including prices, wages, and the exchange rate are in good shape, in addition to political and administrative stability. Without the stability of prices and wages, no country will be able to enhance competitiveness of its products in the international market to increase exports. If the exchange rate of its currency is unstable, obstacles to remittance of profits by foreign firms will increase. Thanks to relatively good economic fundamentals, foreign companies were able to advance into these countries without hesitation and contribute to an increase in exports.

It should not be overlooked that in these countries efforts were made to prevent sectionalization referred to by H. Myint. Many countries have endeavored to dissolve traditional underground financial institutions to establish a modernized financial system. The important point is that they did not spare expenses for fostering human resources despite a meager budget. No one can deny that the rich have easier access to good education than the poor in these countries, so they have greater opportunity to climb higher the social ladder. However, efforts to train young elites for technocrats while expanding the compulsory education system, and efforts to eliminate various vested rights, seem to have paid off.

A success of the agricultural policy also should not be overlooked. Apart from the well-known Sae-maul movement in the Republic of Korea, Taiwan's post-war economic growth began with an expansion of agricultural production. Indonesia has attained self-sufficiency in food as a result of long-term efforts to increase agricultural production. In Thailand and other countries in Southeast Asia, farm products earned foreign currencies necessary for industrialization and improvement in financial status. The success in the agricultural policy has contributed to political stability, resulting in sound economic fundamentals such as stabilization of wages.

The experience in Southeast Asian countries teaches us that industrialization of a country will never succeed solely by a policy of encouraging industries for import substitution or export-oriented industries. The key to success appears to lie on strenuous efforts in the administration to eliminate obstacles which may be represented by the word “sectionalization” as well as on the people’s aspiration and will for economic development.

## Cases of Brazil and Mexico

Even if the political and social situations are stable and appropriate measures are taken, these measures will not be effective unless there are businesses and workers who respond flexibly to them. Even if incentives are given to foreign capital, industrialization will not make progress without foreign capital which will respond to them. The prerequisites for corporate activities financed by foreign capital are supply of parts and the presence of a market in which products could be sold. An economy develops only within the context of mutual interdependence, be it domestic or international. In the cases of the Asian NIEs and ASEAN, which pursued the path of development slightly after the Asian NIEs, there was a framework of such mutual interdependence. In the case of Asia-Pacific, a characteristic feature is that countries achieved integration as a result of development in each country and through continued, mild changes. The question is why the development of NIEs in Europe and Latin America is slower than that of the Asian NIEs.

The first common characteristic of Latin American countries is that they were incorporated into the network of the world economy from an early date. They built the foundation