束亞諸國戰後經濟發展的成績遠優於其他後進國家,但要如何解釋這表現上的差異,則是經濟發展領域中有高度爭議性的重要課題。本文以台灣戰後經濟發展為題,檢討關於台灣戰後經濟發展成因的各種不同解釋,期望有助釐清此重要議題。本文從「日本殖民統治是否帶來台灣戰後工業化」這問題來切入探討,並援引了南韓方面在這問題上的論爭與討論。學者幾都同意在日據時期,殖民政府在台灣引進了殖民現代化,幫助奠立日後工業化的基礎,因此爭議之處應在於殖民統治影響,是否帶來了可以自行持續發展的資本主義發展。雖然持自由市場論的主流經濟學者認為必然如此,但這是需要被證明檢驗的。 就本文所提問題,其他相關主要解釋因素為:冷戰架構與美國角色,國民政府在大陸時期的傳承,國民政府在台灣時期的作為。在經濟發展理論層次,自由市場論與結構學派,在公共政策所能扮演的角色上有截然不同的看法,這基本理論取向也影響了各種歷史性的解釋。我們未來必須進一步探討台灣戰後初期發展的實際情況,察看這些相關因素如何發生作用並影響到戰後台灣的經濟發展,才能真正回答上述的提問。
How to account for East Asian economic development has been an important and controversial topic in development economics. This paper uses Taiwan's postwar development as an example, and examines the various explanations of Taiwan's superior postwar growth record, hoping to shed some light on this complex problem. This paper first explores the controversy regarding to what extent, if any, the Japanese colonial legacy was responsible for the postwar industrialization in South Korea and Taiwan. The debate on the Korean case is discussed. Regarding the case of Taiwan, most scholars would agree that the colonial government introduced colonial modernity and helped to lay the foundation of subsequent industrialization. The contention hence lies in whether the colonial legacy had ”automatically” brought forth sustained economic development in the postwar period. For those economists adhering to the free market doctrines this would be self-evident, but for others the claim remains unproven and needs to be carefully scrutinized. Other explanatory factors include: the postwar cold war framework and the US role, the Chinese Republican legacy on the Mainland, and the actual policy actions undertaken by the Nationalist government in the early postwar period. Different theories assign different weights to each of these factors. We will need further studies to examine the actual development process in the early postwar period in Taiwan to verify the validity of the relevant theories.