Changing Macro-Structural Varieties of East Asian Capitalism

The dominant institutions of economic governance vary considerably between countries in both Northeast and Southeast Asia, generating four nationally distinct varieties of politicaleconomic organization in terms of varying state direction of the economy and degree of business co-ordination of economic activities: co-governed, state-led, networked and personalized. In the 1980s, Malaysia and Taiwan represented more the state-led variety of capitalist development, while Japan and Thailand shared many characteristics of the networked form. In the 1990s and 2000s, these four political economies began to change, but to different degrees and in different directions. In particular, Taiwan became more similar to the co-governed variety of capitalism, while the degree of business co-ordination declined significantly in Thailand so that its political economy became more personalized. These contrasting kinds of changes in the four economies can best be explained by shifts in the interest and power configurations of dominant coalitions.