reasons why states are called four tigers

reasons why states are called four tigers

The four tigers is the name given to refer to the economies of four South-East Asian regions that are Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, which represents South China and South Korea. They have been denoted so because of their rapid economic prosperity and high living standards. According to (Toma 2019), the continent of Asia since the years between the 1950s and 1960s has been on the competing lane for supremacy in the trade and industry. These states became models from the period when their gross domestic product got to around 6% per annum (Toma, 2019). Many researchers have been amazed by the fantastic growth in those states that it made the four tigers also gain the name of the East Asian miracle (Toma, 2019). The interest of the paper is to identify and describe the reasons why those states are called four tigers as well as the features that distinguish and characterizes them from others. To evaluate the characteristics, the paper will focus on the economies of the four tigers as well as their evolving and gradual industrial development and which significantly contributes to their economic advancement.

According to (Toma 2019), the tigers have progressively demonstrated their excellent economic performance in the various international markets, primarily through the export-oriented strategy. (Watson, 2016)Underlines that from the postcolonial view, the rapid economic development of those four states is attributed to the politics of decolonization within the cold war era, imperialism in Asia by the United States. According to (Watson 2016), cultural construction lays a foundation for a broader outlook on the growth of Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore.

In as much as the government expenditure in the GDP of those countries exceeded 8% in 1994, various elements differentiate those nations. According to (Watson 2016), Hong Kong thrives as an economy with low government interference and the fact that it is an entry to China. South Korea, on the other hand, has grown due to its government-funded corporations, and Singapore has risen because of its geographical location in the South-east Asian trade. In addition to that, it gains strong support from its government (Watson, 2016).

Taiwan

(Toma, 2019) highlights that Taiwan was recognized as one of the poorest nations globally after the Second World War. It has, however, risen to surpass that through the utilization of the scarce natural assets by constructing a dynamic and free-market economy driven by trade manufacturing. It grew through that and eventually attained a gross domestic product per capita of more than $50,000 in the year 2017(Toma, 2019). The economic development of Taiwan and its rise to be one of the four tigers is linked to its market approach, government support, and importance of education. In this section, the paper will look at how Taiwan has grown over the years to prosper economically. According to (Toma 2019), the growth of Taiwan industrialization was in four stages, and they are the promotion of computerized industries, primary and secondary export, and import substitution and transition.

The factors that contributed to Taiwan’s export-oriented economic development include the education levels of its workforce. According to (Toma, 2019) its higher learning structure, led to the change from elite to the mass-oriented system and courses like natural resources and engineering helped to achieve that. Religion also played a significant role in promoting growth- Confucianism taught of self-creation and cultivation, which motivated hard work (Toma, 2019). The second element is the geographical location of Taiwan Island, and it allowed the nation to be integrated and participate in global trade. The presence of various programs that aimed at promoting exports like export incentives on taxes, low costs of trade loans, proved beneficial to the expansion of trade (Toma, 2019). Taiwan’s democratic scheme played a significant role in growing its economy as there was a transformation from an authoritarian to a multiparty government system. Such a political environment encouraged the creation of a free market economy that led it to be market-oriented (Toma, 2019). The other factor is the technique that Taiwan uses, which is the state working together with the market rather than against it (Toma, 2019). The government provides a suitable trading environment for investors and entrepreneurs.

Singapore

The country of Singapore developed from a small nation economically to one of the most prosperous states globally. Its path to growth started in the 1960s, and it has risen to be a free economic but authoritarian politically- it restricts its citizen’s liberty to speech from its harsh policies (Riley, 2018). According to (Riley 2018), there exist social welfare plans in the country which ensure the high quality of life is retained. Besides that, the administration also plays a role in creating a national individuality that portrays the evolution and diversity of the country (Riley, 2018). The economy of the country highly functions with fewer cases of uprisings due to the level of support they get from their government. The people of Singapore also highly rely on their social guidelines as well as the developing dedication to perpetual growth of their nation (Riley, 2018). This part of the paper will look at how Singapore rose to its accomplishment and how it manages to maintain its economic success within such a political environment. It will also focus on how the government intervenes to maintain its economic prosperity.

From the 1960s, the Gross Domestic Product of Singapore has risen from $704,462,302 to $296.976 billion in the year 2016. (Riley, 2018). The government intervenes in both the private and public sector by putting in place programs and policies like national funded housing and companies like the Singapore airlines and savings (Riley, 2018). According to (Riley 2018), Singapore built its way into economic prosperity through reputation and its colonial heritage with its colony Britain. It gained its status by attracting foreign and multinational investments. The other element that enabled Singapore to get to where it is currently is the number of wages it gets through the government’s education, infrastructure, and tax inducements (Riley, 2018). Singapore has defied some of the views of economists that a communist nation cannot prosper. The tremendous economic freedom that Singapore possesses amidst the dictatorial state allows it to develop as it is a combination of liberty, devotion, trust, and dependence (Riley, 2018).

South Korea

Just like the other tiger nations, South Korea started its economic growth from a poor state. It began in the 1960s as an agricultural oriented country. According to (Seth 2017), South Korea started from being highly dependent on North Korea’s electricity and industry. From the years between 1961 and 1996, the country has experienced a gradual economic evolution that has led to its prosperity. Some of the factors that helped South Korea get to where it includes the government. One of the aims of that administration was to focus on both private and public entrepreneurship as well as economic progression. South Korea started by utilizing its limited natural resources that incorporated low education levels and wages (Seth, 2017). Rapidly, with rising wages, the economic orientation moved to be capital intensive with also changing from footwear and textile industries to petrochemicals, heavy tools, steel, electronics, ships, and automobiles.

The other transformation that saw South Korea rise economically is educational advancement, whereby its citizens went for higher education in the United States. They were then offered jobs as technocrats by the government. The government, together with private organizations, provided adult learning programs and the expansion of education due to the Korean’s enthusiasm for education increased enrollment of its people to schools. According to (Kwon & Edward, 2019), in 1961, South Korea became one of the countries with the best education and a level of income. The other one is land reforms (Seth, 2017); it limited property holdings. The change led to stability in the rural area, and it readdressed plenty amount of capital of the landowners towards education, industry, and trade.

The military regime in place ensured that there was close cooperation between family-owned companies and the state. This kind of relationship helped in shifting to democracy, which further led to an increase in labor as the primary political power (Kwon & Edward, 2019). The gradual developments enabled it to be acknowledged internationally as a developed country, and it even joined the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Being a part of this organization, the technocrats helped in developing long-term economic development plans (Seth, 2017). The strategies involved the state being in charge of credit and export based trade development.

The primary factors that enabled Korea’s gradual economic rise, are the high rates of saving, the export oriented technique, government intervention, a favorable culture and the buildup of both human and physical resources (Kwon & Edward, 2019).

Hong Kong

The economic success of Hong Kong can be highly linked to its geographical location. According to (Bush, 2016), the area has two main islands and this becomes an ideal natural port, Guangdong for South East China which perpetuates international trade. Hong Kong started growing its economy by being a gateway to China and that founded it to be a significant financial center. The British took over the area as its colony and it was made a local midpoint for commercial and monetary facilities (Bush, 2016). Gradually, between1842 to 1949 the economy was dominated by merchant, banking and shipping businesses. It increased broadening of services by creation of sales channels to cater for the wants of the community. In the year of 1950s, Hong Kong dealt with textiles and it progressively expanded its industry to labor-concentrated, electronics and plastics for the purposes of exports (Bush, 2016).

According to (Bush, 2016), the government’s participation in trade planning was low as it focused on the housing facilities for the overgrowing numbers of immigrants. The state administration also expanded the education system by offering compulsory free education for children up to 15 years of age (Bush, 2016). The advanced education and its availability led to increase of skilled workers and also there was availability of labor force from the refugees of civil war (Bush, 2016).Hong Kong’s economic rise is characterized by free trade, low amount of taxes as they do not rely on the state’s expensive services, slack laws on employment and lack of government debit. Besides that, the production costs of Hong Kong are low and purchasing of raw materials is also cheap due to lack of exchange restrictions.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the regions of Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong are referred to as the four tigers because they exhibit a common gradual economic growth which has evolved over the years. They have all developed from deprived circumstances like inadequate natural capital. Those areas are however, distinguished by the characteristics that are unique for each state. Singapore is greatly supported by its government administration despite it being authoritarian (Riley, 2018). Hong Kong thrives due to its free market (Bush, 2016), Taiwan’s culture and economic concentrated industrialization has contributed to its development (Toma, 2019). South Korea’s close connection of the government with big companies as well as its education level has played a great role for the nation (Seth, 2017). What stood out as a peculiar feature for the economic prosperity of the four areas is government support either through education, or creating a peaceful and stable political atmosphere. The other factor is the export orientated market trade and presence of skilled labor. The lessons learnt from the four tigers is beneficial particularly to the developing countries. They can borrow the aspect of extraordinary development which is attributed to those regions rising from underdeveloped circumstances. And from (Riley, 2018), economic growth does not necessarily have to be supported by a democratic regime. The Four tigers have portrayed that it is essential for the government to protect local export industries from foreign competition.