Learning From South Korea: The Transformation of the Polish Economy

Abstract

There is no perfect precedent for the Eastern European countries to follow as there has never been a transformation of state-owned centrally planned economies on such a scale before in history. However, perhaps an illuminating and constructive comparison can be made with the so-called ‘New Japans’ — South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Even though they have not had all the ‘unique’ features of Japan as identified by the West, they have taken over the Japanese model and refined, adapted and applied it very successfully to their own circumstances. In doing this they have showed that the model is not culture-bound. Furthermore, these countries have followed a much more recent growth trajectory and share some commonality with Eastern European countries in terms of their major areas of production whilst attaining impressive rates of economic growth which the Eastern European countries are so desirous to obtain.