ABSTRACT
When Ferdinand Marcos became president of the Philippines in 1965, he took over a state which had higher living standards than most Asian countries (George 1992:89). It seemed to be more likely to achieve lasting economic success than, for example, Korea, which had been damaged severely by the war of 1950-3 and its northern half had fallen under communist rule. Asian manufacturing produced cheap, inferior copies of Western goods; a label indicative of Asian origin was taken to suggest shoddiness. Some writers still doubted whether even Japan would be able to sustain its post-Second World War recovery and achieve continuing economic growth.
