Confucian culture does place greater importance on discipline, learning and education than other cultures, which is conducive for economic development in the early stages. It's not the only factor but definitely a major factor.
But I would add that too much of anything is a bad thing. East Asian cultures have among the lowest TFRs in the world as a result, and its population share of the world is rapidly shrinking.
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population.un.org
Japan and SK is already witnessing a shrinking population. China's population will also start to decline by this year or next year.
And the population decline will continue for 30 years, 50 years, 100 years and beyond. I don't see how the problem can be reversed in the foreseeable future when TFR is so abysmally low at almost half the replacement rate of 2.1. Each generation will be almost be half the size of the previous generation at current TFRs. Large scale immigration is unlikely.
An ever shrinking population will eventually lead to a stagnant economy. Productivity gains will be wiped out by the fall in labor force, like in Japan. Not to mention the structural aging population which further adds pressure on the economy.
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One of the world’s oldest societies sees economy contract
www.ft.com