- Chinese Taipei; Hong Kong, China; Korea and Singapore (the East Asian Newly Industrialised Countries or NICs) have been successful in attaining income convergence with high-income countries while Latin American countries remain caught in the Middle-Income Trap.
- The East Asian NICs pursued export-led growth by targeting strategic industries which facilitated gradual diversification and upgrading into new products that required similar skills and inputs.
- Comparing the experience of the NICs to Latin American economies reveals that successful diversification and upgrading of a country’s export structure requires coherent and complimentary policies in the areas of education, infrastructure, innovation and access to finance.
The Middle-Income Trap: Comparing Asian and Latin American Experiences
OECD Development Centre Policy Insights
