Misery beneath the Miracle in East Asia

Arvid J. Lukauskas, Yumiko Shimabukuro

• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781501778759
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political Economy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Misery beneath the Miracle in East Asia challenges prevailing views of the East Asian economic miracle. Existing scholarship has overlooked the severity, persistence, and harmful consequences of the social-welfare crises affecting the region. Arvid J. Lukauskas and Yumiko Shimabukuro fill this gap and put a major asterisk on East Asia's economic record.

Combining big-picture analysis, abundant data, a dynamic interdisciplinary framework, and powerful human stories, they shed light on the social ills that governments have failed to address adequately, including low wages, child abuse, elderly poverty, and substandard housing. One of the major forces behind the multidimensional welfare crises is the region's productivist welfare strategy, which prioritizes economic growth while abandoning a robust social safety net, leaving the most vulnerable segments of society largely unprotected.

Misery beneath the Miracle in East Asia brings the region into debates over the dangers of seeking growth at all costs that are currently embroiling the United States and other advanced industrialized countries.

Table of contents

• Acknowledgments
• List of Abbreviations
• Introduction: Societies in Distress
• 1. The Promise and Perils of Productivism
• 2. Misery in the Golden Years: The Old Age Crisis in South Korea
• 3. Broken Promises: The Low Wage Crisis in High Performing Taiwan
• 4. Abused and Neglected: The Other Children’s Welfare Crisis in Japan
• 5. In the Shadow of Victoria Peak: The Affordable Housing Crisis in Hong Kong
• 6. Left Behind: Misery beneath the Miracle in China
• Conclusion: Lessons from East Asia and Advancing a New Research Agenda
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index