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on South East Asia |
| By: | Chisala, Chibwe |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the SMEs performance in Zambia and attempts to identify some practical lessons that Zambia can learn from Southeast Asian countries (with reference to Malaysia) in order to facilitate industrial development through unlocking the potential of its SMEs sector. Malaysia and Zambia were at the same level of economic development as evidenced by similar per capita incomes but Zambia has remained behind economically and its manufacturing sector has stagnated as if both countries did not have similar initial endowments. It therefore, becomes imperative that Zambia learns from such countries on how they managed to take-off economically with a focus on SME development. Training (education), research & development, market availability and technological advancement through establishment of industrial linkages coupled with cluster formation were some of the outstanding strategies identified that Zambia could use as a “key†to unlock its SMEs’ potential as it strives to meet the UN MDGs in particular halving its poverty levels by 2015 and also realizing its vision of becoming a middle income earner by 2030. |
| Keywords: | Development, SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises), MNCs (Multi-National Corporations), Zambia, Malaysia, Southeast Asia, Small and medium-scale enterprises, International business enterprises |
| JEL: | L60 O19 R20 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper134&r=sea |
| By: | Dirk Nabers (GIGA Institute of Asian Studies) |
| Abstract: | The leadership of powerful states in processes of regional institutionalization is a significant, though still widely ignored topic in the field of International Relations (IR). This study asks about the theoretical conditions of effective leadership in international institution- building, using China’s and Japan’s roles in East Asian regionalism as an empirical test case. It addresses the question of what actually happens when states perform the role of leader. Specifically, it focuses on the process of negotiating leadership claims, and different hypotheses are presented as to the requirements of effective leadership in international affairs. The findings point to the fact that leadership is effective and sustainable when foreign elites acknowledge the leader’s vision of international order and internalize it as their own. Leadership roles are often disputed and are constituted of shared ideas about self, other, and the world, relying on the intersubjective internalization of ideas, norms, and identities. |
| Keywords: | Leadership, China, Japan, ASEAN+3, East Asian Summit (EAS) |
| JEL: | F15 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gig:wpaper:67&r=sea |
| By: | Driffield, Nigel (Aston University); Pal, Sarmistha (Brunel University) |
| Abstract: | The present paper examines the capital structure adjustment dynamics of listed non-financial corporations in seven East Asian countries during 1994-2002. Compared to firms in the least affected countries, average leverages were much higher among firms in the worst affected countries while the average speeds of adjustment were lower. This general ranking is robust to various alternative specifications and sample selections. We argue that this pattern is closely linked to weaknesses in regulatory environment and lack of access to alternative sources of finance in the worst affected countries. |
| Keywords: | capital structure dynamics, partial adjustment models, firm- and time-varying speed, generalised methods of moments, inertia and endeavours |
| JEL: | G32 O16 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3426&r=sea |
| By: | Higashi, Shigeki |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes Japanese bilateral EPA negotiations, focusing on the areas that each country decided were most important, as well as which actors played the most important roles in each set of negotiations. The negotiations with Mexico and Thailand, which tried to increase agricultural exports to Japan through FTAs, will be discussed. Japan, one should note, still seeks to protect its agricultural sector in spite of the spread of liberalization. The Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia’s efforts to improve and compete in developing their automotive industries, in the face of the completion of AFTA in 2010, are also examined. In addition, this paper discusses whether economic cooperation, the essential Japanese strategy in EPA negotiations, alters the negotiation process in any significant way. |
| Keywords: | FTA (Free Trade Agreement), EPA (Economic Partnership Agreement), Policy making, Japan, ASEAN, Southeast Asia, International economic relations, International agreements, International cooperation |
| JEL: | D78 F13 L52 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper138&r=sea |
| By: | Sylvie Démurger; Marc Gurgand; Li Shi; Yue Ximing |
| Abstract: | In urban China, urban resident annual earnings are 1.3 times larger than long term rural migrant earnings as observed in a nationally representative sample in 2002. Using microsimulation, we decompose this difference into four sources, with particular attention to path dependence and statistical distribution of the estimated effects: (1) different allocation to sectors that pay different wages (sectoral effect); (2) hourly wage disparities across the two populations within sectors (wage effect); (3) different working times within sectors (hours effect); (4) different population structures (population effect). Although sector allocation is extremely contrasted, with very few migrants in the public sector and very few urban residents working as self-employed, this has no clear impact on differential earnings. Indeed, the sectoral effect is not robust to the path followed for the decomposition. We show that the migrant population has a comparative advantage in the private sector: increasing its participation into the public sector would not necessarily improve its average earnings. The second main finding is that the population effect is robust and significantly more important than wage or hours effects. This implies that the main source of disparity between the two populations is pre-market (education opportunities) rather than on-market. |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pse:psecon:2008-20&r=sea |
| By: | Li, Jia |
| Abstract: | This study aims to shed light on the linkage between real side and financial side of Chinese economy. Utilizing a financial social accounting matrix (F-SAM) for China, 2002, newly constructed for this purpose, the current study provides a consistent accounting system for Chinese economy. The F-SAM allows a close examination on the structural characteristics of Chinese economy from the perspective of flows of funds. The study goes further to multiplier analysis. The main findings are: first, real side and financial side of Chinese economy are intertwined with each other; secondly, the development of a modern financial system contributes to the growth of Chinese economy; thirdly, financial sector, in place of government, has come to play a central role in resource mobilization and allocation, although government maintains interventions through capital transfer to non-financial enterprises; fourthly, bank deposits and loans are single significant financial instruments in China’s resources mobilization and allocation processes. |
| Keywords: | financial social accounting matrix; China; multiplier analysis |
| JEL: | C63 C02 P34 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8174&r=sea |
| By: | Haiyan Deng (The Conference Board); Robert H. McGuckin (The Conference Board); John C. Haltiwanger (University of Maryland); Xu Jianyi (NBS); Liu Yaodong (NBS); Liu Yuqi (NBS) |
| Abstract: | China has exhibited very rapid measured aggregate productivity growth. At the same time, the structure of its markets and the structure of businesses have been changing at an equally rapid rate. In this paper, we measure the extent of restructuring and the reallocation of resources (including the reallocation of jobs) and then quantify the contribution of the reallocation and restructuring to the aggregate productivity growth of China's industrial structure. Our gross job flow analysis illustrates that reallocation and restructuring took many forms including shedding of jobs by government controlled enterprises and the increasing share of employment for FDI joint ventures. However, the analysis shows that it is not just shifts between firm types that are important but also reallocation and restructuring within firm types. For example, we find a high pace of job reallocation within SOEs and FDI joint ventures over and above what is needed to accommodate the net changes for these firm types (as high as 28 and 22 percent, respectively). We find evidence that the restructuring and reallocation contributed significantly to the high productivity growth. For example, our analysis shows that more than half of the labor productivity growth in 2001 is due to reallocation and restructuring. In that year, the industrial sector exhibited a labor productivity growth rate of around 22 percent which in the absence of reallocation and restructuring would have been around 10 percent. |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cnf:wpaper:0704&r=sea |
| By: | Okamoto, Ikuko |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of the recent shrimp export boom in Myanmar on the economic state of small-scale fishermen. Results indicate that there has been an active increase in shrimp fishing stimulated by expanding export demand. With this, the income of shrimp fishermen has increased dramatically in the past 10 years. However, future prospects appear gloomy due to the possibility of over exploitation of shrimp resources. |
| Keywords: | Fishery, Resources, Export, Myanmar, Marine products |
| JEL: | N5 Q2 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper135&r=sea |
| By: | Jacinto F. Fabiosa (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD); Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI)) |
| Abstract: | Highlighted in the "battle in Seattle" in 1999, anti-trade sentiments still persist, even with development considerations placed at the core of reform negotiations at the World Trade Organization, in which two-thirds of the members are developing countries. In this paper, the impact of agricultural trade liberalization on food consumption through changes in income and prices is considered. First, agricultural trade liberalization is estimated to raise economic growth by 0.43% and 0.46% in developing and industrialized countries, respectively. Since food consumption of households with lower income are more responsive to changes in income, their food consumption increases more under a trade liberalization regime. Second, trade liberalization is expected to raise world commodity prices in the range of 3% to 34%. Since, in general, border protection is much higher in developing countries and the level of their tariff rates are likely to exceed the rate of price increases, 87% to 99% of the 83 to 98 countries examined would have lower domestic prices under liberalization. Again, given that low-income countries are more responsive to changes in prices, food consumption in these countries would increase more. Finally, empirical evidence shows that if there is any harm on small net selling producers in a net importing country, it is neither large in scale nor widespread because the substitution effect dominates the net income effect from the lower domestic prices. |
| Keywords: | agricultural trade liberalization, income and price elasticity, income distribution, developing countries. |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:cpaper:08-wp466&r=sea |