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Demand-responsive industrialization in East Asia: A new critique of political economy

Hamilton, Gary G. and Shin, Solee LU (2015) In European Journal of Social Theory 18(4). p.390-412
Abstract
In the mid-nineteenth century, Karl Marx issued several critiques of political economy writings stressing the exclusive duality of states and the national economies. He argued that capitalism had characteristic features quite apart from those shaped by the idiosyncrasies of national economies. In the first part of this article, we critique the contemporary state-centered explanations for the industrialization of East Asia on same grounds. We claim that most political economists misinterpret or entirely ignore the significance of export-led industrialization, which is a characteristic feature of East Asian capitalism. In the second part of the article, we demonstrate the importance of the retail revolution in the US and Europe on Asian... (More)
In the mid-nineteenth century, Karl Marx issued several critiques of political economy writings stressing the exclusive duality of states and the national economies. He argued that capitalism had characteristic features quite apart from those shaped by the idiosyncrasies of national economies. In the first part of this article, we critique the contemporary state-centered explanations for the industrialization of East Asia on same grounds. We claim that most political economists misinterpret or entirely ignore the significance of export-led industrialization, which is a characteristic feature of East Asian capitalism. In the second part of the article, we demonstrate the importance of the retail revolution in the US and Europe on Asian industrialization. In particular, we show that the development of the sequential ordering system that is an inherent feature of Western-based contract manufacturing differentially shaped the industrial organization of East Asian economies. The resulting path-dependent trajectories of development, in turn, encouraged government policy-makers to buy into' trends of global capitalism in different ways. The trajectories also led business people to privilege and adapt some social institutions and cultural patterns over other ones. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
developmental state theory, East Asian industrialization, export-led, development, Marx, the retail revolution
in
European Journal of Social Theory
volume
18
issue
4
pages
390 - 412
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • wos:000363062000003
  • scopus:84943804426
ISSN
1461-7137
DOI
10.1177/1368431014568425
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
08cfd76c-a79e-4f88-847e-28256871627e (old id 8195250)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:01:15
date last changed
2022-03-27 04:00:22
@article{08cfd76c-a79e-4f88-847e-28256871627e,
  abstract     = {{In the mid-nineteenth century, Karl Marx issued several critiques of political economy writings stressing the exclusive duality of states and the national economies. He argued that capitalism had characteristic features quite apart from those shaped by the idiosyncrasies of national economies. In the first part of this article, we critique the contemporary state-centered explanations for the industrialization of East Asia on same grounds. We claim that most political economists misinterpret or entirely ignore the significance of export-led industrialization, which is a characteristic feature of East Asian capitalism. In the second part of the article, we demonstrate the importance of the retail revolution in the US and Europe on Asian industrialization. In particular, we show that the development of the sequential ordering system that is an inherent feature of Western-based contract manufacturing differentially shaped the industrial organization of East Asian economies. The resulting path-dependent trajectories of development, in turn, encouraged government policy-makers to buy into' trends of global capitalism in different ways. The trajectories also led business people to privilege and adapt some social institutions and cultural patterns over other ones.}},
  author       = {{Hamilton, Gary G. and Shin, Solee}},
  issn         = {{1461-7137}},
  keywords     = {{developmental state theory; East Asian industrialization; export-led; development; Marx; the retail revolution}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{390--412}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{European Journal of Social Theory}},
  title        = {{Demand-responsive industrialization in East Asia: A new critique of political economy}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1368431014568425}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/1368431014568425}},
  volume       = {{18}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}