Decline of the Agricultural Welfare State?:
An Assessment of Structural Reforms in Japan
and Korea's Agricultural Sectors
Jennifer Oh
The nature of the state and whether it is able to create a national innovation system
have been the primary variables determining the direction of technology policy.
This article considers five major cases: Taiwan and Korea, India, China, and Tanzania.
Two of the cases, Taiwan and Korea, represent Newly Industrializing Economies,
while India and China represent emerging continental economies. All four have been,
to varying degrees, successful instances. Taiwan and Korea were able to link industrial
development with applied technology development, while China and India had mixed
successes and took much longer to realize technology policy goals. Tanzania illustrates
the difficulties encountered by developing countries in creating a science and technology
infrastructure. The article also presents theoretical implications of these cases, and
assesses shortcomings in technology policy literature.