After changing the topic of my dissertation a couple of times, I think I found one that I will stick to (hopefully): 'The Tiger Economies and the Creative Industries'. Since I'm fascinated by East Asian cultures and countries and have tried to connect most of my research to the creative industries, that topic fits quite well. To make the head of the my programme at college happy as well, it is also a very interesting field regarding economic development.
The Four Tigers is a term used to describe 4 economies in East Asia, which have seen rapid economic growth in the last decades and which have served as role models for other developing economies. The 4 economies are South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. The growth in the 60s - 90s was dominantly triggered by export-led manufacturing, very successfully. Furthermore, in all those countries (let's just call Taiwan a country as well..., sorry China!), the government played a very important role and supported the economy heavily with subsidies and development policies.
In recent years another development can be observed. All four Tigers, especially Hong Kong and South Korea, invested significantly in the knowledge based economy, in particular the creative industries. The Hong Kong films became very popular in China and other South East Asian countries and with the 'Korean Wave', we have seen an immense popularity of Korean music, films and TV series in Japan, China and Taiwan.
The Four Tigers could serve again as examples of how they made the next step from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy and to show how important the creative industries are not only for a rich culture, but also for economic growth and development. The cases might inspire governments around the world, in developing and developed economies and hopefully lead to more policies supporting the creative industries.
In my research I will also find out how important the role of the government was and which part it played in the rise of East Asian creativity.
