ABSTRACT
The phenomenal economic growth of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and Taiwan has been amply documented. Perceptive interpretive essays on the causes of their success, which range from a common cultural background to export-led development strategies, are also available (for example, Galenson 1979; Krueger 1979). This paper takes a narrower focus and compares the “accounting” sources of growth in the two countries. From the supply side, the sources of growth are measured by the accumulation of both physical and human capital, along with technological progress; from the demand side, changes in the structure of production are decomposed into changes in intermediate and final demand, with changes in final demand further broken down into changes in domestic demand and trade.
