Over the past three decades the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has achieved a degree of economic development that has attracted worldwide attention. Its economy is growing at a pace that will qualify the ROC as a developed country by the turn of the century; in Asia it will be second only to Japan in per capita income. How has the economy been able to expand as rapidly as it has? What governmental policies enable it to sustain an annual growth rate that is at the forefront of the newly industrializing countries? These centrally important questions guide Schive's study of the economic modernization of Taiwan.