foundations of comparative politics! professor timothy lim! california state university, los angeles! tclim@calstatela.edu why is east asia rich?! part 1, introduction
introduction geographic bearings east asia is an ambiguous terms, but it typically includes Japan, China, North and South Korea, and Taiwan the focus of our attention is the three economies and societies of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan (time permitting, we will also examine China) 2
economic growth compared to other regions, the high performing east asian! economies (HPAEs) have grown at a remarkable pace, especially! between 1965 and 1990 gdp growth per capita! (% per year, 1965-1990) The next slide shows the same data, updated to 1996 Middle East Latin America South Asia High Income East Asia Sub-Saharan Africa 3
on top of the world! the growth of East Asia is all the more impressive, when the first half of the 1990s is taken into account! NOTE: this graph (and the preceding one) includes other East Asian! countries, but gives a good general indication of how fast Japan, S. Korea and Taiwan have grown compared to! the rest of the world 4
GDP per capita (PPP)! international ranking (selected countries), 2010 on a per capita basis, Taiwan is the 20 th wealthiest country in the world, while Japan and South Korea are the 24 th and 25 th wealthiest countries in the world respectively Sources: IMF Country Taiwan Japan South Korea Other countries (selected) United States Germany Italy Saudi Arabia Brazil Philippines GDP per capita $35,277 $33,805 $29,836 $47,284 $36,033 $29,392 $23,826 $11,239 $3,737
GDP (PPP): international comparison, selected countries, 2010! in 2010, Japan had the 3 rd largest economy in the world with a GDP of $4.3 trillion* South Korea was the 12 th richest country in the world, while Taiwan* was 19 th Source: IMF and CIA World Factbook *Taiwan is not included in IMF figures! Country GDP (PPP), in billion $ Japan $4,308 South Korea $1,459 Taiwan* $810 Other countries United States $14,624 Germany $2,932 Saudi Arabia $619 Philippines $350 Ghana $36 Haiti $11
relative economic performance east asia s economic performance is all the more amazing! when you consider the relative starting points of the! three countries in the early postwar period! In 1950, South Korea and Taiwan were poorer than Kenya, Romania, Ghana, Turkey, Morocco, and the Philippines In 1950, Japan was poorer than Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Poland, Hungary, and South Africa 7
key point Japan, South Korea and Taiwan utterly transformed! their economies and societies in less than! two generations seoul 2005 seoul 1950 8
economic growth tells only part of the story Japan is a world-leader in range of industries and in technological development even more impressive, perhaps, Taiwan and South Korea have also achieved remarkable success in catching up with (and even surpassing, in some cases) more developed countries with regard to industrial, technological, managerial and marketing capacity and innovation according to the World Economic Forum, Taiwan and South Korea are in the Top Ten of the world s most technologically advanced countries (for 2010-2011) 9
catching up Japan s economic and technological preeminence is " largely taken for granted today, but remember made in japan once meant cheap, shoddy, and low-tech, but that image is now almost completely reversed the image of Japanese products, it is worth noting, was once very similar to the view of made in china products today (something to keep in mind)
examples. Japanese companies are market! leaders in a range of industrial and high technology! sectors Japan s economy, while not the! economic monster it was once considered, remains! the home of many of the world s strongest,! most innovative and dynamic! companies 11
Japan s technological success, however, is not! completely surprising given the country s relatively early! start as an industrial economy more surprising is the success of South Korea and! Taiwan--two countries that only started their! industrial rise after 1950 (1960 in the case! of Korea) 12
why is east asia rich?! korean companies are globally competitive in many important fields, including! HDTVs (LG and Samsung)! semiconductors (Samsung)! cell phones (Samsung and LG)! HD DVD (Samsung and LG)! bioengineering (Sewon)! shipbuilding (Hyundai) high-tech applicances (LG, Samsung) steel (POSCO) 13
catching up perhaps south korea s most impressive (albeit still! developing) success, however, is in! automobile production 14
catching up! South Korea is the only developing country to ever successfully break into the major western automobile markets in 1999, South Korean companies (led by Hyundai Motors), sold 329,00 cars in the U.S. market; by 2003, that figured had almost doubled to 637,700 (3.8% market share, up! from 2.0% in 1999); in 2010,! Korean companies had increased! their market share to 7.2%, just! behind Honda but ahead of! Nissan 15
catching up in 2009, south korea was the world s fifth-biggest producer of automobiles, behind only Japan, China, the US, and Germany global sales in 2009 topped 3.5 million units (see! chart on next slide) Hyundai s manufacturing plant in Huntsville, Alabama a $1.4 billion factory with 2,700 employees 16
Motor Vehicle Production, Top 5 Producers (units) South Korea 3,806,682 Germany 6,040,582 United States 8,705,239 China 9,345,101 Japan 11,563,629 0 2,000,000 4,000,000 6,000,000 8,000,000 10,000,000 12,000,000
catching up! in Taiwan, high-tech products account for 70% of exports, and the country is the world s largest supplier of notebook PCs, motherboards, and liquid crystal display panels two of the world s biggest contract microchip makers are based in Taiwan: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and United Microelectronics Corp.: in general, Taiwan has become technology leader in Asia and the rest of the world example. Taiwan has 36 companies on the BusinessWeek IT 100 list-- only one behind the leader, the United States with 37 picture: peter chou, Taiwan s steve jobs and CEO of! High Tech Computer, the world s top producer of smartphones 18