>Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 16:09:42 -0400
>From: Doug Henwood
>Subject: Re: Anniversary
>Brad DeLong wrote:
>>No. No victory (save over Hitler, or over Imperial
>>Japan) is worth 3million dead.
>
>>But the Vietnamese Communist Party does not rank among
>>the economic and, I hope, soon political)
[dd interjects, hope in one hand and shit in the other, see which gets full first]
>> miracle regimes of East Asia, no? Much
>>better outcomes in South Korea and Malaysia and >>Thailand, no?
>SK derived considerable stimulus from procurement for the >war in Vietnam.
In the early 1960s, SK was regarded as a
>basket case by the development establishment, and South
>Vietnam as a potential miracle.
>We don't really have great explanations for why some
>countries did well, and others (e.g. Indonesia) didn't.
I'd add to this that one of the most "disastrous" economic moves made by the Communist Party of Vietnam after taking over was to close down one of the country's most important industries and its single largest foreign exchange earner; the export and domestic consumption of heroin. You don't have to be some narconews type to have a look at the magnitudes involved in Alfred McCoy's book and surmise what kind of difference several hundreds of millions of dollars might have made. The order of magnitude is certainly that of a World Bank program.
Doesn't this suggest that there's something just a little bit wrong with your definition of "development", Brad?
dd
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