Long waves of economic growth in Asia and Western Europe, 1950-2020: are there any circular-cumulative causation and contradiction aspects?

ABSTRACT This paper discusses some comparative analysis between the pattern of economic performances in Asia and Western Europe during 1950s-2020s through political economies perspective. The Asian and Western European economic performances are investigated through some stylized facts in the sense of economic factors. Three analyses are used to explain the general pattern of these regions. First, this study examines the pattern of GDP growth per capita during the 1950s-2020s, focusing on several countries in this region. Second, the analysis captures the pattern of linkages of economic variables in this region related to the principle of Circular and Cumulative causation (CCC) and contradiction. Third, the analysis employs a historical perspective underpinned by the results in the second analysis. This third analysis is crucial to appreciating Asia’s global economic performance and also the process of Western deterioration phenomenon through long wave, including the occurrence recession and financial crises. The institutions of globalization and neoliberalism that put the power of capital promoted a financial crisis several times during the decades of 1980s-2020. The financial crisis is depicted by contradictions in the structural linkages among economic factors in Western Europe over the period.