AHC Make the Philippines like South Korea in terms of economic power

the Philippines had potential after ww2 but it never really happened for them during the Cold War period, at the start of the 60s it had only over 1 million people more than South Korea but nearly double the raw and per capita gdp, so why did South Korea succeed and what needed to happen for the Philippines for it to keep up the same growth with the Koreans.
 
Marcos gets the boot 10 years prior. That should help at least partially.

Marco's regieme took a country on the right track and triple screwed them...

Ok there is no fast way to it, simply have the Phillippines focus on infostructor good governance and use US aid and the Korean and Veitnam wars to move up the value chain. This is a process that will take about 50-60 years or so. Then they will be there.

Really the Philiinppines has what they need to be a developed rich nation they just need better roads, better cities and better government and time.
 
Check EcoBoom's alternate Philippines scenario.

I wouldn't particularly call it plausible, but it was EcoBoom's first TL and it gives a pretty good idea of how the Philippines would look if such a development model was put in place. Enlightened me a lot about Philippine culture too.

For my part I would encourage the following:
  • Establishment of an education system that encourages nationalism over regionalism, along with high competition on the tertiary level
  • Establishment of an institution that spans all economic and ethnic categories and encourages peaceful interaction between peoples(most likely the military in a conscription system)
  • Encouraged development in specific markets with strong government investments, along with hand-picking adventurous and smart entrepreneurs to groom for a long-term alliance(first focus should be in light, not heavy industry)
  • Strong economic cooperation with more economically developed countries(Japan in ROK's case, possibly both Japan and Australia for Philippines)
  • Gaining headway in markets with great potential(medical engineering, silicons, aerospace, shipbuilding)
And this would take even the Philippines at least 20 years.
 
the Philippines had potential after ww2 but it never really happened for them during the Cold War period, at the start of the 60s it had only over 1 million people more than South Korea but nearly double the raw and per capita gdp, so why did South Korea succeed and what needed to happen for the Philippines for it to keep up the same growth with the Koreans.

If you keep the same economic growth with South Korea, Philippines won't be the same economic size as South Korea. If for example South Korea keeps the same economic growth at otl while Philippines patterns the same economic growth as South Korea, Philippine economy would be the around otl Germany economic size. In between Japan and South Korea size in terms of GDP size or about twice that of South Korea.
 
For the countrywide institution, arguably, it already more or less (with obvious exceptions) exists - the Church.

And one way to aid development would be to heavily tone down the Filipino First Policy, and encourage FDI. Yes, it makes good electoral propaganda, but it's also not the thing a developing country needs.
 
For the countrywide institution, arguably, it already more or less (with obvious exceptions) exists - the Church.

And one way to aid development would be to heavily tone down the Filipino First Policy, and encourage FDI. Yes, it makes good electoral propaganda, but it's also not the thing a developing country needs.

I don't think Philippine development is dependent on FDI. It is more dependent on transfer of technology or copying of technology but locally produced/invesment. local capital otl 50-60s had the cash to invest.

i believe the main culprit of otl Garcia presidency is the Austerity program. You cannot grow an economy when the government encourages to spend less. It controlled importation, thus discourages low cost outsourcing, focuses on Agriculture. Increase taxation for the rich.

Imo, Garcia presidency otl more or less looked like socialist government policies.
 
Have the independence be delayed by 15 to 20 years so that there would be massive American investment in rebuilding destroyed infrastructure after WWII. Delaying the independence would able the Americans to enforce necessary measures for industrialization like land reform.

Another reason on why Philippines did not grow like South Korea after independence was the inability of the government to spur infrastructure spending that could have spark additional 3% to GDP growth. Another thing was that the Philippines has (until today) a restricted foreign participation in government infrastructure projects which stalled infrastructure spending to the lowest level. For the Philippines to grow like what South Korea had done needs to increase infrastructure spending to 10% to GDP and freer markets.
 
The problem with that, of course, is that many Filipinos will see delay as a betrayal, especially after all they went through during the War. The Americans holding on would probably lead to an even fiercer Huk insurgency, which would drag the US into a Vietnam style quagmire 20 years early, which will likely end up with a Maoist Philippines.

Delaying independence is a cure worse than the disease. On the one hand you get land reform. On the other hand, we end up with the Cultural Revolution a la Red China.
 
The Americans industrializing Philippines in 1946 is ASB. If they wanted to industrialize Philippines, they would have done it in 1902.

I also don't think USA would delay independence with a pod post world war 2. Otherwise, they need to pass a law to contradict the previous law. Besides, how popular or unpopular would this be to US voters.

I also don't think land reform is the key to economic success. I believe land reform is one the hindrances of economic development in the Philippines. If someone wants to buy land from another person, you can buy it thru normal business transactions. Tenancy act is disastrous for the long term. Better to have an employee and employer relationship than a tenant having power to disrupt productivity and demand left and right
 
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