|
on South East Asia |
| By: | Anh Vu Tuan |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to describe the patent systems of fast developing Asian countries (China, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) and understand the factors that drive the demand for patent in these countries. Patent systems in these countries have strengthened to a large extent, the number of patent applications has increased drastically, although at very different pace across countries. The policy mixes that seem to be associated with a strong increase in demand for patents are: i) policies aiming at attracting FDI; ii) low relative costs (or fees); and iii) a relatively low quality of the examination processes. The significant differences in the patent systems of fast developing countries echo the differences observed between the patent systems in Europe, the USA and Japan. |
| Keywords: | patent cost; patent quality; patent systems; fees,; FDI |
| JEL: | P14 P51 O34 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/93396&r=sea |
| By: | Römling, Cornelia; Qaim, Matin |
| Abstract: | Overweight and obesity are becoming serious issues in many developing countries. Since undernutrition is not completely eradicated yet, these countries face a dual burden that obstructs economic development. We analyze the nutrition transition in Indonesia using longitudinal data from the Indonesian Family and Life Survey, covering the period between 1993 and 2007. Obesity has been increasing remarkably across all population groups, including rural and low income strata. Prevalence rates are particularly high for women. We also develop a framework to analyze direct and indirect determinants of body mass index. This differentiation has rarely been made in previous research, but appears useful for policy making purposes. Regression models show that changing food consumption patterns coupled with decreasing physical activity levels during work and leisure time directly contribute to increasing obesity. Education, income, and marital status are significant determinants that influence nutritional status more indirectly. Change regressions underline that there are important path-dependencies. From a policy perspective, nutrition awareness and education campaigns, combined with programs to support leisure time exercise, seem to be most promising to contain the obesity pandemic. Women should be at the center of policy attention. -- |
| Keywords: | Obesity,Overweight,Nutrition Transition,Asia,Indonesia |
| JEL: | I10 O12 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:gdec11:70&r=sea |
| By: | Völker, Marc; Tongruksawattana, Songporne; Hardeweg, Bernd; Waibel, Hermann |
| Abstract: | A major risk factor for rural areas in emerging market economies, such as Thailand and Vietnam, can be attributed to climate change. Adoption of effective ex-ante mitigation strategies is a function of socio-economic household and location characteristics including, among others, the decision makers' perceptions of risk. This study aims to analyze both the determinants of climate-related risk perception and its influence on the choice of ex-ante mitigation strategies. In the context of the DFG research project Impact of Shocks on the Vulnerability to Poverty: Consequences for Development of Emerging Southeast Asian Economies, data were collected in a panel survey among some 4,400 rural households in 2007 and 2008 in six peripheral provinces in Thailand and Vietnam. Methodologically a three-step regression approach is applied. In the first step households' risk perception is explained. The second step is to assess general adoption of risk mitigation actions. In the third step the likelihood of households taking up particular ex-ante risk management strategies is established. Initial results show that rural households are particularly concerned about climate risk. However, the majority of households do not undertake any activity to mitigate risks ex-ante. The experience of climate shocks increases risk perception while other factors are also identified as significant determinants. For those who adopt preventive measures households in Vietnam particularly pre-adjust for storms while Thai households accommodate especially for drought. Findings are expected to be useful for the development of risk management strategies for rural households when differences in risk perception are taken into account. -- |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:gdec11:79&r=sea |
| By: | Priebe, Jan |
| Abstract: | Over the last two decades Indonesia has experienced a significant decline in fertility rates and substantial increases in the level of education of women. Despite this development female labor force participation rates have remained roughly constant throughout this period. This paper explores the causes for the seeming unresponsiveness of female labor supply to changes in fertility. The empirical analysis is performed using annual data from the national household survey Susenas for the period 1993-2008. The final sample comprises about 850,000 woman aged 21 to 35 with at least two children. Identification of causal effects builds upon the empirical strategy as outlined in Angrist and Evans (1998). The results suggest that a considerable share of women in Indonesia works in the labor market in order to finance basic expenditures on their children. Therefore, reductions in fertility rates seem to have led to two opposing effects that contributed to aggregate levels of female labor supply being constant. While some women were more likely to participate in the labor market due to a lower number of children, others might now lack the need to engage in the labor market due to a relaxation in their budget constraint. -- |
| Keywords: | Causality,Child Costs,Indonesia,Labor Supply,LATE |
| JEL: | C21 D01 J13 J20 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:gdec11:67&r=sea |
| By: | Gloede, Oliver; Menkhoff, Lukas; Waibel, Hermann |
| Abstract: | Are responses to a simple survey item sufficiently reliable in eliciting risk attitudes? Our angle in examining reliability is to conduct comparative research across Thailand and Vietnam. We find, first, that the survey item is informative about individual risk attitude because it is plausibly related to socio-demographic characteristics (including vulnerability), it is experimentally validated and has some predictive power. Second, however, we find major differences between both countries: whereas explained variances of regressions are tentatively higher in Vietnam, the predictive value of the survey item is much lower than in Thailand. Therefore, the survey item cannot be implemented across countries in an unreflected way. -- |
| Keywords: | risk attitude,socio-economic survey,household behavior,field experiment |
| JEL: | O1 R2 C93 D81 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:gdec11:33&r=sea |
| By: | Viswanathan, K. Kuperan |
| Abstract: | This is a keynote address at the ASEAN-SEAFDEC conference on Sustainable Fisheries for Food Security Towards 2020, Fish for the People 2020: Adaptation to a Changing Environment. It addresses theme one of the conference which is Enhancing Governance in Fisheries Management. With the deteriorating state of the fishery resources and the emerging fisheries-related issues during the past decade, there is an urgent need to address concerns on weak governance as the main underlying cause of overfishing. Many social scientists believe that improved governance with strong elements of self-governance, co-management, and community-based management are required for effective management of fisheries resources. |
| Keywords: | Fisheries Management; Governance; Co-management; Southeast Asia. |
| JEL: | Q0 Q01 Q22 |
| Date: | 2011–06–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32326&r=sea |
| By: | Christian von Soest; Karsten Bechle; Nina Korte |
| Abstract: | Neopatrimonialism is a concept that has predominately been applied to describe governance in sub?Saharan Africa. Recently, though, it has also been used to describe states from other world regions. However, scholars have rarely attempted to systematically compare neopatrimonial rule in different regional settings. This paper aims to narrow this gap by examining the effect of neopatrimonialism on the tax administration as a core state function in six countries from three different world regions: Argentina, Venezuela, Indonesia, the Philippines, Kenya and Zambia. We conclude that neopatrimonialism is a valuable concept for comparative area studies with the potential to foster dialogue on the “state in operation” across the regional divide. However, several indicators are more valid for some world regions than for others. We find that there is no systematic relationship between neopatrimonial trajectories and the strength of tax administration. Individual actor decisions influence the outcomes of neopatrimonialism substantially. |
| Keywords: | neopatrimonialism, governance, institutions, Argentina, Venezuela, Indonesia, Philippines, Kenya, Zambia |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gig:wpaper:172&r=sea |
| By: | Rao, B. Bhaskara; Cooray, Arusha; Hassan, Gazi Mainul |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the Extreme Bounds Analysis (EBA) to find robust and permanent growth effects of education by using enrolment ratios and its components in a panel of Asian countries. It is found that male and female primary and secondary enrolment ratios have robust but small permanent growth effects. However, the growth effects of male and female tertiary enrolment ratios are fragile and insignificant. In contrast to the existing estimates in the literature, which do not distinguish between the transitory and permanent growth effects, our estimated permanent growth effects are small but significant. |
| Keywords: | Education and growth; Solow Growth Model; Extreme bounds analysis and Total factor productivity. |
| JEL: | O11 O15 |
| Date: | 2011–07–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32279&r=sea |
| By: | Thuan Quang Thai (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Evangelos M. Falaris |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of early life conditions, proxied by rainfall shocks, on schooling and height in rural Vietnam. Our measure of rainfall shock is defined as deviations from the long-run average. Vietnamese rural dwellers engage in rain-fed crop production, mostly irrigated paddy rice. Sufficient annual rainfall could play an important role in the harvest and thus, the household income. Nutritional deficiencies resulting from the household's income shocks may have negative consequences on health. We find that negative rainfall shocks during gestation delays school entry and slows progress through school. In addition, negative rainfall shocks in the third year of life affects adversely both schooling and height. The effects differ by region in ways that reflect differing constraints on families that are shaped by regional economic heterogeneity. We predict that policies that help rural families smooth income shocks will result in increases in human capital and in substantial cumulative returns in productivity over the life course. |
| Keywords: | Vietnam, child nutrition, early childhood, school enrolment |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2011-011&r=sea |
| By: | Chang, Kuang Liang; Chen, Nan Kuang; Leung, Charles Ka Yui |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the dynamics of housing returns in Singapore. We first extract the movements of Singapore's economic aggregates that are free from foreign (U.S. and rest of the world) factors, and then examine the determinants of its housing returns. We find that both the domestic variables (such as GDP growth rate, volume of international trade, and exchange rate) and U.S. variables (such as the Federal Fund Rate and the External Finance Premium) are important during the boom regime. The bust regime is very different. Directions for future research are discussed. |
| Keywords: | house price; international transmission mechanism; regime-switching; regime-dependent response; two-stage procedure. |
| JEL: | F40 E30 G10 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32255&r=sea |
| By: | Nowak-Lehmann D., Felicitas; Martínez-Zarzoso, Inmaculada; Cardozo, Adriana; Herzer, Dierk |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the gravity model of trade to investigate the link between foreign aid and exports in recipient countries. Most of the theoretical work emphasizes the negative impact of aid on recipient countries' exports primarily due to exchange rate appreciation, disregarding possible positive effects of aid in overcoming supply bottlenecks and promoting bilateral trade relations. Our empirical findings -all based on endogeneity-proof techniques (such as Dynamic OLS or more refined techniques) - depend very strongly on whether bilateral trade relations and autocorrelation of the disturbances are controlled for. When not controlling for these phenomena, the impact of aid is quite substantial (especially in Asia, Latin America & Caribbean) but when sound estimation techniques are applied the net impact of aid on recipient countries' exports becomes insignificant in the full 130-country sample and the subsamples: Sub-Saharan Africa & MENA, Asia and Latin America & the Caribbean. However, this rather disappointing finding is in line with the small macroeconomic impact of aid found in earlier studies. -- |
| Keywords: | International trade,foreign aid,recipient exports,bilateral trade relations |
| JEL: | F10 F35 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:gdec11:61&r=sea |
| By: | Gaëlle Ferrant (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | This paper assumes that gender inequality hinders economic and human development : a one standard deviation change in the Gender Inequality Index (GII) will increase long term income per capita by 9,1% and Human Development Index (HDI) by 4%. Gender inequality may be a explanation of economic development differences : 16% of the long term income difference between South Asia and East Asia & Pacific can be accounted for by the difference in gender inequality. Moreover, this paper provides evidence of a vicious circle between gender inequality and long term income. The multi-dimensional concept of gender inequality is measured by a composite index with endogenous weightings : the Gender Inequality Index (GII). To correct endogeneity and simultaneity problems, the two-stage and three-stage least square methods are used separately. In this way, the steady state per capita income and the human development levels are estimated for 109 developing countries. |
| Keywords: | Growth, Gender inequality, development economics. |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00609828&r=sea |
| By: | Robert C. Allen; Tommy E. Murphy; Eric B. Schneider |
| Abstract: | Part of a long-run project to put together a systematic database of prices and wages for the American contingents, this paper takes a first look at standards of living in a series of North American and Latin American cities. From secondary sources we collected price data that - with diverse degrees of quality - covers various years between colonization and independence and, following the methodology now familiar in the literature, we built estimations of price indexes for Boston, Philadelphia, and the Chesapeake Bay region in North America and Bogota, Mexico, and Postosi in Latin America exploring alternative assumptions on the characteristics of the reference basket. We use these indexes to deflate the (relatively more scarce) figures on wages, and compare the results with each other, and with the now widely known series for various European and Asian cities. We find that real wages were higher in North America than in Latin America from the very early colonial period: four times the World Bank Poverty Line (WBPL) in North America while only two times the WBPL in Latin America. These wages place the North American colonies among the most advanced countries in the world alongside Northwestern European countries and the Latin American colonies among the least developed countries at a similar level to Southern European and Asian countries. These wage differences existed from the early colonial period because wages in the American colonies were determined by wages in the respective metropoles and by the Malthusian population dynamics of indigenous peoples. Settlers would not migrate unless they could maintain their standard of living, so wages in the colonies were set in the metrople. Political institutions, forced labour regimes, economic geography, disease environments and culture shaped the size of the economy of each colony but did not affect income levels. |
| Keywords: | Economic history, Real wages, Standard of living, Labour market, Population, Great Divergence, North America, Latin America |
| JEL: | N16 N31 N36 J2 J4 I32 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:559&r=sea |
| By: | Michael McAleer (Erasmus University Rotterdam, Tinbergen Institute, The Netherlands, Complutense University of Madrid, and Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University); Chia-Lin Chang (Department of Applied Economics Department of Finance National Chung Hsing University Taichung, Taiwan); Christine Lim (Division of Marketing and International Business Nanyang Technological University Singapore) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the effects of short and long haul volatility (or risk) in monthly Japanese tourist arrivals to Taiwan and New Zealand, respectively. In order to model appropriately the volatilities of international tourist arrivals, we use symmetric and asymmetric conditional volatility models that are commonly used in financial econometrics, namely the GARCH (1,1), GJR (1,1) and EGARCH (1,1) models. The data series are for the period January 1997 to December 2007. The volatility estimates for the monthly growth in Japanese tourists to New Zealand and Taiwan are different, and indicate that the former has an asymmetric effect on risk from positive and negative shocks of equal magnitude, while the latter has no asymmetric effect. Moreover, there is a leverage effect in the monthly growth rate of Japanese tourists to New Zealand, whereby negative shocks increase volatility but positive shocks of similar magnitude decrease volatility. These empirical results seem to be similar to a wide range of financial stock market prices, so that the models used in financial economics, and hence the issues related to risk and leverage effects, are also applicable to international tourism flows. |
| Keywords: | Tourist arrivals, long haul, short haul, risk, conditional volatility, asymmetric effect, leverage. |
| JEL: | C22 G32 L83 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kyo:wpaper:783&r=sea |