In both Taiwan and South Korea, economic freedom has seemed to translate into political freedom, as the blossoming of a modern capitalist economy was followed by the blossoming of democracy. The one Asian exception to the rule is Singapore, where a fairly authoritarian government continues to coexist with a capitalist economy. It may be no coincidence that Singapore is an island city-state, making it relatively easy for a centralized authority to keep tabs on the whole nation. (It may also be, as some claim, that the repressiveness of daily life in Singapore has been somewhat exaggerated—and is in any event less pronounced than it was decades ago.) Outside of Asia, there is much recent evidence—most notably in Latin America—that economic liberalization in the information age often goes hand in hand with political liberalization.