In this way, the Asian economy came to exemplify Arthur Lewis's model of development through the harnessing of the productive power of its excess population.
In a paper published in 1954, Professor Lewis pointed out that, in the case of an economy with overpopulation, once capital is supplied through the import of foreign savings, for example, and combined with the domestic low-waged human resources, an economic environment of low wage cost with high return in industrial sector would be formed, making it possible to achieve high growth.