East Asia Needs A New Growth Formula
The export-dependent development model that fueled Asia’s economic rise is nearing its end.

Female laborers work at a cloth factory in Huaibei city, Anhui province, east China on Jan. 19. PHOTO: © ZHENGYI XIE/CPRESSPHOTO/ZUMA PRESS
The East Asian economic model is running out of steam. Demographics and slowing growth in world trade will force Asia’s developing countries to rely more on internal demand instead of the outward-oriented policies that made their neighbors rich. That will mean slower growth and prolonged regional inequality.