East Asian economic adjustments and the Malaysian long-term outlook: what can Malaysia learn from the Asian NICS?

Abstract

The Asia/Pacific region is well-known as the breeding ground for Newly Industrialised Countries (or NICs). In the post-war period, regional economic development was unparalleled, as history offers no precedent to the Asia experience. Japan led the way, rebuilding a war-torn economy by successfully leveraging an aggressive, export-oriented strategy to spur economic development. Japan's characterised not only by rapid advances in productivity, economic output and social welfare, but also by prodigious gains made in the quality of manufactures produced. Without any doubt the "Made in Japan" label has a much different meaning today than it did just a few short decades ago. Other nations in the Orient successfully mimicked Japan's export-led drive beginning in the 1960s. These nations --the so called "little tigers" -- joined Japan fomenting the Pacific's "miracle growth" years of the 1960s and 1970s. Today, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong, having already joined the ranks of NICS, are still enjoying their own economic miracle: registering solid export penetration, strong economic growth, strengthening balance of payments positions, and low inflation.