The papers in this IDS Bulletin focus on different aspects of the historical experience of state economic involvement in three East Asian NICs, one socialist (China) and two capitalist (Taiwan and South Korea).
Taking the two capitalist cases first, state economic involvement has been thoroughgoing in both (though with important differences): officials have imposed strict controls on flows of investment funds and have acted systematically to change the incentive structures of commodity markets in pursuit of national economic priorities. They have not only intervened to determine the evolving structure of the domestic economy, but also to capture the potential benefits offered by foreign capital and commodity markets by setting favourable terms of interaction conducive to strategic national goals.
