Economic Liberalism and the Developmental State

Reviews / Votes

"Bryan Cheang challenges two competing explanations for the phenomenal success of the Singaporean economy since the 1960s-economic freedom and developmental state. The former points to the top ranking of Singapore in the Economic Freedom Index; the latter to the testimonies of Lee Kwan Yew, the founding father of independent Singapore. Against the economic freedom school, Cheang provides detailed information to show that Singapore's high ranking is a misleading result of ignoring dominant government-linked corporations and sovereign funds that have been powerful instruments of government controls and industrial policies. Against the developmental state school, Cheang points to the comparable economic performance of pre-1997 Hong Kong and its greater development of "creative industries". With survey results on social attitudes towards innovation, Cheang also highlights shortcomings of the Singaporean developmental state model. Cheang has made important contributions to the field of economic development." - Young Back Choi , Professor of Economics, St John University, USA.

" Developmental State and Economic Liberalism stakes out a bold new position that challenges established views on both sides of the debate surrounding the merits and demerits of state development planning. Cheang shows how macro economic statistics have misled advocates of development planning into overstating successes. Meanwhile, he challenges claims of liberal economists that successful East Asian economies were beacons of free markets. Future debate surrounding the developmental state will have to grapple with the ideas in this book." - Benjamin Powell , Director, Free Market Institute, Texas Tech University, USA.

Cheang's book provides an empirically rich account of the economic development of Hong Kong and Singapore, and it sets out to rethink and challenge conventional wisdom in several important respects. This is a very welcome addition to the literature and will be essential reading to anyone interested in the developmental state, the economic history of Hong Kong and Singapore or economic growth and development more generally. - Magnus Feldman , Senior Lecturer in Politics, Bristol University, UK.

"Using holistic data analysis and thick description, this book overwhelmingly challenges whether the on-going developmental state model of Singapore is sustainably viable. Looking beyond the traditional measurements of economic performance, Dr. Bryan Cheang brilliantly focuses instead on factor markets and examines the discrete components of productivity, innovation, and entrepreneurship, all of which are relevant for the knowledge-based economy. This timely book sheds a bright light for countries seeking to forge ahead toward innovation-driven growth. For those who believe that the 21st century is of Asia, how to thrive in the market for ideas will be imperative and this pioneering book is a must-read. - Ho-Don Yan , Professor of Economics, Feng Chia University, Taiwan.

"The author revisits the respective contributions of the state and market to economic development in Hong Kong and Singapore when both cities took off in the final forty years of the twentieth century to achieve spectacular success. Singapore's state approach and Hong Kong's market approach both succeeded as judged from hard data like national income. Bryan Cheang's analysis is more subtle in identifying the shortfalls of the state approach, its sacrifice of productivity, innovation and entrepreneurship that crowded out small and medium enterprises to the detriment of sustainable economic vitality. While Hong Kong is beginning to pursue an innovation and technology driven path to reindustrialization after experiencing state-society upheavals, Singapore is exhibiting diminishing returns over time from its state-driven industrial policy. Bryan Cheang's book is a timely reminder that sustaining economic development is more than a binary choice between the state and the market". - Richard Wong , Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor of Economics and Philip Wong Kennedy Wong Professor in Political Economy, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong.

"For many years, East Asia has drawn attention from development economists who search for applicable lessons for developing countries. Hong Kong is often taken as an exceptional case of market-led growth and Singapore, also a former British colony, is often compared as the "tale of the two cities". In this regard, Cheang's book adds value to this debate. Challenging the "developmental state model", Cheang highlights how some scholars treat East Asia as homogenous, ignoring significant differences among them. His reviews on the growth experiences and strategies are illuminating, reminding us that the "development state" should be used with care. This book pays close attention to differences in culture, institutions and entrepreneurship and is an essential reader for scholars, policymakers and students in economic development, comparative public policy and Asian studies. It is also a great reference for practitioners interested in global development". - Tony Yu , Professor of Economics, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Hong Kong.

"If the Singapore establishment is smart, it will treat this book as a serious and sophisticated critique of its model of economic development and social management, and engage fully with its arguments and detailed analysis. If it is not so smart, it will dismiss it as an attempt to tear down its legacy of achievements. In fact the achievements are acknowledged, but placed in historical, theoretical and comparative perspectives that go beyond the headline big-picture claims on which the 'Third World to First' mythology is built. Bryan Cheang combines micro-statistical analysis of economic data with cultural evidence gleaned from anything from contemporary censorship practices to pre-independence newspaper advertisements to demonstrate the severe limitations of independent Singapore's version of the developmental state.

Notionally the book is using the contrast between the development patterns of independent Singapore and pre-Carrie Lam Hong Kong to elicit lessons about the functioning and limitations of East Asian developmental states. It does do this, but the lessons about Singapore are worthy of study in their own right". - Michael Barr , Associate Professor in International Relations, Flinders University, Australia.
This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the developmental state and the economic performance of East Asia. Bryan Cheang decisively moves the debate on from what has at times become sterile, dichotomised 'neoliberal' vs 'state-led' caricatures, through an approach rooted in deep empirical engagement with the political economy of the region. He overturns conventional wisdom concerning the economic performance of Singapore and Hong Kong and meticulously deconstructs the statistics used to support conventional wisdom. Along the way, Cheang makes a powerful case for integrating cultural elements into economic analysis. This is an outstanding book that deserves to be widely read. - James Scott, Senior Lecturer in International Politics, King's College London, UK.