East Asian model

The East Asian model of capitalism was first used in Japan in 1950 shortly after the Second World War. After the war and American occupation, recently occupied Japan was considered a developing country. The main development was between 1950 and 1980. It took Japan about 25 years, a non-competitive country (in steel production), to overcome Germany in producing cars (Germany was at that time the largest exporter of automobiles in the world. 5 years later, Japan produced more automobiles than the United States. In a post-war period, The Korean War (1950-1953) can be seen as a turning point for the Japanese economy, as the country moved from economic depression to economic recovery. Japan, still being occupied by the U.S. military, was a staging place for the US-led United Nations forces deployed in the Korean peninsula. The country found itself in a good position to make a profit as Japanese goods and services were procured by the U.N. troops. This, along with economic reform, gave an initial boost for economy that will experience rapid growth for next half a century. In 1950s and early 1960s, average annual growth rates were around 10% to 13%.

In the early post-war years, Japan had also initiated economic reforms, Zaibatsu corporations were dismantled, and agricultural land reform brought modern machinery and practices in recently distributed land, which meant that small agricultural producers can earn profit as opposed to the pre-war years where big land lords were owners of agricultural land. In the 1960s, Japan developed a consumer-oriented economy, with industry orienting towards production of high-quality technological products aimed for exports as well as domestic market. Japanese exports rose rapidly and in subsequent years it became the world leader in car manufacturing, shipbuilding, precision optical devices, high technology. Beginning with 1965, Japan started having a trade surplus and by the next decade saw Japan having the third largest gross national product in the world. In 1970s, the growth was significantly slow down partly due to the oil crisis, as the country was heavily dependent on oil and food imports. In the 1980s, Japan diversified its raw material sources, due to economic misfortunes of the previous decade, and shifted its production’s emphasis towards telecommunication and computer technologies. Even though Japanese economic expansion ended in early 1990s, Japan is still the leader in highly sophisticated technology along with its traditional heavy industry products.

Facing severe unemployment and a housing crisis after the end of World War II, Singapore embarked on a modernisation programme beginning in the late 1960s through the 1970s that focused on establishing a manufacturing industry, developing large public housing estates, and investing heavily in public education and infrastructure under the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew.

Lee's programs in Singapore had a profound effect on the leadership in China, who made a major effort, especially under Deng Xiaoping, to emulate his policies of economic growth and entrepreneurship. Over 22,000 Chinese officials were sent to Singapore to study its methods.[8]

By the 1990s, the country had become one of the world's most prosperous nations, with a highly developed free market economy and strong international trading links. It now has the highest per capita gross domestic product in Asia and is 7th in the world, and it is ranked 9th on the UN Human Development Index, the highest for a sovereign country in Asia.[9][10][11]

Despite its backward industrial development for nearly 40 years due to World War II and the Korean War, the country was able to compete in chip technology. In the 1950s, South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world, heavily depended on foreign help provided mostly by the United States. Beginning in the early 1960s, the country’s autocratic leadership initiated economic development reforms that paved the way for rapid economic expansion. Heavy protectionist policies only allowed imports of raw materials, which initiated domestic production of consumer goods.

By 1990, average annual growth was around 9%. Family businesses that turned into big conglomerates such as Hyundai and Samsung had government financial help, for instance in a form of tax breaks, thus spearheading economic growth. South Korea became a highly industrialised country with a skilled workforce and along with Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan ended up being one of the Four Asian Tigers. However, in 1990s economic growth also significantly slowed especially during the financial crisis of 1997, which resulted in huge financial aid from the International Monetary Fund of US$57 billion. In the early 21st century however, South Korea has recovered and enjoyed a stable developed economy.[6]