ABSTRACT
In the 1980s and first half of the 1990s, the determinants of the East Asian miracle were a matter of active debate as academics and policy analysts tried to understand the phenomenon and determine its sustainability and replicability. Neoclassical development economists interpreted the region’s success in terms of the efficiency of the market mechanism and economic policies emphasising openness and private enterprise. The World Bank’s 1993 study highlighted the importance of ‘getting policies right’. Statists drew a different conclusion, explaining the East Asian success in terms of effective state intervention and ‘good governance’.
