Another telling difference between the two regions is the development of social security systems and safety nets. While the inception of social security in Bismarck Germany owes nothing to democracy, its extension since Beveridge does. It was the spectre of poverty and instability which moved Bismarck and Beveridge. It moved Western Europeans after the Second World War to such an extent that economic downturns have never incurred a situation that called into question the stability of society in its social, economic or political manifestations. Nor has social security incurred motivational dependence.
Most people have a horror of depending on anything other than work.
For sure, growth was pulling people out of poverty, almost entirely so in the Republic of Korea and Malaysia. But countless millions remained poor or very poor throughout the region. And growth was built on flimsy structures and not underpinned by the development of mechanisms to provide income replacement in the formal sector and some kind of income support in the informal sector or for agriculture s poor. I am not claiming wisdom through hindsight. Social protection continues to be equated with expenditures which, it is said, one cannot afford - including in the Philippines.