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State-owned enterprises and the oil shocks in Taiwan: The political dynamics of economic adjustment

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Abstract

How have political forces shaped the economic performance of Taiwan’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs)? This article takes up that question with an analysis of Taiwan’s response to the oil shocks of the 1970s and early 1980s. It investigates the extent to which SOEs provided state managers with an effective means of economic adjustment. Attention is then turned to how political imperatives may influence economic outcomes. Following a general description of the political and economic aspects of Taiwan’s SOEs, the discussion is divided into three parts: the impact of the oil shocks on Taiwan; the SOEs’ role in adjustment to the oil shocks; and political dynamics of SOE adjustment.

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Authors
  1. George T. Crane
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Additional information

George T. Crane is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Williams College, Williamstown Massachusetts 01267. His primary research field is the political economy of China and East Asia. His book,The Political Economy of China’s Special Economic Zones, will be published by M.E. Sharpe and his co-edited reader,The Theoretical Evolution of International Political Economy, will be published in 1990 by Oxford University Press.

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Crane, G.T. State-owned enterprises and the oil shocks in Taiwan: The political dynamics of economic adjustment. Studies in Comparative International Development 24, 3–23 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02687096

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