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endowed with a richness of natural resources which has greatly helped them
to move into an era of intense and steady growth. By no means all have been
so fortunate. Hong Kong has not, for example, except in respect of its
port which is relevant to what I shall have to say later.
So the character, growth and size of the populations of the region
have contributed markedly to create an environment in which manpower could
be used effectively. At the same time, although you could hardly have a
greater diversity in the types of governments in the region or in the
philosophies and policies they have adopted, they have suited the varied
circumstances and characteristics of the people. In some places, governments
have played a major part in the state-led economic growth. In others, the
governments have adopted a less obtrusive role, simply creating an environ-
ment to enable people to develop their own capabilities on their own
initiatives.
If there is an economic factor common to them all, I suspect
it is the attention they have devoted to developing education and skills s0
that each society has been able to grow steadily in sophistication.
A consequence of all these aspects taken together is that the
populations concerned have been highly productive and have been able to
exploit the rapid expansion of world trade that has been such a feature of
the past 15-20 years. In consequence, despite the productivity of the
labour force, in most but not all countries, there was a relative shortage
of labour, particularly skilled labour. So wages rose rapidly, providing
the incentive to substitute capital for labour. The annual growth rate of
capital stock in the region has been noteworthy, in some cases sustained at
between 5% and 10% for long periods of time. Though these features have
been uneven, they have characterised the region as a whole.
/SHIPPING AND