General Socio-Political Factors and Development, the Cultural Base in East Asia: Instead of a Theory That Is Not

In 1969 a team of international experts, headed by Lester B. Pearson, prepared a much-discussed World Bank study called Partners in Development, later usually referred to as the Pearson report. The opening sentence of the Pearson report conveyed the deplorable message of the then reality of a divided economic world: "The widening gap between the developed and the developing countries has become a central issue of our time."