How is it that Taiwan's economic development has yielded miraculous achievements and become the model or exception among the developing countries? Following Taiwan's quick rise to the rank of industrialized nations the reason behind her achievements has also become a popular topic of discussion. Since the seventies such discussions have cropped up one after the other. The various explanations representing different standpoints and concepts may be divided into three schools: cultural analysis, institutional approach, and world-system theory.

Cultural analysts direct their attention to the optimistic effects of ideas and values, attempting to find the relationship between cultural factors and economic growth. The typical explanation for the developments and accomplishments of the so-called four little tigers of East Asia--the R.O.C., South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore are attributed to the Confucian culture they share and enjoy. Peter Berger's "Secularity: East and West" and "An East Asian Model for Development: The Cultural Factors of the Postwar Experience of Taiwan" both mention the concept of "vulgarized Confucian ethic," and he is the most representative and influential author on this theory. This viewpoint has been supported by many psychologists, historians, and sociologists. They emphasize that the rationality, practicality, and common characteristics of the Confucian ethic, such as the virtues of diligence and frugality, emphasis on education, and family cohesion, are beneficial in nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit and have been an important factor in Taiwan's modernization.

The institutional approach is another popular and predominant viewpoint. Most members of this group are economists and also include some technocrats like economic planners and finance specialists. Fei Ranis and Kuo coauthored Growth With Equity: The Taiwan Case and Economic Growth and Structural Change in Taiwan edited by Walter Galenson, which may be said to be the representative work of the institutional approach, emphasizing results of the free market and political planning. Citing the background of Taiwan's experience as an example they affirm the equal development of agriculture and industry, import substitutes, export expansion, and various practical stratagems like the industrial planning of the work-force and the gathering of capital, the complementing of private and national industries, and public investment. On account of this they hold the view that the economic accomplishments of Taiwan are the result of keen administrative planning by the government under a free economic system. Whether it depends on factors of culture or of the system, the above two viewpoints both advocate the modernization theory and emphasize the results of internal factors within society.

The world-system theory opposes this viewpoint and emphasizes the influence of the external structural factors like the characteristics of foreign trade structure and foreign investment. According to the world-system theorists, Taiwan's experience of development obviously has the characteristic of dependency. Even so, Taiwan has avoided pitfalls like the dual develop-mental gap, which most dependent nations have. Barrett and Whyte explain in their book Dependency Theory and Taiwan: Analysis of a Deviant Case that Taiwan is an exception to the dependency theory.

In order to overcome the difficulties mentioned above, the way out may be found by leaving the theoretical models behind and by delving into historical substance. To do so we must first reflect thoroughly on the ideology and myths of the theories we quote. Even more so we have to return to the world of everyday living, realistically and open-mindedly looking at the underlying pattern of Taiwan's economy. Scholars should increase their research in these areas and manifest results like Taiwan's experience which has caught the attention and won the respect of people from around the world. The fact that the R.O.C. is forging ahead towards the reality of being a developed country is a challenge and opportunity for researchers to once again create another "Taiwan experience."