Shin, Jang-Sup: The Economics of the Latecomers: Catching-up, technology transfer and institutions in Germany, Japan and South Korea , London: Routledge, 1996 ISBN: 0415140552

Hardback, first edition, near fine condition, ino dust-jacket, publisher's original coloured boards , 214 pages including index. Contents: Introduction. Part I. - On Methodology (1.) Late Industrialization and Catching-Up (2.) Technology Transfer, Technological Capability and National Systems of Innovation (3.) Institutions, Institutional Change and Catching-Up. Part II - On Interpreting History (4.) Comparative Settings (5.) Regional Contrast in the Development of the Iron and Steel Industry in Germany: 1800-1860 (6.) UK-Germany-Japan Comparison in the Iron and Steel Industry 1860-1930 (7.) US -Japan-Korea Comparison in the Iron and Steel Industry: 1950-90 (8.) US-Japan-Korea Comparison in the Semiconductor Industry: 1950-93. Conclusion---------------------"This book examines the spectacularly successful economies of East Asia, Japan and South Korea. The comparison of the 'catching-up' process in Japan and South Korea includes studies of the iron and steel and semi-conductor industries. The author shows the difficulties involved in trying to detect general patterns of development, as both countries appear to respond to different technological imperatives. As a result general models of development should be treated with caution, given the need to consider different historical and institutional contexts. Is 'backwardness' a disadvantage? Alexander Gerschenkron developed a model of economic development in which less-developed countries are not necessarily at a disadvantage to more advanced countries. The application of new strategies and the emergence of new institutions could systematically compensate for inadequate supplies of capital, skilled labour, entrepreneurship and technology found in the more advanced economies. With this in mind, The Economics of the Latecomers attempts to explicate the 'catching-up' process of the most spectacularly successful economies of East Asia, Japan and South Korea. Combining insights from economic history, development economics and the economics of technology, the book emphasises the need for historical models to understand historical processes. This perspective enables the author to demonstrate the limitations of neo-Schumpeterian approaches and the New Institutional Economics as means of analysing the development process (Book ref. 1949)  £55.00

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