Description
Book SynopsisAfter World War II a select number of countries outside Japan and the West--those that Alice Amsden calls the rest--gained market share in modern industries and altered global competition. By 2000, a great divide had developed within the rest, the lines drawn according to prewar manufacturing experience and equality in income distribution. China, India, Korea and Taiwan had built their own national manufacturing enterprises that were investing heavily in R&D. Their developmental states had transformed themselves into champions of science and technology. By contrast, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico had experienced a wave of acquisitions and mergers that left even more of their leading enterprises controlled by multinational firms. The developmental states of Mexico and Turkey had become hand-tied by membership in NAFTA and the European Union. Which model of late industrialization will prevail, the independent or the integrationist, is a question that challenges the twenty-first century.
Trade ReviewAmsden's arguments in support of govenrment intervention in nurturing manufacturing industry, both in Asia and Latin America , are succint and convincing. Advocates of the free market may disagree but they would be hard pressed to counter the mounting evidence and compelling arguments that Amsden has presented. At the very least, Amsden has shown that government intervention and the free market can co-exist as long as intervention is within the limits of free market economy. * Asian Journal of Social Sciences *
