Newly Industrializing Countries

Newly industrializing countries (NICs), sometimes also called newly industrializing economies, are a group of states in the developing world that developed substantial manufacturing bases in the late 20th century. Definitions of this group vary, but they are generally taken to be states that exhibited rapid and sustained increases in GDP, incomes, and industrial employment. Most are located in Asia, although several are found in Latin America as well (Figure 1). Other definitions of NICs include South Africa and Turkey.

The emergence of the NICs has significant implications for development theory as well as the lives of billions of people in the world. Modernization theorists trumpet their success as proof of the wonders of the market. Whereas dependency theorists maintained that the diffusion of manufacturing from the ...