Four Asian Tigers

Four Asian Tigers
A map showing the Four Asian Tigers Hong Kong Singapore South Korea Taiwan
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	亞洲四小龍
Simplified Chinese	亚洲四小龙
Literal meaning	Asia's Four Little Dragons
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Yǎzhōu sì xiǎo lóng - Tongyong Pinyin Yǎjhōu sìh siǎo lóng - Wade–Giles Yachou szu hsiao lung - Yale Romanization Yǎjōu sz̀ syǎu lúng Min - Hokkien POJ A-chiu Sì-sió-lêng Cantonese (Yue) - Jyutping aa3 zau1 sei3 siu2 lung4 - Yale Romanization aa jāu sei síu lòhng
Korean name
Hangul	아시아의 네 마리 용
Literal meaning	Asia's four dragons
Transcriptions - Revised Romanization asia ui ne mari yong - McCune- Reischauer asia ŭi ne mari yŏng

The Asian Tigers or Asian Dragons is a term used in reference to the highly developed economies of Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong. These nations and areas were notable for maintaining exceptionally high growth rates (in excess of 7 percent a year) and rapid industrialization between the early 1960s and 1990s. By the 21st century, all four have developed into advanced and high-income economies, specializing in areas of competitive advantage. For example, Hong Kong and Singapore have become world-leading international financial centers, whereas Taiwan and South Korea are world leaders in manufacturing information technology. Their economic success stories have served as role models for many developing countries, especially the Tiger Cub Economies.

Despite a World Bank report crediting neoliberal policies with the responsibility of the boom, including maintenance of export-led trade regimes, various institutionalist analysts criticized the institution for overlooking a range of other state supported policies that facilitated growth, which reject the tenets of neoliberalism. The tigers experienced decades of supercharged growth based largely on state industrial policies supporting exports to rich, industrialized nations.^{[citation needed]} Even the World Bank report acknowledged benefits from policies of the repression of the financial sector, such as state-imposed below-market interest rates for loans to specific exporting industries. As a result these economies enjoyed extremely high growth rates sustained over decades. Other important aspects include major government investments in education, non-democratic and relatively authoritarian political systems during the early years of development, high levels of U.S. bond holdings, and high public and private savings rates.

A period of liberalization did occur and the first major setback experienced by the tiger economies was the 1997 Asian financial crisis. While Singapore and Taiwan were relatively unscathed, South Korea underwent a major stock market crash brought on by high levels of non-performing corporate loans, while Hong Kong came under intense speculative attacks against its stock market and currency necessitating unprecedented market interventions by the state Hong Kong Monetary Authority. As a result and in the years after the crisis, all four economies rebounded strongly. South Korea, the worst-hit of the tigers, has managed to triple its per capita GDP in dollar terms since 1997.

Overview

Prior to the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the growth of these four Asian tiger economies (commonly referred to as, ‘The Asian Miracle’) has been attributed to export oriented policies and strong development policies. Unique to these economies were the sustained rapid growth and high levels of equal income distribution. A World Bank report suggests two development policies among others as sources for the Asian miracle: factor accumulation and macroeconomic management.

By the 1960s, investment levels in physical and human capital amongst the four countries far exceeded other countries at similar levels of development. This subsequently led to a rapid growth in per capita income levels. While high investments were essential to the economic growth of these countries, the role of human capital was also important. Education in particular is cited as playing a major role in the Asian miracle. The levels of education enrollment in the four Asian tigers were higher than predicted given their level of income. By 1965, all four nations had achieved universal primary education. South Korea in particular had achieved a secondary education enrollment rate of 88% by 1987. There was also a notable decrease in the gap between male and female enrollments during the Asian miracle. Overall these progresses in education allowed for high levels of literacy and cognitive skills.

The creation of stable macroeconomic environments was the foundation upon which the Asian miracle was built. Each of the four Asian tiger states managed, to various degrees of success, three variables in: budget deficits, external debt and exchange rates. Each tiger nation’s budget deficits were kept within the limits of their financial limits, as to not destabilize the macro-economy. South Korea in particular had deficits lower than the OECD average in the 1980s. External debt was non-existent for Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, as they did not borrow from abroad. While South Korea was the exception to this as their debt levels during 1980-1985 was quite high compared to their GNP ratios, it was sustained by the country’s high levels of export. Exchange rates in the four Asian tiger nations had been changed from long-term fixed rate regimes to fixed-but-adjustable rate regimes with the occasional steep devaluation of managed floating rate regimes. This active exchange rate management allowed the 4 tiger economies to avoid exchange rate appreciation and maintain a stable real exchange rate.

Export policies have been the de facto reason for the rise of these four Asian tiger economies. The approach taken has been different among the four nations. Hong Kong, and Singapore introduced trade regimes that were neoliberal in nature and encouraged free trade, while South Korea and Taiwan adopted mixed regimes that accommodated their own export industries. In Hong Kong and Singapore, due to small domestic markets, domestic prices were linked to international prices. South Korea and Taiwan introduced export incentives for the traded-goods sector. The governments of Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan also worked to promote specific exporting industries, which were termed as an export push strategy. All these policies helped these four nations to achieve a growth averaging 7.5% each year for three decades and as such they achieved developed country status.

1997 Asian Crisis

The 1997 Asian financial crisis had an impact on all of the four Asian tiger economies. South Korea was hit the hardest as its foreign debt burdens swelled resulting in its currency falling between 35-50%. By the beginning of 1997, the stock market in Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea also saw losses of at least 60% in dollar terms. However, four Asian tiger nations recovered from the 1997 crisis faster than other countries due to various economic advantages including their high savings rate (except South Korea) and their openness to trade.

2008 financial crisis

The export oriented economies of the four Asian tiger nations which benefited from American consumption, were hit hard by the financial crisis of 2007-2008. By the fourth quarter of 2008, the GDP of all four nations fell by an average annualized rate of around 15%. Exports also fell by a 50% annualized rate. Weak domestic demand also affected the recovery of these economies. In 2008, retail sales fell 3% in Hong Kong, 6% in Singapore and 11% in Taiwan.

As the world recovers from the financial crisis, the four Asian tiger economies have also rebounded strongly. This is due in no small part to each country’s government fiscal stimulus measures. These fiscal packages accounted for more than 4% of each country's GDP in 2009. Another reason for the strong bounce back is the modest corporate and household debt in these four nations.

Territory and region data

Demographics

Country or territory	Area km²	Population	Population density per km²	Human Development Index (2012)	Capital
Hong Kong	1,104	7,108,100	6,438	0.906 (13th)	Hong Kong
Singapore	710	5,076,700	7,150	0.895 (18th)	Singapore
South Korea	100,210	50,515,000	504	0.909 (12th)	Seoul
Taiwan	36,191	23,197,947	641	0.882 (2011, 22nd)	Taipei

Economy

Country or territory	GDP nominal millions of USD (2011)	GDP PPP millions of USD (2011)	GDP nominal per capita USD (2011)	GDP PPP per capita USD (2011)	Trade millions of USD (2011)	Exports millions of USD (2011)	Imports millions of USD (2011)
Hong Kong	246,941	354,272	34,049	49,342	944,800	451,600	493,200
Singapore	266,498	314,963	49,270	59,936	818,800	432,100	386,700
South Korea	1,163,847	1,556,102	23,749	31,753	1,084,000	558,800	525,200
Taiwan	504,612	886,489	21,591	37,931	623,700	325,100	298,600

Politics

Country or territory	Democracy Index (2011)	Property rights index (2012)	Press Freedom Index (2013)	Corruption Perceptions Index (2012)	Current Political Status
Hong Kong	5.92	7.8	26.16	77	Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China
Singapore	5.89	8.3	43.43	87	Parliamentary Republic
South Korea	8.06	6.2	24.48	56	Presidential Republic
Taiwan	7.46	7.2	23.82	61	Semi-Presidential Republic

Organizations and groups

Country or territory	UN	WTO	OECD	DAC	APEC	ADB	SEACEN	G20	EAS	ASEAN
Hong Kong	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y	N	N	N	N
Singapore	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y
South Korea	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y (APT)
Taiwan	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N

Skyline

• 

  Hong Kong
  Skyline of Central in Hong Kong

• 

  Singapore
  Skyline of Central in Singapore.

• 

  South Korea
  Skyline of Gangnam in Seoul.

• 

  Taiwan
  Skyline of Xinyi in Taipei.

See also

• Developed country
• Economic miracle (full list of miracles and "tigers")
• Tiger Cub Economies
• Asian Century
• Celtic Tiger
• Baltic Tiger
• BRICs
• MIKT
• G-20 major economies
• Newly industrialized country
• 1997 Asian financial crisis
• Gulf Tiger

References

John Page, "The East Asian Miracle: Four Lessons for Development Policy". The World Bank. National Bureau of Economic Research. Vol. 9. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1994).

"Troubled Tigers; Asian Economies". The Economist. Vol.390. Issue 8616. (London, US:The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2009)

Further reading

• Ezra F. Vogel, The Four Little Dragons: The Spread of Industrialization in East Asia (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991).

External links

• BBC report on the Asian Tigers in the aftermath of the 1997 Financial Crisis (includes map of the Asian Tigers)
• ASEAN tigers
• The Elephant at the Gate in China Economic Review