Export-Led Growth: The East Asian Tigers

South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, the 'Four Tigers', grew so fast from the 1960s to the 1990s that they moved from poverty to high income within about a generation. Unlike Latin America's inward-looking strategy, they emphasized exports, using world markets to achieve scale and pushing firms to meet international standards. High savings, rapid expansion of education and stable macroeconomic policy were common ingredients. But explanations differ.

The World Bank's 1993 report 'The East Asian Miracle' stressed market-friendly policies, while scholars such as Alice Amsden and Robert Wade argued that South Korea and Taiwan succeeded through a 'developmental state' that directed credit, protected some industries and demanded export performance in return. Hong Kong, by contrast, was close to free trade. Paul Krugman argued in 1994 that much of the growth came from mobilizing capital and labor rather than productivity gains. The debate matters because many countries still try to copy the model.