What are the underlying rationales for industrial policy? Does empirical evidence support the use of industrial policy for correcting market failures that plague the process of industrialization? To address these questions, the authors provide a critical survey of the analytical literature on...

Do flexible labor markets lubricate growth? Using data from Taiwan, China, to analyze the effects of labor market flexibility, the authors find that: 1) Workers are more likely to move to industries that tend to be similar to their industry of origin (including intrasectoral moves that would be...

This article argues that one source of Taiwan's exceptionally rapid growth rate in value added per worker in manufacturing was its ability to tap the accumulated technology of more advanced industrial nations. The impact of technology embodied in new equipment is quantified. The role of...

This article argues that the rapid growth in a number of Asian economies that occurred between 1960 and 1996 was accompanied by a major change in the structure of their economies including shifts in the size of firms and the sectors of specialization. These changes were a fundamental component...