Taiwan Economic Miracle
Taiwanese economic growth in the past forty years has been phenomenal. In 1962 Taiwan had a per capita gross national product (GNP) of $170, placing the island's economy squarely between Zaire and Congo. By 1997 Taiwan's per capita GNP, adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP), had soared to $19,197, contributing to a Human Development Index similar to that of European countries such as Spain, Portugal, and Greece. This economic feat has been well recognized in business and scholarly communities, with Taiwan often touted as the prime example of growth with equity. In popular discourse in both Taiwan and abroad, this rapid economic growth has been called the "Taiwan economic miracle." In Taiwan this ideology is usually associated with the ruling Guomindang (Kuomintang, GMD) party and its adherents.
Most economic scholars have attributed Taiwan's economic growth to the successful implementation of neoliberal free market economic principles. Others have emphasized the role of GMD policy as leading to a developmentalist state. Some scholars have claimed that Taiwan's economic miracle is the result of a Chinese Confucian culture that emphasizes education, family values, and an industrious work ethic. In all of its variations, the ideology of the Taiwan economic miracle has justified GMD rule of Taiwan through depiction of the island as the embodiment of capitalist productivity, bureaucratic efficiency, and Chinese tradition. This ideology links capitalistic development to nationalist sentiment, making opposition to capitalism seem non-Chinese and unpatriotic.
Ever since martial law was lifted in 1987, the ideology of the Taiwan economic miracle has come under question by both Taiwanese and Western scholars. Some scholars note that Taiwan's phenomenal economic growth actually began under Japanese occupation of the island. Some point out the influence of U.S. aid on the island, which contributed greatly to Taiwan's gross domestic product during the Cold War decades of the 1950s and 1960s and also opened up the U.S. market to Taiwanese products. These historical arguments are usually identified in Taiwan with the DPP (Democratic Progressive Party).
Some scholars look beyond the "miracle" at problems such as ethnic divisions in Taiwanese society, the evolution of economic classes, and the environmental destruction wrought by rapid industrialization. Within Taiwan, the nationalist implications of the ideology have been criticized most vocally by the labor and feminist movements. If many people believe that hard work is a Taiwanese national characteristic and a reason for the economic miracle, for example, it is difficult for unions to advocate a forty-hour workweek. The ideology, therefore, has had largely a conservative influence on society, creating greater adherence to the GMD and restraining the growth of progressive political movements on the island.
Scott Simon
Further Reading
Fei, John C. H., Gustav Ranis, and Shirley W. Y. Kuo. (1979) Growth with Equity: The Taiwan Case. New York: Oxford University Press.
Galenson, Walter. (1979) Economic Growth and Structural Change in Taiwan : The Postwar Experience of the Republic of China. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Gold, Thomas. (1986) State and Society in the Taiwan Miracle. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.
Simon, Denis Fred, and Michael Y. M. Kau. (1992) Taiwan: Beyond the Economic Miracle. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.
Wade, Robert. (1990) Governing the Market: Economic Theory and the Role of Government in East Asian Industrialization. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
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