The end of the East Asian growth miracle?

Bangladesh's competitive garment manufacturing industry is at risk from US tariffs. (Image: Getty)

Tue, 08 Apr 2025

In 1993, the World Bank, not normally prone to exaggeration, produced a famous report called The East Asian Miracle.In what must surely rank as the most successful economic story in the history of the world, it reported on the growth formula that helped lift one billion people out of poverty into middle income.Starting from the indescribable destruction in Japan after World War II, American economists under the MacArthur occupation advised on industry policy, which was reinterpreted in a uniquely Japanese way.The formula proved to be the glue b...

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