The middle income trap: A case study of Korea and lesson for Vietnam

In the 20th century, Asia was not only famous for war, poverty and backwardness but also for the emerging of Asian dragons like South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. These economies have successfully escaped from the middle income group to join high income economies with amazing growth rate. In 2008, Vietnam officially entered the group of middle-income countries, escaping from poverty and underdevelopment with rapidly increasing average income.