Why East Asia overtook Latin America: agrarian reform, industrialisation and development

Scholars and policy makers have long debated the causes of the spectacular economic success achieved by the East Asian newly industrialisin g countries (NICs) as well as the lessons that other developing countries can learn from this development experience. Latin America started to industrialise many decades before the East Asian NICs and yet was quickly overtaken by them in the last few decades. This article explores the agrarian roots that may explain the different development trajectory and performance of the East Asian NICs, particularly South Korea and Taiwan, and Latin America. The analysis focuses mainly on three interconnected factors in seeking to understand why the East Asian NICs outperformed Latin America: 1) state capacity and policy performance or ‘statecraft’; 2) character of agrarian reform and its impact on equity and growth; 3) interactions between agriculture and industry in development strategies. Cristóbal Kay is at the Institute of Social Studies, PO Box 29776, 2502 LT The Hague, The Netherlands.