ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to find similarities and differences in economic performance, government expenditure patterns, the role of private firms, targets of economic reforms to overcome the crisis and institution building efforts in East Asia and Latin America. It pays special attention to the questions of who has contributed as an agent to national economic development, what were the major causes for economic crisis and which fields became targets for reforms in the two regions during the 1980s and the 1990s. East Asian companies began to export their manufactured goods to the United States and imported necessary intermediate and capital goods from Japan. Traditional custom and practices have also played an important role in supplementing the limited social security system in East Asian countries. Since the end of the 1980s, most East Asian countries have embraced liberalization in the financial sector, international capital trade, foreign currency trade and industrial investment including foreign direct investment.
