Shahid Yusuf
Published: 1985
Total Pages: 74
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The purpose of this paper is to reaffirm certain notions that have provided the foundations of development economics, but which now are coming increasingly under attack: that growth in such pacesetters as the Republic of Korea, Japan and Brazil has principally arisen from capital accumulation; and that investment during the important initial phase of their industrialization was often only distantly related to market forces. The discussion is opened with a brief description of the turmoil sweeping economics and specifically, development economics. Drawing upon this, the paper discusses models derived from the neoclassical paradigm, and compares and contrasts this paradigm of development with the experience of Latin American countries and Japan. In this context, the paper moves to two more eclectic models which are very much in the spirit of development economics. One is the so-called bureaucratic authoritarian model, and the other, a model of Japanese development. In the final section, the study narrows our focus to Korea and show how these models can illuminate Korea's investment policies during the sixties and the seventies. The paper concludes that a simple neoclassical paradigm is not sufficient to explain Korea's successful economic development.