ABSTRACT
East Asia has achieved one of the most profound economic transformations in recorded history. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was a relatively poor developing part of the world, with countries such as Korea having comparable income per capita and development levels on par with many sub-Saharan African states. The region accounted for only 4 per cent of world gross domestic product (GDP) in 1960. By the 1990s, East Asia had become one of three core economic regions (along with Europe and North America) that together dominated the world economy, accounting for 25 per cent of world GDP by 1995. East Asia had become the new workshop of the world, the location of fast emerging markets, and a new financial power in the making. Japan had first spearheaded East Asia’s economic rise up to the 1990s, and now China has become a major force behind the region’s economic momentum. These two countries are amongst the world’s four largest national economies, but East Asia is also host to the highest concentration of newly industrialised economies (e.g. South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia) found anywhere in the world. The trade and financial surpluses generated by East Asian countries are second to none. The region accounts for just over a quarter of world trade, production, new technology patents and gross domestic product. It is also the home of some of the world’s largest banks and multinational enterprises.
