We often are mystified by the miracle of economic development of neighboring countries. With no extractive wealth resources these countries managed to be richer than most of other nations.
But they did with much help from friends. US helped Japan by encouraging it to manufacturing goods and exporting the same to US. Korea survived postwar with aid from USA sometimes up to 80% of Korean budget and entering into huge contracts with US companies for outsourcing. China grew big because of outsourcing of cheap products for US retailers. Taiwan industrialized when under Japan. It developed its agriculture when it exported food to Japan
We are glad that PHL on its own step by step grew on its own. By trial and error.
