ABSTRACT
The economies of Pacific Basin developing countries have changed significantly since the end of World War II. Following World War II and a destructive civil war, China entered a socialist era under the Communist Party. By the end of World War II, Pacific Asian economies were among the poorest in the world while most Latin American countries had achieved a degree of economic development and middle-income status. After almost a half century, the development experiences of the two groups are quite different: parts of Asia were lauded as an "East Asian Miracle" by the 1980s, while Latin America was described as "poor people inhabiting rich land", suffering a series of debt crises during the same time period. Japan's recession was also one of the causes of the 1997financial crisis Pacific Asian economies experienced. The recession in Japan and the rising Chinese economy, together with severe domestic corruption, created enormous problems for the Asian Tiger and Tiger Cub economies.
