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Four Asian Tigers

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The Four Asian Tigers (also known as the Four Asian Dragons or Four Little Dragons in Chinese and Korean ) are the developed Asian economies of Hong Kong , Singapore , South Korea , and Taiwan . Between the early 1950s and 1990s, they underwent rapid industrialization and maintained exceptionally high growth rates of more than 7 percent a year.

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48-419: By the early 21st century, these economies had developed into high-income economies , specializing in areas of competitive advantage. Hong Kong and Singapore have become leading international financial centres , whereas South Korea and Taiwan are leaders in manufacturing electronic components and devices. Large institutions have pushed to have them serve as role models for many developing countries , especially

96-669: A country. This situation tends to lower the ranking of some of the most advanced countries, such as the G7 members and others. According to the United Nations Statistics Division : There is no established convention for the designation of "developed" and "developing" countries or areas in the United Nations system. And it notes that: The designations "developed" and "developing" are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express

144-662: A group of officials from major creditor countries whose role is to find coordinated and sustainable solutions to the payment difficulties experienced by debtor countries. 15 countries in Europe: three countries in the Americas: three countries in Asia: one country in Oceania: Comparative table of countries with a "very high" human development (0.800 or higher), according to UNDP ; "advanced" economies, according to

192-476: A high-income country may be classified as either developed or developing . Although Vatican City is a sovereign state , it is not classified by the World Bank under this definition. According to the World Bank the following 86 countries (including territories) are classified as "high-income economies." In brackets are the year(s) during which they held such classification; classifying began in 1987. As of

240-799: A judgement about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process. Nevertheless, the UN Trade and Development considers that this categorization can continue to be applied: The developed economies broadly comprise Northern America and Europe, Israel, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. Terms linked to the concept developed country include "advanced country", "industrialized country", "more developed country" (MDC), "more economically developed country" (MEDC), " Global North country", " first world country", and "post-industrial country". The term industrialized country may be somewhat ambiguous, as industrialisation

288-596: A much greater influence than the World Bank report suggested. Prior to the 1997 Asian financial crisis , the growth of the Four Asian Tiger economies (commonly referred to as "the Asian Miracle") has been attributed to export oriented policies and strong development policies. Unique to these economies were the sustained rapid growth and high levels of equal income distribution. A World Bank report suggests two development policies among others as sources for

336-560: A number of studies argued that state intervention was important in the East Asian growth miracle. He has argued "it is impossible to understand the East Asian growth miracle without appreciating the important role that government policy played in stimulating private investment". The Tiger economies experienced a setback in the 1997 Asian financial crisis . Hong Kong came under intense speculative attacks against its stock market and currency necessitating unprecedented market interventions by

384-625: A secondary education enrollment rate of 88% by 1987. There was also a notable decrease in the gap between male and female enrollments during the Asian miracle. Overall these advances in education allowed for high levels of literacy and cognitive skills. The creation of stable macroeconomic environments was the foundation upon which the Asian miracle was built. Each of the Four Asian Tiger states managed, to various degrees of success, three variables in: budget deficits , external debt and exchange rates . Each Tiger nation's budget deficits were kept within

432-609: Is a significant influence of Confucianism on the corporate and political institutions of the Asian Tigers. Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew advocated Asian values as an alternative to the influence of Western culture in Asia. This theory was not without its critics. There was a lack of mainland Chinese economic success during the same time frame as the Four Tigers, and yet China was the birthplace of Confucianism. During

480-498: Is an ongoing process that is hard to define. The first industrialized country was the United Kingdom , followed by Belgium . Later it spread further to Germany , United States , France and other Western European countries. According to some economists such as Jeffrey Sachs , however, the current divide between the developed and developing world is largely a phenomenon of the 20th century. Mathis Wackernagel calls

528-528: Is defined by the World Bank as a country with a gross national income per capita of US$ 14,005 or more in 2023, calculated using the Atlas method . While the term "high-income" is often used interchangeably with " First World " and " developed country ," the technical definitions of these terms differ. The term "first world" commonly refers to countries that aligned themselves with the U.S. and NATO during

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576-527: Is due in no small part to each country's government fiscal stimulus measures. These fiscal packages accounted for more than 4% of each country's GDP in 2009. Another reason for the strong bounce back is the modest corporate and household debt in these four nations. A 2011 article published in Applied Economics Letters by financial economist Mete Feridun of University of Greenwich Business School and his international colleagues investigates

624-590: The Cold War . Several institutions, such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or International Monetary Fund (IMF), take factors other than high per capita income into account when classifying countries as "developed" or "advanced economies." According to the United Nations , for example, some high-income countries may also be developing countries. The GCC countries, for example, are classified as developing high-income countries. Thus,

672-700: The Economic Development Board formulated and implemented national economic strategies to promote the country's manufacturing sector. Industrial estates were set up and foreign investment was attracted to the country with tax incentives. Meanwhile, Taiwan and South Korea began to industrialize in the mid-1960s with heavy government involvement including initiatives and policies. Both countries pursued export-oriented industrialization as in Hong Kong and Singapore. The four countries were inspired by Japan's evident success, and they collectively pursued

720-475: The Human Development Index (HDI), which combines an economic measure, national income, with other measures, indices for life expectancy and education has become prominent. This criterion would define developed countries as those with a very high (HDI) rating. The index, however, does not take into account several factors, such as the net wealth per capita or the relative quality of goods in

768-476: The IMF . Economic criteria have tended to dominate discussions. One such criterion is the income per capita; countries with the high gross domestic product (GDP) per capita would thus be described as developed countries. Another economic criterion is industrialisation ; countries in which the tertiary and quaternary sectors of industry dominate would thus be described as developed. More recently, another measure,

816-490: The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank ; moreover, HDI ranking is used to reflect the composite index of life expectancy, education, and income per capita. In 2023 , 40 countries fit all four criteria, while an additional 19 countries fit three out of four. Developed countries have generally more advanced post-industrial economies, meaning the service sector provides more wealth than

864-533: The May Fourth Movement of 1919, Confucianism was blamed for China's inability to compete with Western powers. In 1996, the economist Joseph Stiglitz pointed out that, ironically, "not that long ago, the Confucian heritage, with its emphasis on traditional values, was cited as an explanation for why these countries had not grown." World Bank high-income economy A high-income economy

912-486: The National Taiwan University , Chinese University of Hong Kong , The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology , Seoul National University , National University of Singapore , Nanyang Technological University and University of Hong Kong . The cities of Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul are prominent hubs in higher education. The role of Confucianism has been used to explain the success of

960-478: The Tiger Cub Economies of Southeast Asia. In 1993, a World Bank report The East Asian Miracle credited neoliberal policies with the economic boom, including the maintenance of export-oriented policies , low taxes and minimal welfare states . Institutional analyses found that some level of state intervention was involved. Some analysts argued that industrial policy and state intervention had

1008-611: The financial crisis of 2007–08 . By the fourth quarter of 2008, the GDP of all four nations fell by an average annualized rate of around 15%. Exports also fell by a 50% annualized rate. Weak domestic demand also affected the recovery of these economies. In 2008, retail sales fell 3% in Hong Kong, 6% in Singapore and 11% in Taiwan. As the world recovered from the financial crisis, the Four Asian Tiger economies have also rebounded strongly. This

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1056-415: The industrial sector . They are contrasted with developing countries , which are in the process of industrialisation or are pre-industrial and almost entirely agrarian , some of which might fall into the category of Least Developed Countries . As of 2023 , advanced economies comprise 57.3% of global GDP based on nominal values and 41.1% of global GDP based on purchasing-power parity (PPP) according to

1104-496: The 2023 QS University Rankings , the top 100 universities in the world include 5 universities from Hong Kong, 6 universities from South Korea, 2 from Singapore and 1 from Taiwan. Despite the small populations and the relatively short history of universities in the four countries, they together account for a quarter of the top 100 universities located outside of the United States or the United Kingdom . Notable schools include

1152-519: The 2024 fiscal year, high-income economies are those that had a GNI per capita of $ 14,005 or more in 2023. The year(s) during which they held such classification is/are shown in parentheses. Between 1994 and 2009, as a part of the [REDACTED]   Netherlands Antilles . Dissolved on 10 October 2010. Succeeded by Curaçao and Sint Maarten . The high-income threshold was originally set in 1989 at US$ 6,000 in 1987 prices. Thresholds for subsequent years were adjusted taking into account

1200-467: The Asian miracle: factor accumulation and macroeconomic management. The Hong Kong economy was the first out of the four to undergo industrialization with the development of a textile industry in the 1950s. By the 1960s, manufacturing in the British colony had expanded and diversified to include clothing, electronics, and plastics for export orientation . Following Singapore's independence from Malaysia ,

1248-633: The Four Asian Tigers. This conclusion is similar to the Protestant work ethic theory in the West promoted by German sociologist Max Weber in his book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism . The culture of Confucianism is said to have been compatible with industrialization because it valued stability, hard work, discipline, and loyalty and respect towards authority figures. There

1296-486: The HDI accounts for more than income or productivity. Unlike GDP per capita or per capita income, the HDI takes into account how income is turned "into education and health opportunities and therefore into higher levels of human development." Since 1990, Norway (2001–2006, 2009–2019), Japan (1990–1991 and 1993), Canada (1992 and 1994–2000) and Iceland (2007–2008) have had the highest HDI score. The following countries in

1344-529: The IMF's list of 38 Advanced Economies, noting that the IMF's Advanced Economies list "would presumably also cover the following nine smaller countries of Andorra, Bermuda, Faroe Islands, Guernsey, Holy See, Jersey, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and San Marino[...]". San Marino (2012) and Andorra (2021) were later included in the IMF's list. There are 22 permanent members in the Paris Club ( French : Club de Paris ),

1392-619: The Pacific: According to the World Bank , the following 85 sovereign states and territories across are classified as "high income" economies , having a nominal GDP per capita in excess of $ 14,005 as of 2024: Unsovereign Territories are denoted with an asterisk (*) . There are 29 OECD member countries and the European Union —in the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), a group of

1440-819: The addition of 7 microstates and dependencies modified by the CIA which were omitted from the IMF version: 29 countries and dependencies in Europe classified by the IMF, 6 others given by the CIA: Plus seven countries and territories in Asia : three countries and territories in the Americas classified by the IMF, one territory given by the CIA ;: two countries in Oceania : The CIA has modified an older version of

1488-590: The average inflation in the G-5 countries ( the United States , the United Kingdom , Japan , Germany , and France ), and from 2001, that of Japan , the United Kingdom , the United States , and the eurozone . Thus, the thresholds remain constant in real terms over time. To ensure no country falls right on the threshold, country data are rounded to the nearest 10 and income thresholds are rounded to

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1536-457: The binary labeling of countries as "neither descriptive nor explanatory. It is merely a thoughtless and destructive endorsement of GDP fetish. In reality, there are not two types of countries, but over 200 countries, all faced with the same laws of nature, yet each with unique features." A 2021 analysis proposes the term emerged to describe markets, economies, or countries that have graduated from emerging market status, but have not yet reached

1584-434: The case of Thailand there exists a bidirectional causality between these variables. The results further suggest that in the case of Malaysia, financial development does not seem to cause economic growth. In 2018, the combined economy of the Four Asian Tigers constituted 3.46% of the world's economy with a total Gross domestic product (GDP) of 2,932 billion US dollars. The GDP in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan

1632-548: The causal relationship between financial development and economic growth for Thailand , Indonesia , Malaysia , the Philippines , China, India and Singapore for the period between 1979 and 2009, using Johansen cointegration tests and vector error correction models . The results suggest that in the case of Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, China and India financial development leads to economic growth, whereas in

1680-478: The country's high level of exports. Exchange rates in the Four Asian Tiger nations had been changed from long-term fixed rate regimes to fixed-but-adjustable rate regimes with the occasional steep devaluation of managed floating rate regimes. This active exchange rate management allowed the Four Tiger economies to avoid exchange rate appreciation and maintain a stable real exchange rate. Export policies have been

1728-428: The criteria for evaluating the degree of economic development are the gross domestic product (GDP), gross national product (GNP), the per capita income , level of industrialization, amount of widespread infrastructure and general standard of living. Which criteria are to be used and which countries can be classified as being developed are subjects of debate. Different definitions of developed countries are provided by

1776-505: The de facto reason for the rise of these Four Asian Tiger economies. The approach taken has been different among the four nations. Hong Kong, and Singapore introduced trade regimes that were neoliberal in nature and encouraged free trade, while South Korea and Taiwan adopted mixed regimes that accommodated their own export industries. In Hong Kong and Singapore, due to small domestic markets, domestic prices were linked to international prices. South Korea and Taiwan introduced export incentives for

1824-571: The four economies far exceeded other countries at similar levels of development. This subsequently led to a rapid growth in per capita income levels. While high investments were essential to their economic growth, the role of human capital was also important. Education in particular is cited as playing a major role in the Asian economic miracle. The levels of education enrollment in the Four Asian Tigers were higher than predicted given their level of income. By 1965, all four nations had achieved universal primary education. South Korea in particular had achieved

1872-458: The level equivalent to developed countries. Multinational corporations from these emerging markets present unique patterns of overseas expansion and knowledge acquisition from foreign countries. The UN HDI is a statistical measure that gauges an economy's level of human development. While there is a strong correlation between having a high HDI score and being a prosperous economy, the UN points out that

1920-450: The limits of their financial limits, as to not destabilize the macro-economy. South Korea in particular had deficits lower than the OECD average in the 1980s. External debt was non-existent for Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, as they did not borrow from abroad. Although South Korea was the exception to this – its debt to GNP ratio was quite high during the period 1980–1985, it was sustained by

1968-600: The nearest 5. The following table shows the high-income threshold from 1987 onwards. Countries with a GNI per capita (calculated using the Atlas method) above this threshold are classified by the World Bank as "high-income economies." Developed country This is an accepted version of this page A developed country , or advanced country , is a sovereign state that has a high quality of life , developed economy , and advanced technological infrastructure relative to other less industrialized nations. Most commonly,

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2016-422: The same goal by investing in the same categories: infrastructure and education. They also benefited from foreign trade advantages that set them apart from other countries, most significantly economic support from the United States; part of this is manifested in the proliferation of American electronic products in common households of the Four Tigers. By the end of the 1960s, levels in physical and human capital in

2064-643: The state Hong Kong Monetary Authority . South Korea was hit the hardest as its foreign debt burdens swelled resulting in its currency falling between 35 and 50%. By the beginning of 1997, the stock market in Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea also saw losses of at least 60% in dollar terms. Singapore and Taiwan were relatively unscathed. The Four Asian Tigers recovered from the 1997 crisis faster than other countries due to various economic advantages including their high savings rate (except South Korea) and their openness to trade. The export-oriented tiger economies, which benefited from American consumption, were hit hard by

2112-489: The traded-goods sector. The governments of Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan also worked to promote specific exporting industries, which were termed as an export push strategy. All these policies helped these four nations to achieve a growth averaging 7.5% each year for three decades and as such they achieved developed country status. Dani Rodrik, economist at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, has in

2160-504: The world's major donor countries that discusses issues surrounding development aid and poverty reduction in developing countries . The following OECD member countries are DAC members: 25 countries in Europe: two countries in the Americas: two countries in Asia: two countries in Oceania: According to the International Monetary Fund , 41 countries and territories are officially listed as "advanced economies", with

2208-552: The year 2022 are considered to be of "very high human development": annual growth (2010-2022) According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs ' World Economic Situation and Prospects report, the following 37 countries are classified as "developed economies" as of January 2024: 31 countries in Europe: two countries in Northern America: four countries in Asia and

2256-654: Was generally successful and helped develop the countries into more advanced and high-income industrialized developed countries . For example, all four countries have become global education centers with Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong high school students scoring well on math and science exams such as the PISA exam and with Taiwanese students winning several medals in International Olympiads. In relation to higher-level education, there are many prestigious colleges as in most developed countries. In

2304-653: Was worth 363.03 billion, 361.1 billion, 1,619.42 billion and 589.39 billion US dollars respectively in 2018, which represented 0.428%, 0.426%, 1.911% and 0.696% of the world economy. Together, their combined economy surpassed the United Kingdom's GDP of 3.34% of the world's economy some time in the mid-2010s. In 2021, each of the Four Asian Tigers' GDP Per capita (nominal) exceeds $ 30,000 according to IMF 's estimate. The four governments focused on investing heavily in their infrastructure as well as education to benefit their country through skilled workers and higher level jobs such as engineers and doctors. The policy

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