliberal bastion of success, turns out to be a highly regulated economy (p331-333 is essential reading).
Wade comes to a disturbing conclusion: Benevolent authoritarian rule may be necessary for developing nations to thrive. Without authoritarian corporatism it may be very difficult for growth to occur.
The 2003 version is highly preferred to the original because of a new, comprehensive, introduction. The introduction gives a response to critics of 'Governing the Market' and a thorough explanation of the Asian Financial Crisis. The introduction alone is worth the price of most texts.
I highly recommend this to anyone interested in economic growth theory.
Personally, I think Wade may have underestimated the importance of widespread education, effective infrastructure, and significant quantities of US aid compared with other parts of the developing world as "lubricants" to jump-starting the economy. Nevertheless, his argument that the state-imposed redistribution of agricultural land went a long ways to generating the necessary surplus for development is solid. Wade also recognizes that this surplus was then harnessed by a government savings-and-loan structure that facilitated capital investment in domestic heavy industry (the "commanding heights" of the economy) - often a difficult task to accomplish. As Wade convincingly contends, there was a significant amount of East Asian-style Fabian socialism involved in Taiwan's development - and the Taiwanese were remarkably successful because of it - despite some of the roadbumps encountered by others who tried to replicate the model (the quasi-successful states of SE Asia: Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia).
The first 150 pages of this volume and the conclusion, at minimum, are a must-read for any serious student of developmental economics or political economy. This edition is especially useful because the introduction convincingly addresses claims that rent-seeking led to the 1997-8 crisis with substantial evidence (supported by even conservative economists like Jagdish Bhagwati at Columbia) that excessive portfolio liberalization in the real estate sector was the leading cause of the 1997-8 crash - and even accounting for this, Taiwan and South Korea each recovered remarkably well in a short period of time, and have now joined the ranks of the first world.
