Trade and Development: Theory and Asian Experience

The last four decades have seen significant changes in the economies of Asian countries. War-ravaged Japan has been transformed into one of the major industrial economies of the world. It is admired widely for its economic and business management in responding rapidly and flexibly to technical progress and structural changes in the world economy. The Republic of China, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea and Singapore have grown even faster than Japan in the last 10-15 years. Their presence is being increasingly felt in the industrial markets of the world; formerly they were minor centers for the export of primary products and the entrepot trade. The primary exporting countries in South and Southeast Asia have generally improved their standards of living, based on their rich natural resource endowments, and they have also ventured increasingly into manufacturing not only for their domestic markets but also for export. The People’s Republic of China and India still contain the bulk of the poorest in the world, but they have also shown improvement in their economies and have made hopeful social progress…