Book Review 2: Tiger Economies under Threat: A Comparative Analysis of Malaysia’s Industrial Prospects and Policy Options

There have been many studies on the spectacular economic performance of the newly industrialized countries, so-called Asian Tigers, during the 1960s up to early 1990s (among others, Cline, 1982; Amsden, 1989; Vogel, 1991; World Bank, 1993; Cotterel, 1993; Gough, 1998; Kim, 1998). These countries are of interest to development economists in that they were able to move from the Third World status to the First World in a few decades. Some authors (like World Bank, 1993; Naisbitt, 1995; Yoshihara, 1999) have suggested that if the positive trends continue, these countries would easily catch up and eventually surpass the per capita incomes of at least some of the leading developed economies.