抄録
Since the middle of the nineteenth century the traditional rice exporting countries of Southeast Asia, namely Burma, Thailand and Indochina (South Vietnam and Cambodia) have experienced and are continuing to experience agricultural and agriculture-based economic development in three phases. The first and longest phase is the development of export-oriented rice culture, which lasted until the outbreak of World War II, making these countries the rice bowl of the world. The second phase is the development of various crops other than rice which began in the 1950s and is still proceeding; rapid expansion in the production of these new upland and garden crops being made possible by growing foreign and domestic demand. The third and newest phase is the trend to re-development of rice culture which appeared in the latter half of the 1960s and is now gaining momentum. It has been widely accepted that a suitable theoretical explanation for this development is provided by H. Myint's theory on tropical export economies.
In this article, the author points out that : (1) the theoretical explanation provided by H. Myint's theory is insufficient for the first and the second phases of development and inappropriate for the third phase; and that (2) a new theoretical explanation must be found which fully utilizes the findings of area studies on mainland Southeast Asia now in progress and examines the applicability of other theories such as the "staple theory" of economic development and the various theories concerning the "green revolution."
