ECONOMIC-STRUCTURE AND THE POLITICS OF SECTORAL BIAS - EAST-ASIAN ANDOTHER CASES

Governments of poor countries generally practise 'urban biased' polici es that penalise the agricultural sector to the advantage of non-agric ulture. Conversely, governments of rich countries generally practise ' rural bias'. As South Korea and Taiwan have become relatively wealthy over recent decades, they have also shifted from urban biased to rural biased policies. Adherents of the rational choice approach to politic al analysis claim to provide an explanation of the causes of this patt ern. This explanation is based on changing patterns of political inter ests and coalition-forming possibilities induced by the changes in eco nomic structure characteristically associated with economic growth. An evaluation of this claim in the light of the South Korean and Taiwane se cases suggests that: (a) it has considerable validity, although its explanatory power is easily exaggerated; (b) a satisfactory rational choice approach would encompass a wider range of political actors than has been incorporated in existing analyses; and (c) that some importa nt causes of the shift from urban to rural bias in South Korea and Tai wan lie in factors that are not illuminated by the rational choice par adigm - notably emulatory action between states.