Asian Tigers

The Asian Tigers – between 2005 and 2011

Andrei Condrea

Bucharest University of Economic Studies

1. Introduction

The term “Asian Tigers” is used as a reference to the highly developed economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. The interest in this group of country comes from the fact that they, starting from the early 1960s until the end of the 1990s, witnessed exceptionally high and constant economic growth rates, in excess of 7% per year.

This growth was a result of both neoliberal policies and state intervention. While the neoliberal policies revolved around exports, low taxes and minimal welfare states, the state aided the exporting industries by granting them below-market interest rates. Moreover, the state aided the sustainability of the economic growth by investing heavily in education, buying US bonds and high private and public saving rates.

This remarkable growth made them what they are today: advanced and high-income economies, specialized in the areas in which they have a competitive advantage over other countries. For example, Hong Kong and Singapore have set themselves among the leading international financial centres, whereas South Korea and Taiwan are the world leaders in IT and in manufacturing high-tech items, such as: laptops, smartphones, tablets, etc.

Those stated above serve as a success story for the upcoming Southeast Asian economies: Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and Malaysia, also known as the “Tiger Cub Economies”.

2. The evolution of the Asian Tigers, between 2005 and 2011

In the last 7 years, the Asian Tigers have stayed true to their name, and have experienced high GDP growth rates. However, the economic crisis of 2007 hit the Tigers’ economies hard, reducing their GDP growth rates to 0 or, in the case of Hong Kong, to -2.46.

However, in 2010, all 4 countries rebounded, their growth rates reaching remarkable values, for instance, Singapore’s GDP grew by 14.78% from -0.79% in 2009 and Taiwan’s by...