ABSTRACT
The striving for sustained international competitiveness requires the support of institutional arrangements possessing certain qualities. However, institutions must develop and function within a given social and cultural setting. Contrary to certain popular views as discussed earlier, which suggest that the culture and societies of the EACs are either perfectly supportive of East Asian Growth or are in the main a hindrance to the development of a modern capitalist economy (of which East Asian Growth is arguably an instance), there are certain elements present within the social and cultural settings of the EACs that became the foundations for new growthpromoting institutions, and there are others that had to be overcome if these new institutional arrangements were to be effective. The precise nature of the impact of the cultural and social conditions on East Asian Growth, therefore, has to do with the specifics of the new growth-promoting arrangements, and the methods that the growth imperatives demanded.
