Introduction:

- THE RECIPE for East Asia's "miracle" certainly varied from country to country, but a set of country studies demonstrates that a core of sound economic policies laid the necessary foundation for all (Leipziger & Vinod, 1994)

- If asked in the early 1950s to predict the successful industrializers in the ensuing three decades, only a seer would have chosen the East Asian "tigers "--Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, or Taiwan Province of China. All were bereft of natural resources and were having difficulty providing the basic necessities for their populations. Today, no other group of developing countries has performed as well in sustaining rapid growth, reducing poverty, or raising standards of living. The success stories of the first generation Asian "tigers" have led to a second generation of rapidly industrializing Asian "cubs"--Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. (Leipziger & Vinod, 1994)

- Although often spoken of as a single group, the East Asian economies are, in fact, remarkably diverse. The region includes some of the richest and the poorest of the world's developing countries, some of the most populous and some of the least, some with a store of natural resources and some with virtually none. Further, these economies have pursued a diverse mix of policies with varying degrees of government intervention (Leipziger & Vinod, 1994)– diversity

- Major changes also occurred within East Asia including a remarkable increase in the relative importance of machinery and electronics products in intra-regional trade, and a rapid expansion of international production sharing as reflected in trade in parts and components.(Ng & Yeats, 2003)

- Dynamic region: “East Asian regional trade and cooperation initiatives. Since the mid-1980s regional intra-trade has grown at a rate roughly double that of world trade, and at a rate far higher than the intra-trade of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) member