This book was conceived in response to widespread interest in the economic success of the East Asian market-oriented economies. Whether growth and development are judged in purely economic terms or by a combination of economic and welfare criteria, this group of East Asian countries has established a clear lead over other developing countries. Despite the world-wide recession of the early 1980s, two East Asian economies – Hong Kong and Singapore – are catching up with the high income industrial countries and several other East Asian market economies are poised to do so. The economic performance of the Republic of Korea and Thailand has been particularly striking for they were both among the very low income countries of the world in the 1950s. Even the Philippines, a poor performer among this group of countries, has a better than average record among developing countries.

The East Asian countries range in population size from city states to middle-sized countries and have widely divergent resource endowments and economic histories, but they have faced the same international environment as other countries. Why is their economic performance so successful?