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Only a few European economies and Korea and Taiwan Province of China reached high-income status during 1970-2010. Malaysia's real income per capita increased to 26 percent of the U.S. level in 2010 from 20 percent in 1970. Despite relatively strong growth and a substantial improvement in export sophistication, Malaysia's total factor productivity lagged behind that of Korea and Taiwan Province of China. We argue that what characterizes their experience in contrast to Malaysia's is the creation of technologies by domestic firms and a push to leapfrog to the technological frontier at an early st

A key priority for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries is to create a dynamic non-oil tradable sector to support sustainable growth. Since export diversification takes a long time, it has to start now. We argue that the failure to diversify away from oil stems mainly from market failures rather than government failures. To tackle market failures, the government needs to change the incentive structure for workers and firms. Experiences of oil exporters that managed to diversify suggest that a focus on competing in international markets and an emphasis on technological upgrade and climb

Abstract
Industrial policy is tainted with bad reputation among policymakers and academics and is often viewed as the road to perdition for developing economies. Yet the success of the Asian Miracles with industrial policy stands as an uncomfortable story that many ignore or claim it cannot be replicated. We argue that one can learn from these miracles and we suggest that three key principles were behind their success: (i) the support of domestic producers in sophisticated industries, beyond the initial comparative advantage; (ii) export orientation; and (iii) the pursuit of fierce competition with strict accountability.

AbstractThe Asian miracles along with a handful of European economies and oil exporters are the few countries that reached high‐income status during 1960–2014. In contrast, many good‐performing countries such as Malaysia have been middle‐income countries for several decades despite relatively strong growth and a substantial improvement in education and export sophistication. We argue that the key factor differentiating the Asian miracles from economies like Malaysia is the creation of technologies by domestic firms and leapfrogging to the technological frontier at an early stage of development.