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on South East Asia |
| By: | Joseph P.H. Fan; Randall Morck; Lixin Colin Xu; Bernard Yeung |
| Abstract: | Weak institutions ought to deter foreign direction investment (FDI), and mass media stories highlight China's institutional deficiencies, yet China is now one of the world's largest FDI destinations. This incongruity characterizes China's paradoxical growth. Cross-country regressions show that China's FDI inflow is not exceptionally large, given the quality of its institutions and its economic track record. Institutions clearly determine a country's allure as an FDI destination, but standard measures of institutional quality can be problematic for countries undergoing rapid institutional development, and can usefully be augmented by economic track record measures. Deng Xiaoping's 1993 "southern tour" heralded sweeping reforms, and this regime shift is insufficiently reflected in commonly used measures of institutional quality. China's FDI inflow surge after these reforms resembles similar post-regime shift surges in the East Bloc, and so is also unexceptional. Recent arguments that China's FDI inflow is inefficiently large because weak institutions deter domestic investment while special initiatives attract FDI are thus either unsupported or not unique to China. |
| JEL: | F21 F23 G15 G38 O19 O43 O53 P34 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13435&r=sea |
| By: | Olarreaga, Marcelo; Lederman, Daniel; Cravino, Javier |
| Abstract: | In spite of the growing concerns about foreign direct investment being diverted from Latin America to China and India, the best available data show that Latin America has performed relatively well since 1997. Foreign capital stocks from OECD countries and the United States in particular in China and India are still far from those in the largest Latin American economies. The evidence shows that foreign capital stocks in China increased more than in Latin America during 1990-1997, but not as much since 1997. In fact, Latin America has actually performed better than China since 1997 given its lack of relative growth. The growth of foreign capital stocks in India was more stable than in China. Nonetheless, after controlling for shocks emanating from the source countries and bilateral distance between source and host countries, this paper finds a significant change in foreign capital stocks relative to China between 1990 and 1997, but no change relative to India. |
| Keywords: | Debt Markets,Transport and Trade Logistics,Common Carriers Industry,,Corporate Law |
| Date: | 2007–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4360&r=sea |
| By: | Masayuki Tanimoto (Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo) |
| Abstract: | The argument of "labour intensive industrialization" in East Asia, which has been raised by Kaoru Sugihara and Kenneth Pomeranz, seems to rest on the "peasant economy" as a concept. In deed, the plural employment strategy of peasant household has often been regarded as the typical examples of the "industrious" behaviour that characterizes "labour-intensive industrialization". In other words, the argument has emphasized the agrarian bases of the "labour-intensive industrialization" in East Asia. The notion of industrialization, however, intrinsically implies the process of de-agriculturization. How can we extend the notion of "labour-intensive industrialization" originally based in an agrarian setting to the non-agrarian sphere? The paper explores this question by analyzing the foundation of the small scale industries in 19th and 20th century Japan, during the transformation of the economy's base from peasant economy to urban agglomeration. The weaving and the export-oriented "miscellaneous" industries, particularly toy industry, will exemplify the argument. Besides the centralized factory system, the development of the dispersed production system based on the household economy including a certain level of skill formation played the significant role in the industries. Reiterating the relatively high proportion of small and medium enterprises in the industrial organization, as well as the high self-employment rate among the working population in the contemporary Japan, the analysis is expected to show an another path of industrialization in East Asia. |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tky:fseres:2007cf516&r=sea |
| By: | Sarkar, Prabirjit |
| Abstract: | The present study examines the relationship between openness (trade-GDP ratio) and growth. Our cross-country panel data analysis of a sample 51 countries of the South during 1981-2002 shows that for only 11 rich and highly trade-dependent countries a higher real growth is associated with a higher trade share. Time series study of individual country experiences shows that the majority of the countries covered in the sample including the East Asian countries experienced no positive long-term relationship between openness and growth during 1961-2002. Our study of the experience of various regions and groups shows that only the Middle Income group exhibited a positive long-term relationship. |
| Keywords: | growth; opening up; liberalization; less developed countries and globalization. |
| JEL: | F02 F43 O50 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:4997&r=sea |
| By: | van de Walle, Dominique; Ravallion, Martin; Lambert, Sylvie |
| Abstract: | This paper shows how differences in aggregate human development outcomes over time and space can be additively decomposed into a pure economic-growth component, a component attributed to differences in the distribution of income, and components attributed to " non-income " factors and differences in the model linking outcomes to income or non-income characteristics. The income effect at the micro level is modeled non-parametrically, so as to flexibly reflect distributional changes. The paper illustrates the decomposition using data for Morocco and Vietnam, and the results offer some surprising insights into the observed aggregate gains in schooling attainments. A user friendly STATA program is available to implement the method in other settings. |
| Keywords: | Primary Education,Education For All,Population Policies,Rural Poverty Reduction,Inequality |
| Date: | 2007–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4358&r=sea |