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The category of 'newly-industrialized country' ('NIC') is a socioeconomic classification applied to several countries around the world by political scientists and economists.
NICs are countries whose economies have not yet reached first world status but have, in a macroeconomic sense, outpaced their developing counterparts. Another characterization of NICs is that of nations undergoing rapid economic growth (usually export-oriented). Incipient or ongoing industrialization is an important indicator of a NIC. In many NICs, social upheaval can occur as primarily rural, agricultural populations migrate to the cities, where the growth of manufacturing concerns and factories can draw many thousands of laborers.
NICs usually share some other common features, including:

★ Increased social freedoms and civil rights.

★ A switch from agricultural to industrial economies, especially in the manufacturing sector.

★ An increasingly open-market economy, allowing free trade with other nations in the world.

★ Large national corporations operating in several continents.

★ Strong capital investment from foreign countries.

★ Political leadership in their area of influence.
NICs often receive support from non-governmental organizations such as the WTO and other internal support bodies. However, as environmental, labor and social standards tend to be significantly weaker in NICs, many fair trade supporters have advocated standards for importing their products and criticized the outsourcing of jobs to NICs, especially from/to the People's Republic of China and India.

Contents

Historical context

Current NIC countries

Brief economic analysis

Issues

References

See also

Historical context

The term began to be used in the 1970s when the so-called "East Asian Tigers"^[1] of Hong Kong (then colony of the United Kingdom), South Korea, Singapore and the Republic of China (Taiwan) rose to global prominence with rapid industrial growth since the 1960s, most now having evolved beyond this status. There is a distinction between these countries and the nations now considered to be NICs. In particular, the combination of an open political process, high per capita GDP income and a thriving, export-oriented economic policy has shown that these countries have now reached the ranks of developed countries. All of them possess an HDI (Human development index) over 0.9, equal to the average of EU countries. Finally, South Korea is now part of the OECD.

Current NIC countries

The following table presents the list of countries currently considered NICs in each continent by different authors Globalization and the Transformation of Foreign Economic Policy, Paweł Bożyk, , , Ashgate Publishing, Ltd, 2006, The Limits of Convergence, Mauro F. Guillén, , , Princeton University Press, 2003, Geography, An Integrated Approach, David Waugh, , , Nelson Thornes Ltd., 3rd edition 2000, Principles of Economics, N. Gregory Mankiw, , , , 4th Edition 2007, . Some authors still consider the first generation list of countries (South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong^[2]) as NICs, and some others argue they are now developed countries.

Continent	Country	GDP (Millions of USD)	GDP per capita (USD)	Income equality (GINI)	HDI (2004)
Africa	South Africa	587,500	'13,300'	'57.8'	0.653 (medium)
North America	Mexico	1,108,281	11,249	47.3	'0.821' (high)
South America	Brazil	1,566,253	9,108	54	0.792 (medium)
Asia	China	'8,814,860'	7,598	44.7	0.768 (medium)
	India	3,779,044	'3,737'	'32.5'	'0.611' (medium)
	Malaysia	'313,800'	12,900	49.2	0.805 (high)
	Philippines	508,546	5,714	46.1	0.763 (medium)
	Thailand	557,378	9,084	42	0.784 (medium)
Europe	Turkey	708,053	9,628	38	0.757 (medium)

NOTES:

1. GDP (PPP) (2005 data), and GDP (PPP) per capita (2006 data)^[3] figures correspond to the IMF.

2. GINI Coefficient as in the 2006 United Nations survey. The higher the figure, the higher the inequality.

3. Human Development Index (HDI) as in the 2006 United Nations report (data from 2004).
However, China and India are special cases: the immense population of these two nations (over two billion people combined as of November 2006) means that per capita income will remain low even if either economy surpasses that of the United States of America. However, keeping PPP in mind, the Chinese and Indian populations will enjoy significantly reduced costs of living, as basic commodities tend to be less expensive in both nations.
Additionally the group composed of Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa meet annually with the G8 countries to discuss financial topics and climate change, due to their economic importance in today's global market and environmental impact, in a group known as G8+5.^[4]

Brief economic analysis

NICs usually benefit from comparatively low labor costs, which translates into lower input prices for suppliers. This shifts the labor supply curve downwards, resulting in a lower equilibrium wage and a reduced number of labor-hours per worker. As a result, it is often easier for producers in NICs to outperform and outproduce factories in developed countries, where the cost of living is higher, and labor unions and other organizations have more political sway.
This comparative advantage is often criticized by those advocates of the fair trade movement.

Issues

Economic freedom is not always associated with political freedom in nations such as the People's Republic of China, where Internet censorship, the suppression of religion, and other abuses of civil rights are common. The case is diametrically opposite in the case of India, which has been a liberal democracy throughout its post-colonial history. Other NICs vary between these two opposing examples. The Chinese government has responded to these accusations by arguing that China's increasing standard of living has provided a utilitarian social benefit that outweighs the detrimental effect of individual violations.
Countries such as Brazil, the Philippines, Thailand and Turkey have a relatively upper-middle per capita, compared to their national GDP and their current size of population.

References

1. Japan and the Newly Industrialized Economies
2. Crystal Reference Encilopedia
3. International Monetary Fund, GDP per capita (current prices)
4. G8 Structure and activities

See also

★ Emerging markets

★ G8+5

★ BRIMC

★ BRIC

★ Next Eleven

★ Science in Newly Industrialized Countries