Comparative Study of Taiwan and Puerto Rico's Economic Development

Citation:

Diaz, Rodolfo. 2013. “Comparative Study of Taiwan and Puerto Rico's Economic Development.” WCFIA Undergraduate Thesis Conference. Cambridge, MA: Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Copy at http://www.tinyurl.com/ymyx79n3

Date Presented:

February 8, 2013

Abstract:

My thesis examines the role played by the state in enabling late industrialization in Taiwan and Puerto Rico and seeks to explain a divergence in the success of their developmental trajectories beginning in 1968. It expands on Peter Evans’ theory of embedded autonomy by examining the conditions surrounding the origins of a developmental bureaucracy, and the state’s ability to preempt and adapt to changes in the international economic environment. In doing so it questions assumptions held within the “developmental state” literature about the relationship between authoritarian controls and the long-term stability and effectiveness of developmental policy. It also points to areas where reforms within the state can enhance the successful implementation of economic policy in developing countries regardless of regime type. 

See also: 2013