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.

JEL Classification: B15; B52; P48.