Dennis Redmond writes: ....snip.... Asia has *no* strong welfare states, pathetically low wages, miserable working conditions, politicans completely dominated by big business, and vicious Governments which deregulated markets just like the IMF said they should. In short, a neoliberal wet dream -- and it utterly failed. Why? In the bad old days, East Asia had powerful state-developmental institutions which partially compensation for these things; the Nationalist regime in Taiwan kept income redistribution pretty equal, instituted progressive land reform, and had lots of state ownership of key enterprises. The state also regulated financial markets very carefully, and made sure investment got funneled into industry instead of finance. ------------------------ I am not so sure "pathetically low wages" is correct. If Japan is included in East Asia (which it is if one is to talk about the East Asian crisis) then wages cannot be considered low. By no means Korean wages have been low (today in US$ terms yes). The Taiwan case is truly puzzling because we do not hear nor have I read about a Taiwan crisis in the larger East Asian crisis although virtually all countries in the region have witnessed depreciating currencies. I am in general agreement with the rest of the post. Anthony D'costa
