This book, first published in 2006, offers an explanation of the development paths of post-World War II Korea and Taiwan.The economies of South Korea and Taiwan in the second half of the 20th century are to scholars of economic development what the economy of Britain in the late 18th and early 19th century is to economic historians. This book, a collaboration between a leading trade economist and a leading economic sociologist specializing in East Asia, offers a fresh, original explanation of the development paths of post-World War II South Korea and Taiwan. The ambitions of the authors go beyond this, however. They use these cases to reshape the way economists, sociologists, and political scientists will think about economic organization in the future.The economies of South Korea and Taiwan in the second half of the 20th century are to scholars of economic development what the economy of Britain in the late 18th and early 19th century is to economic historians. This book, a collaboration between a leading trade economist and a leading economic sociologist specializing in East Asia, offers a fresh, original explanation of the development paths of post-World War II South Korea and Taiwan. The ambitions of the authors go beyond this, however. They use these cases to reshape the way economists, sociologists, and political scientists will think about economic organization in the future.The result of a collaboration between a leading trade economist and a leading economic sociologist specializing in East Asia, this volume offers an original explanation of the development paths of post-World War II Korea and Taiwan. that attempts to reshape the way economists, sociologists, and political scientists will think about economic organization in the future. One of the principal empirical findings, within their theory of how capitalist economies become organized, is that a primary cause for the industrialization of East Asia is the retail revolution in the United States al³…