Korea and Taiwan in 1960 had a per capita income no higher than Kenya at the time (CIA, 2007). Now, South Korea's income has moved to the top 12 in the world. Taiwan and Japan experienced similar growth. All three countries benefited primarily from freeing their currency, reducing barriers to company formation, and focusing their government policies on increasing productive capacity.

The second, and more dramatic, application of neoliberalistic ideas was in China and India. China's revolutionary changes started with Deng Xiao Ping's reforms in 1977-1981, in which he freed the peasants from communal farms; this followed from the 1965 reforms which allowed peasants 1/3 acre for their own cultivation. The latter action increased Chinese agricultural production by 30%, while the former (freeing the peasants) resulted in an increase in real peasant income in China by 40% during the 1980's. Few recognize that this was the first and most dramatic...
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