Business History Conference 3
Economic History Association 1
Historical Society for Twentieth-Century China 1
Session Abstract
This panel brings together historians working on different aspects of Taiwan’s industrialization and development. Emily Hill questions the state-led industrialization narrative, arguing that domestic food policies in the 1950s accidentally led to industrialization in the 1960s. Ying Jia Tan explores the development of the petrochemical industry, showing how the First Naphtha Cracking Plant in 1968 brought in FDI and radically transformed the manufacturing processes of plastic resins. Macabe Keliher continues the inquiry of manufacturing capacity in his discussion of aluminum production and industrial consumption, arguing that upstream and midstream suppliers of aluminum helped drive downstream exports in electronics, textiles, and canned goods. Discussant Megan Greene wrote one of the first books rethinking Taiwan’s development and will help shed new light on these emerging historiographical trends.
In grappling with questions of Taiwan’s position within post-war Chinese and East Asian history, this panel will be of interest to scholars of Taiwan, China, and East Asia. In addition, the focus of this panel on late industrialization and economic development will appeal to historians of capitalism and political economy; the case studies in particular industries and firms will engage business historians as well as those interested in the history of commodity production and circulation. Most importantly, the panel will speak to anyone who has ever asked how development occurs and an economy grows.