Compressed Development

Compressed Development examines how experiences of economic and social development have changed and are continuing to change. What used to be clear development 'stages' in the 'late development' era now unfold simultaneously, or out of sequence. States and markets, organizations and technologies co-evolve more rapidly and supra-nationally, diminishing some of the levers of state control and creating new opportunities and challenges for policymakers, businesses, and civil society.

Development and integration into the global economy has always been shaped by prevailing geopolitical, institutional, and ideological forces. This book details how the post-1980s era has unleashed a set of political, institutional, organizational, and technological forces that contrast sharply with the post-war decades. All this has intensified compression, resulting in partial or 'thin' industrialization even in successful developers; disconnections between technological, economic, and social upgrading; and new policy challenges in a context of actor proliferation. Compressed developers may face 'premature ageing' and 'double burdens', such as obesity and type 2 diabetes at the same time as communicable diseases. Even countries that have grown with unprecedented speed risk becoming mired in a 'middle-income trap' while others remain stalled or disconnected. Through the lens of time and timing the book offers a unique perspective on post-late development and prospects for the developmental state.

D. Hugh Whittaker, Professor in the Economy and Business of Japan, University of Oxford,Timothy Sturgeon, Senior Researcher, MIT,Toshie Okita, Independent Researcher, ,Tianbiao Zhu, Professor, Deputy Chair for the Department of Sociology, and Executive Director for the Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities and Social Sciences, Zhejiang University

D. Hugh Whittaker is Professor in the Economy and Business of Japan, and Fellow of St Antony's College, University of Oxford. His research interests encompass Japanese and comparative employment, innovation and technology management, small firms and entrepreneurship, and development.


Timothy Sturgeon earned his bachelors, masters, and PhD degrees in Economic Geography from the University of California at Berkeley. He then took up a series of research positions at MIT that have allowed him to explore how evolving technologies and business models are altering linkages between industrialized and developing economies, with an emphasis on offshoring and outsourcing practices in the electronics, automotive, and services industries.


Toshie Okita an independent researcher based in Tokyo. She has taught at University of Cambridge, Doshisha University, and the University of the Sacred Heart, Tokyo, and has been a Research Associate at the Nissan Institute, University of Oxford. Her research looks at the sociology of education, sociology of the family, socio-linguistics, youth transition, and social policy.


Tianbiao Zhu is Professor, Deputy Chair for the Department of Sociology, and Executive Director for the Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities and Social Sciences at Zhejiang University. His teaching and research interests include international and comparative politics, international and comparative political economy, and political economy of development.

Compressed Development, an Introduction
Part 1: Conceptualizing Compressed Development
1. Time Compression: From Stages To Simultaneity
2. Eras: States and Markets
3. Eras: Organizations and Technology
Part 2: Experiences of Compressed Development
4. China and Japan's Divergent Institutions
5. Varieties of Compressed Development
6. Employment, Skills, and Upgrading
7. Social Policy: Education as a New Frontier of Compression
Part 3: Navigating Compressed Development
8. The Adaptive (Developmental) State
9. Are We All Compressed Developers?