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POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER 2112 Public Disclosure Authorized IndustrialPolicy after BeforeEastAsia's hnancial meltdown in 1997, many the East Asian Crisis believed that the entrepreneurial state Fromc"Outward Orientation" contributed to the East Asian Public Disclosure Authorized From "Outward Orientation "miracle"by accelerajrng to New Internal Capabilities? industrial deveiopment in a "market-friendly" way. The Ashoka Mody now-evoiving internaLional consensuson induseriSaUolicy emphasizes a hands-off approach, with acrivust government playing a reduced role and competition Public Disclosure Authorized policy playing an important role. But imoDlerernincj such a policy wUil require sophisticated nevt' skills in public administration. Public Disclosure Authorized The World Bank Development Prospects Group May 1999 POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER 21 12 Summary findings Before East Asia's financial meltdown in the second half But policies emphasizing greater competition and a of 1997, there appeared to be prospects for an uneasy level playing field - implicitly thought to require less consensus on the East Asian "miracle," a consensus that government action - may require more government recognized the role of the entrepreneurial state in expertise, not less. If implementing a 10 percent export accelerating industrial development but emphasized the subsidy is difficult, consider the difficulty of determining "market-friendly" nature of the state's interventions. whether a firm is exercising market power or restraining After the financial crisis, East Asian policies and trade. So the prospect of governments stepping back may institutions are once again under scrutiny -for their be unrealistic. failures rather than for their miracles. The new consensus also proposes "deep integration," Mody finds that the prospects for a consensus that or the adoption of uniform standards in such areas as incorporated the East Asian experience were ill founded. competition policy and labor and environmental East Asian policymakers ernphasized growsth through standards. quantitative targets; price signals played a significant but For East Asia, the shift to the international consensus secondary role. may be appropriate because government-driven growth Mody illustrates these propositions by examining trade has declined in intellectual respectability. Also, it may be policy, industrial conglomerates, and the provision of time to consolidate the gains from the rapid trade-led physical infrastructure. growth by focusing on creating a stronger incentive The evolving international consensus on industrial structure for efficiently using resources. policy, which predates the Asian crisis, emphasizes a The current consensus is based on strong priors rather hands-off approach in which an activist government than on solid empirical evidence, however, and the plays a reduced role and competition policy plays an dangers of international uniformity in policy are evident. important role. This paper - a product of the Development Prospects Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to analyze trends in the global economy. Copies of the paper are available free from the World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433. Please contact Sydnelia Kpundeh, room MC6-762, telephone 202-473-9591, fax 202-522-2578, Internet address [email protected]. Policy Research Working Papers are also posted on the Web at http://www.worldbank.org/ html/dec/Publications,'Workpapers/home.html. The author may be contacted at amody@ worldbank.org. May 1999. (33 pages) The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about developmnentissues. An objective of the series is to get the findinigsout quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the namnesof the authors and should be cited accordinzgly.The finzdings,interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. 'They do not necessarily represent the view of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. Produced by the Policy Research Dissemination Center Industrialpolicy after the East Asian crisis: From"outward-orientation" to new internal capabilities? Ashoka Mody The World Bank [email protected] This paper was initially written while I was a Visiting Professor at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. I am gratefullto colleagues at the Wharton School's Department of Public Policy and Management, to my students in an "International Industrialization Strategies" class taught during Fall 1997, and especially to Brett Grehan who provided extensive written comments. For their comments, I also thank Alice Amsden, Sanjaya Lall, Moshe Syrquin, Judith Tendler, Larry Westphal, and seminar participants at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Introduction Just when views on East Asia's economic"miracle" appeared to be converging,the East Asianschose once againto surprisethe world-this timeby spiralinginto a financial meltdown. The publicationofthe World Bank's (1993) EastAsianMiracle had added respectabilityto East Asianindustrial policy. Even criticsof the "Miracle"study welcomed the belated and qualifiedrecognition of the role that the state had playedin fosteringindustrial growth.' Is there reason now to reassessone more time, the lessonsfrom East Asia? I reviewthree sets of East Asianpolicies: those relatedto trade, corporate organization,and physicalinfrastructure provision. East Asianpolicymakers used these complementarypolicy instruments primarily to stimulateoutput growth or relievebottlenecks. The East Asian experiencecan be characterizeda "big industrialpush" temperedby price and internationalmarket disciplineto limitegregious errors. This interpretationis consistentwith estimatesof modest productivitygrowth in the region.East Asiangrowth dependedon the virtuous reinforcementof policymeasures and businessbehavior that alwayshad the potential to unravel,although the timingwas unpredictable. Thus, despiteEast Asia's evidentsuccess in achievinghigh rates of investmentand output growth, and notwithstandingthe "Miracle"study, I concludethat East Asia offers few lessons to guide industrialpolicy in the near future-either for itself or for other countries. This viewhad begun to evolveprior to and independentof the recent crisisbut has been reinforcedby the financialdistress in the East Asianregion. Governmentinterventions to stimulateindustrial growth will not disappearbut the emphasishas shiftedtowards measures 1 For example,Rodrik (1997)writes: "Whateverone may say aboutthe WorldBank (1993)East Asian Miracle report, this study has made it very difficultfor any reasonableperson to argue that there was little government interventionin East Asian countries,or that these countriesgrew so fast despitetheir government's interventions,-argumentsthat one used to hear not infrequently." 2 that deal directlywith increasingefficiency (e.g., competitionpolicy and definitionand protection of propertyrights). Selectiveindustrial targeting may be dated, but surelythe importanceof "outward- orientation"remains undiminished? 2 Thougha hallowedtenet in the explanationof the East Asian miracle,the term "outward-orientation"tends to be a fluid one (absenceof bias against exports, activepromotion of exports, and low trade barriers). Whendefined as low trade barriers to increasean economy'sallocative efficiency, outward orientationhas been drivenby an intellectualtradition beyond East Asia. East Asian economiesare often thought to validate the benefitsof"openness," but their commitmentto low tariff and non-tariffbarriers has been less than exemplary. Also, aggressiveexport promotion from East Asia has been viewedwith concernby the internationalcommunity-countervailing duties, antidumping measures, "voluntary"export restraints are instrumentsdesigned to limitthe advantagesfrom government support of exporters.3 East Asia's corporatestructure and governancemechanisms-significant contributors to rapid output growth in the past-are under especiallystrong criticismin the wake of the ongoingfinancial crisis. Close relationshipsbetween government and business,heavy reliance on bank debt, and conglomeratefirms combined to foster corporateinvestment in highly efficientfactories, new product development,and greater presencein internationalmarkets. That systemis under criticismfor "cronyism"and wastefulinvestments in real estate and 2 The IMF (1997)in referring to high East Asian growthrates in the first half of the 1990s-high even by the standardsof that region-attributes them principallyto "outward-orientation." 3 Since the onset of the recent crisis, falling East Asian exportrevenues (in dollars)despite rising export volumesare also a reminderthat manufacturedexports, like primary comunodities,can experiencesharp decline in prices,contributing to an adverse shift in terms of trade. The competitivecurrency devaluations in the region revivethe concernsof "exportpessimists" of yesteryearsthat the world market does not have the depth to absorblarge volumesof developingcountry exports without a significantprice decrease. Raphie Kaplinsky(1998) showsmost developingeconomies have experiencedsteadily declining terms of trade especiallysince the emergenceof China as a significantexporter of manufacturedgoods. 3 currencyspeculation. 4 The knife-edgequality of the corporategovernance mechanism in East Asia was evidentto observers(Campos and Root 1996)and reformattempts were