Abstract

The World Bank’s 1993 report, East Asian Miracle, was significant not only for highlighting the outstanding economic performances of the region’s market economies, but also (albeit half-heartedly) for attributing this performance to strategic interventions by state agencies in consultation with private actors. The report also signalled intra-regional complexity, noting performance differences between the four Newly Industrializing Countries (NICs – South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong) and four members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines (henceforth the ASEAN-4).