> > No country developed by practicing free trade
>
> Hong Kong?
The exception which proves the developmental state rule. Hong Kong was:
1. already a wealthy entrepot in 1945, despite wartime destruction and occupation, with accumulated skills, facilities, etc. 2. a recipient of waves of migration from China, including the *entire* bourgeoisie of Shanghai, probably the most industrialized region of pre-revolutionary China, who brought their credit, capital and machinery with them; we're talking millions of the best-educated, professional folks in China 3. benefitted from the trade embargo imposed on revolutionary China by the US, because imports/exports had to go through Hong Kong.
-- Dennis