"Virtually every country that has successfully transformed from poor to rich has done so through industrialization. Between 1750 and 1950, the West’s establishment as the world’s economic hegemon was fundamentally a process of becoming the world’s manufacturing hegemon. Since 1950, this pattern has persisted with remarkable consistency. A World Bank study published in 2008 identified 13 countries that sustained annual growth rates of 7% or higher for a period of 25 years or longer. Among these growth miracles, only two — Botswana and Oman, both small countries with highly idiosyncratic economic structures — achieved this without manufacturing-led development. Every other country on that list built its prosperity by expanding manufacturing capabilities.
More recent data by the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) arrive at similar conclusions. In their Industrial Development Report 2026, they highlight that 64% of growth episodes over the last 50 years can be directly attributed to manufacturing. Specific case-study evidence strengthens this hypothesis. The two most successful economic development stories of recent times as measured by sustained economic growth, China and Vietnam, achieved rapid growth through export-led industrialization. Both countries are currently two of the world’s strongest manufacturing economies (China, unquestionably, being the strongest).
In fact, the full historical record shows that no country except a few natural-resource rich states (mostly oil-dependent) or tiny financial havens has achieved high living standards without developing a competitive manufacturing sector. This is why “industrialized country” and “developed country” are used interchangeably.
The flip side tells the same story. Regions that have experienced premature de-industrialization have suffered growth slowdowns."
https://www.theglobalcurrents.com/p/why-developing-countries-cant-skip
#Manufacturing #DevelopingCountries #Services #PoliticalEconomy #Industrialization
サファイア・ネオ
ポイズン雷花
Miguel Afonso Caetano
China Business Forum
chirp
Politico.eu (Unofficial RSS)
