Contrasting Northeast and Southeast Asian 'Capitalism' ; Implications for China

Abstract

In the last two decades of the 20th century, the countries of East and Southeast Asia re-emerged on the world economic arena and cast off their image as nations of subsistence farmers and small sweatshops. In writing about Asia, Myrdal(1968) used a contrast on the title of Adam Smith's classic work, calling his piece "An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations." Asia's long eclipse began in the 16th century, when Western countries began to overtake the nations of East and Southeast Asia. for a significant part of the region this domination involved colonization by Western nation states. While the West industrialized and expanded, state insitutions in Asia rigidified, atrophied and obstructed economic transformation and effective response to the Western challenge.