newly industrializing countries

newly industrializing countries

a number of countries in southern Europe, Asia and Latin America which have developed industrial manufacturing capacity since the 1960s. The countries most commonly cited as belonging to this category are, in Europe, Spain, Portugal and Greece; in Asia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea; and in Latin America, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. However, these do not have common experiences. The Asian countries have had the most independent industrialization with the emergence of indigenous corporations and strong state support leading to high levels of exports of manufactured goods. While they incurred INTERNATIONAL DEBT in this process, their export earnings are high enough to enable them to pay this, and in the 1980s their industrialization continued. The Latin American countries had higher levels of foreign investment, less successful state support and lower levels of exports of manufactured goods. The rise of international debt led to problems of payment and their industrialization declined in the 1980s as they reverted to exports of non-manufactured goods in attempts to earn foreign currency. Thus the Latin American countries have been described as having a pattern of DEPENDENT INDUSTRIALIZATION. Harris (1987) provides a good overview. see also IMPORT SUBSTITUTION.