THE SOURCES OF ECONOMIC-GROWTH OF THE EAST-ASIAN NEWLY INDUSTRIALIZEDCOUNTRIES

The sources of economic growth of the East Asian newly industrialized countries are analyzed empirically using the aggregate meta-production function framework. The sample consists of nine countries-the four Ea st Asian newly industrialized countries (Hong Kong, Singapore, South K orea, and Taiwan) and the Group-of-Five industrialized countries (Fran ce, West Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States). T he results reaffirm the Boskin and Lau (Technical Paper 217, Stanford University, 1990) finding that technical progress can be represented a s purely capital-augmenting in all countries. However, the hypothesis that there has been no technical progress during the postwar period ca nnot be rejected for the four East Asian newly industrialized countrie s. By far the most important source of economic growth of the East Asi an newly industrialized countries is capital accumulation, accounting for between 48 and 72% of their economic growth, in contrast to the ca se of the Group-of-Five industrialized countries, in which technical p rogress has played the most important role, accounting for between 46 and 71% of their economic growth. An international comparison of the p roductive efficiencies of the Group-of-Five countries and the East Asi an newly industrialized countries indicates no apparent convergence be tween the technologies of the two groups of countries. (C) 1994 Academ ic Press, Inc.