Asia’s Industrial Revolution

Socialism presented a serious conceptual challenge to capitalism, but never managed to threaten it in the marketplace. “Late” industrialization in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan has evolved squarely within the capitalist fold. But because it has, in fact, succeeded in undermining the competitiveness of advanced capitalist countries, its challenge is unprecedented. Never before has the West sustained a serious blow to its economic hegemony.

Even conceptually, late industrial...