The Brunei petroleum principality, as an example, is a "special 'booming economy'. The economic performance of the Philippines has been more akin to that of the developing countries of Latin America than to the East Asian '7'. China only began to grow rapidly in the 1980s. Vietnam is only now beginning to emerge from a central planning straight jacket. Laos and Cambodia are barely functioning. The Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) and Burma have not entered into the growth stakes" (Hughes, 1995, pp. 88-89).
The basic model of international trade is structured around the concept of comparative advantage (Byrns & Stone, 1992, pp. 753-754). The theory of comparative advantage holds that mutually advantageous trade between countries will always be available, because trade patterns will be based on relative prices, as opposed to absolute prices (the theory of absolute advantage, wherein mutually advantageous trade between countries might not always be possible). The reaso
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