Showing papers on "East Asia published in 1999"

Divergent Capitalisms: The Social Structuring and Change of Business Systems

Abstract: PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Varieties of Capitalism PART II: THE COMPARATIVE BUSINESS SYSTEMS FRAMEWORK 2. The Nature of Business Systems and their Institutional Structuring 3. The Social Structuring of Firms' Governance Systems and Organizational Capabilities 4. The Social Structuring of Work Systems 5. Globalization and Business Systems PART III: THE DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE OF BUSINESS SYSTEMS IN EAST ASIA AND EASTERN EUROPE 6. Divergent Capitalisms in East Asia: The Development of the Post-War Business Systems of South Korea and Taiwan 7. Continuity and Change in East Asian Capitalisms 8. Path Dependence and Emergent Capitalisms in Eastern Europe: Hungary and Slovenia Compared 9. Enterprise Change and Continuity in a Transforming Society: The Case of Hungary

Y-Chromosome Evidence for a Northward Migration of Modern Humans into Eastern Asia during the Last Ice Age

Abstract: Summary The timing and nature of the arrival and the subsequent expansion of modern humans into eastern Asia remains controversial. Using Y-chromosome biallelic markers, we investigated the ancient human-migration patterns in eastern Asia. Our data indicate that southern populations in eastern Asia are much more polymorphic than northern populations, which have only a subset of the southern haplotypes. This pattern indicates that the first settlement of modern humans in eastern Asia occurred in mainland Southeast Asia during the last Ice Age, coinciding with the absence of human fossils in eastern Asia, 50,000–100,000 years ago. After the initial peopling, a great northward migration extended into northern China and Siberia.

The Separation of Ownership and Control in East Asian Corporations

Abstract: We examine the separation of ownership and control for 2,980 corporations in nine East Asian countries. In all countries, voting rights frequently exceed cash-flow rights via pyramid structures and cross-holdings. The separation of ownership and control is most pronounced among family-controlled firms and small firms. More than two-thirds of firms are controlled by a single shareholder. Managers of closely held firms tend to be relatives of the controlling shareholder's family. Older firms are generally family-controlled, dispelling the notion that ownership becomes dispersed over time. Finally, significant corporate wealth in East Asia is concentrated among a few families.

What triggers market jitters: a chronicle of the Asian crisis

Abstract: In the chaotic financial environment of East Asia in 1997-98, daily changes in stock prices of as much as 10 percent became commonplace. The authors analyze what type of news moved the market in those days of extreme market jitters. They find that movements are triggered by both local and neighbor-country news. News about agreements with international organizations and credit rating agencies have the most weight. Some of those large changes in stock prices, however, cannot be explained by any apparent substantial news but seem to be driven by herd instincts in the market itself. On average, the one-day market rallies are sustained with the largest one-day losses are recovered - suggesting that investors overreact to bad news.

Total factor productivity growth in East Asia : a critical survey

Abstract: This article surveys the recent empirical literature on total factor productivity (TFP) growth in East Asia, and the debate about the sources of growth in the region. It is concluded that: (i) the main merit of this literature is that it has helped focus the attention of scholars on the growth process of East Asia; (ii) the theoretical problems underlying the notion of TFP are so significant that the whole concept should be seriously questioned; (Hi) the TFP growth estimates for the region vary significantly, even for the same country and time period; and (iv) research on growth in East Asia based on the estimation of TFP growth is an activity subject to decreasing returns. If we are to advance in understanding how East Asia grew during the last 30 years we need new avenues of research.

Production sharing in East Asia : who does what for whom, and why?

Abstract: The authors analyze empirical information on the nature and magnitude of, and motivation for, international production sharing in East Asia. To do so, they use a largely untapped source of data on inter- and intra-regional trade in parts and components. Some of their findings: East Asian trade in components is considerably greater than often recognized. Regional global exports of parts and components totaled $178 billion in 1996, and imports of those products about $12 billion less. Components now constitute one-fifth of East Asian exports of manufactures. Imports of components, measured as a share of all manufactures, are growing considerably faster in East Asia than in OECD Europe or North America. The value of East Asian global imports of components rose more than ninefold over the period 1985-96. Almost three-quarters of all East Asian imports of telecommunications equipment are components for further assembly. East Asian global exports of components grew faster then any other major product group over 1984-96, when their exchange increased 15 percent a year (compared with 11 percent for all products ). Although Japanese exports declined slightly in 1997, shipments from most other East Asian countries increased 9 to 16 percent. Why did production sharing expand? Analyses of traditionally revealed comparative advantage use export statistics to determine whether a country has a comparative advantage in the production of a good. The same indices, calculated using import statistics for components, can show whether a country has a comparative advantage in the assembly of a product. Using statistics on component imports, the authors find that: Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan (China)--which are exiting most assembly operations--increased their specialization in the manufacture of components. Assembly operations, which are labor-intensive, tend to migrate to low-wage East Asian countries. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand have the broadest and most mature assembly capacity for components. But no East Asian country has developed its domestic assembly operations as much as Mexico, which has a comparative advantage in 70 percent of all component groups. Collectively, East Asian countries are strengthening their comparative advantage in the production of components; the results are mixed for assembly operations.

Developing Difference: Social Organization and the Rise of the Auto Industries of South Korea, Taiwan, Spain, and Argentina

Abstract: Theories of economic development as diverse as modernization, dependency, world-system, and market reform take a "critical factor" view. Proponents of each theory argue that countries fail to develop because of an obstacle to economic growth. We argue instead that neither a critical factor nor a single path leads to economic development; viable paths vary. Economic growth depends on linking a country's historically developed patterns of social organization to the opportunities of global markets. We formulate a sociological theory of cross-national comparative advantage including not only economic factor endowments but also institutionalized patterns of authority and organization. Such patterns legitimize certain actors and certain relationships among those actors, which facilitate development success in some activities but not in others. We illustrate this approach to understanding development outcomes with a comparative analysis of the difficult rise of the automobile assembly and components industries in South Korea, Taiwan, Spain, and Argentina.

The Geography of the Peace: East Asia in the Twenty-first Century

Abstract: I T h e discussion of post-Cold War East Asia has focused on the prospects for regional tension and heightened great power conflict. Some scholars believe that tension will increase because of the relative absence of the three liberal/Kantian sources of peace: liberal democracies, economic interdependence, and multilateral institutions. Realists argue that the rise of China and the resulting power transition will create great power conflict over the restructuring of the regional order. Neorealists point to the emergence of multipolarity and resulting challenges to the peaceful management of the balance of power.' East Asia has the world's largest and most dynamic economies as well as great power competition. This combination of economic and strategic importance ensures great power preoccupation with the East Asian balance of power. But great power rivalry is not necessarily characterized by heightened tension, wars, and crises. This article agrees that realist and neorealist variables will contribute to the character of regional conflict, but it stresses that geography can influence structural effects. Although many factors contribute to great power status, including economic development and levels of technology and education, geography determines whether a country has the prerequisites of great power status; it determines which states can be great powers and, thus,

The East Asian welfare model : welfare orientalism and the state

Abstract: For many politicians and observers in the West, East Asia has provided a broad range of positive images of the state's intervention in society. Neoliberals grew excited by popular welfare systems that cost little in expenditure and bureaucracy. Social-democrats thought they had found a model for social cohesion and equality. In fact the reality in East Asia is rather different from these stereotypes. In this book six specialists of six different societies in East Asia (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Singapore and Hong Kong) examine the role of the state in their welfare systems. There are detailed case studies on pensions, health insurance, housing and personal social services. They provide an up-to-date detailed account of how these systems have developed as well as an examination of the question of whether these welfare regimes are the natural outgrowth of cultural traditions or the result of economic and political conditions. This broad-ranging and detailed study will be welcomed by both students and policy makers as the first proper academic study in English to have such a wide coverage of this topic. Its clarity and authority should come as a welcome alternative to the more common misconceptions about Asian society.

Production sharing in East Asia : who does what for whom, and why?

Abstract: The authors analyze empirical information on the nature and magnitude of, and motivation for, international production sharing in East Asia. To do so, they use a largely untapped source of data on inter- and intra-regional trade in parts and components. Some of their findings: East Asian trade in components is considerably greater than often recognized. Regional global exports of parts and components totaled $178 billion in 1996, and imports of those products about $12 billion less. Components now constitute one-fifth of East Asian exports of manufactures. Imports of components, measured as a share of all manufactures, are growing considerably faster in East Asia than in OECD Europe or North America. The value of East Asian global imports of components rose more than ninefold over the period 1985-96. Almost three-quarters of all East Asian imports of telecommunications equipment are components for further assembly. East Asian global exports of components grew faster then any other major product group over 1984-96, when their exchange increased 15 percent a year (compared with 11 percent for all products ). Although Japanese exports declined slightly in 1997, shipments from most other East Asian countries increased 9 to 16 percent. Why did production sharing expand? Analyses of traditionally revealed comparative advantage use export statistics to determine whether a country has a comparative advantage in the production of a good. The same indices, calculated using import statistics for components, can show whether a country has a comparative advantage in the assembly of a product. Using statistics on component imports, the authors find that: Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan (China)--which are exiting most assembly operations--increased their specialization in the manufacture of components. Assembly operations, which are labor-intensive, tend to migrate to low-wage East Asian countries. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand have the broadest and most mature assembly capacity for components. But no East Asian country has developed its domestic assembly operations as much as Mexico, which has a comparative advantage in 70 percent of all component groups. Collectively, East Asian countries are strengthening their comparative advantage in the production of components; the results are mixed for assembly operations.

Current-Account Sustainability in Transition Economies

Abstract: Recent episodes of currency crisis have been associated with large, growing, and eventually unsustainable current-account imbalances. The Mexican peso crisis of 1994 and the 1997 currency turmoil in a number of Asian countries (in particular Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines) appear to have been partly triggered by unsustainable current-account imbalances. Following the Mexican peso crisis of 1994, the IMF devised a warning mechanism aimed at an early recognition of potentially unsustainable current-account imbalances. In this regard, a large number of Eastern and Central European countries in transition were experiencing large and growing current-account imbalances in the 1996 to 1997 period. Deficits in excess of 5 percent of GDP (an in many cases closer to 10 percent of GDP) were observed in Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Moldova. Moreover, similar to the crisis episodes in Mexico and East Asia, a number of Central and Eastern European countries had weak financial systems, had adopted in the 1990s semifixed exchange-rate regimes aimed at controlling inflation and were experiencing significant real appreciation of their currencies. As a combination of fixed-rate regimes, real appreciation, current-account worsening, short-term foreign debt accumulation, and weak financial systems had contributed to the earlier currency crises in Mexico and Southeast Asia, it is important to study whether the current-account imbalances in Central and Eastern Europe would be sustainable or whether there are significant risks that currency crises would also occur in the transition economies.

Trade and Growth: Import-Led or Export-Led? Evidence From Japan and Korea

Abstract: It is commonly argued that Japanese trade protection has enabled the nurturing and development internationally competitive firms. The results in our paper suggest that when it comes to TFP growth, this view of Japan is seriously erroneous. We find that lower tariffs and higher import volumes would have been particularly beneficial for Japan during the period 1964 to 1973. Our results also lead us to question whether Japanese exports were a particularly important source of productivity growth. Our findings on Japan suggest that the salutary impact of imports stems more from their contribution to competition than to intermediate inputs. Furthermore our results indicate a reason for why imports are important. Greater imports of competing products spur innovation. Our results suggest that competitive pressures and potentially learning from foreign rivals are important conduits for growth. These channels are even more important as industries converge with the market leader. This suggests that further liberalization by Japan and other East Asian countries may result in future dynamic gains. Our results thus call the views of both the World Bank and the revisionists into question and provide support for those who advocate more liberal trade policies.

Education and Training for Development in East Asia: The Political Economy of Skill Formation in Newly Industrialised Economies

Abstract: The East Asian miracle, or its supposed demise, is always news The Four Tiger economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea have experienced some of the fastest rates of economic growth ever achieved This book provides the first detailed analysis of the development of education and training systems in Asia, and the relationship with the process of economic growth

Productivity Growth and Factor Prices in East Asia

Abstract: The industrial revolution in several East Asian countries over the last three decades is one of the most important economic events in the postwar era. Several recent growthaccounting exercises have found that their extraordinary rate of output growth was due primarily to an equally impressive rate of factor accumulation, with little due to technological progress (see Alwyn Young, 1992, 1995; Jong-Il Kim and Lawrence Lau, 1994; Susan Collins and Barry Bosworth, 1996 ) . Since these studies suggest that factor accumulation has been the lead actor in East Asia’s growth, many economists have reached the conclusion that the industrial revolution in East Asia can largely be explained in terms of transition dynamics in a neoclassical growth framework (see e.g., Paul Krugman, 1994; N. Gregory Mankiw, 1995). If this view is correct, the lesson from East Asia’s experience is that there are no easy solutions for a poor country that seeks to join the league of wealthy nations. Low levels of investment and education may be the result of bad policies. But once proper policies are enacted, a poor country faces the grim prospect of a further decline in its already low standards of living as it devotes more resources to investment and education. The central point of this paper is that, if East Asia’s growth was largely driven by capital accumulation with little technological progress, the return to capital should have fallen dramatically as capital accumulation encounters diminishing returns. For example, the capital–output ratio for Korea computed from the national accounts has increased at an average rate of 3.4 percent per year from 1966 to 1990 while that of Singapore has increased at an average rate of 3.7 percent per year from 1968 to 1990. By dividing the share of payments to capital in total income by the capital–output

Institutions, Innovations, and Growth

Abstract: The fundamental importance of economic institutions for economic growth through their impact on technological change has been argued, reconfirmed by recent empirical studies, but not examined theoretically. This paper tries to fill that gap. In the model proposed, economic growth is affected by the efficiency and riskiness of research and development (RD the East Asia miracle versus the East Asia financial crisis; and the rise and fall of centralized economies.

The Great Encounter of China and the West, 1500-1800

Abstract: For too long, the history of contact between China and the West has been portrayed as a one-sided encounter: Europeans were said to have discovered China, while Chinese responses to the West went largely unnoticed. In this book, D. E. Mungello dispels the myth that China was a silent partner in the dialogue between Eastern and Western civilizations. Although they did not reciprocate in sending ships, cultural emissaries or religious missionaries westward, neither did the Chinese passively accept Europe's enthusiastic embrace of their culture, arts, and manufactures. Aspects of Western art, science, and religion made significant inroads into Chinese culture, which are only recently coming to the attention of Western historians. And at a time when the West is once again setting its sights on strengthening ties with China, Mungello's work offers crucial historical perspective. It reminds us that the political and economic dominance of the West is actually characteristic of only the past two centuries, prior to which it was China that led the world in terms of economic and political development, and in the sophistication of its high culture and technological achievement. This concise and well-written text will make a wonderful addition to reading lists in East Asian or Chinese History classes, as well as courses on World History. Visit our website for sample chapters.

Uneven crises: Institutional foundations of East Asian economic turmoil

Abstract: While rejecting arguments that locate the blame for the East Asian economic crisis in simplistic notions of ‘Crony capitalism’, this paper supplements analyses which have focused on the role of international finance capital. It does so by suggesting that threre were real internal causes of the cirsis in the countries most affectd and that these were intimately associated with asymmetrical state institutional capacities to mediate between the domestic and international economies. Nothing that the symptoms of crisis in Thailand, Malaysis, Indonesis and IIong Kong were quite different from those in Korea, the paper suggests that these differences were not coincidental. Rather they are traceable tothese asymmetric state capacities. Inter alia, the paper explores the role of Overseass Chnese conglomerates and state actors in the development of structurally weak economies in the Southcast Asian countries, and asks whether the ‘fundamentals’ of the real economies in question (including Korea)were indeed robust, ...

Financial Integration in East Asia

Abstract: Financial Integration in East Asia, first published in 1999, examines the degree of domestic and financial openness in ten Asian countries (Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand) and the effect financial openness has on the structure of the macroeconomy. After examining the reasons behind the 1997/98 financial crisis, Dr de Brouwer puts these in context by summarising the literature on the costs and benefits of financial reform. He then assesses the information that interest rate parity conditions have for financial openness, and sets out theoretical and empirical models to explore the link between market interest rates and intermediated interest rates on deposits and loans. Financial Integration in East Asia also contains reviews of the literature and regional developments, with clear policy analysis throughout.

Parallax Visions: Making Sense of American–East Asian Relations at the End of the Century

Abstract: In a work that synthesizes crucial developments in international relations at the close of the twentieth century, Bruce Cumings—a leading historian of contemporary East Asia—provides a nuanced understanding of how the United States has loomed over the modern history and culture of East Asia. By offering correctives to widely held yet largely inaccurate assessments of the affairs of this region, Parallax Visions shows how relations between the United States, Japan, Vietnam, North and South Korea, China, and Taiwan have been structured by their perceptions and misperceptions of each other. Using information based on thirty years of research, Cumings offers a new perspective on a wide range of issues that originated with the cold war—with particular focus on the possibly inappropriate collaboration between universities, foundations, and intelligence agencies. Seeking to explode the presuppositions that Americans usually bring to the understanding of our relations with East Asia, the study ranges over much of the history of the twentieth century in East Asian–American relations—Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Korean War, and more recent difficulties in U.S. relations with China and Japan. Cumings also rebuts U.S. media coverage of North Korea’s nuclear diplomacy in the 1990s and examines how experiences of colonialism and postcolonialism have had varying effects on economic development in each of these countries. Positing that the central defining experience of twentieth-century East Asia has been its entanglement first with British and Japanese imperialism, and then with the United States, Cumings ends with a discussion of how the situation could change over the next century as the economic and political global clout of the United States declines. Illuminating the sometimes self-deluded ideology of cold war America, Parallax Visions will engage historians, political scientists, and students and scholars of comparative politics and social theory, as well as readers interested in questions of modernity and the role of the United States in shaping the destinies of modernizing societies in Asia.

Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program (GSHAP) in continental Asia

Abstract: The regional hazard mapping for the whole Eastern Asia was coordinated by the SSB Regional Centre in Beijing, originating from the expansion of the test area initially established in the border region of China-India-Nepal-Myanmar- Bangla Dash, in coordination with the other Regional Centres (JIPE, Moscow, and AGSO, Canberra) and with the direct assistance of the USGS. All Eastern Asian countries have participated directly in this regional effort, with the addition of Japan, for which an existing national hazard map was incorporated. The regional hazard depicts the expected peak ground acceleration with 10% exceedance probability in 50 years.

Volatility and Contagion in a Financially-Integrated World: Lessons from East Asia's Recent Experience

Abstract: Recent events in East Asia have highlighted the risks of financial structures in a financially integrated world. This paper documents that the buildup of vulnerabiliti es in East Asia was mainly the result of weaknesses in domestic financial intermediation, poor corporate governance, and deficient government policies, including poor macro-economic policy responses to large capital inflows. Weak due diligence by external creditors, in part fueled by ample global liquidity, also played a role in building up vulnerabiliti es, but global factors were more important in triggering the crises than in causing them. In spite of these policies and weaknesses, we argue, however, that for most East Asian countries a large financial crisis was not “inevitable,” but was mainly triggered by spillovers from nearby countries. Differences between countries, both in degree of vulnerability and depth of crisis, support this conclusion. The paper concludes with some lessons for other countries.

Demographic Change and Economic Growth in Asia

Abstract: This paper examines the links between demographic change and economic growth in Asia during 1965-90. We show that the overall rate of population growth had little effect on economic growth, but that changes in life expectancy, age structure, and population density have had a significant impact on growth rates. We also find strong evidence of feedback from higher income to population change via lower fertility, though a significant component of the demographic changes appears to have been exogenous. Our results suggest that the demographic transition can act both as a catalyst and as an accelerator mechanism, and that demographic effects can explain most of East Asia’s economic "miracle". East Asia benefited from a "virtuous spiral" of income growth and fertility decline, while South Asia seems to remain caught in a low-level population-income trap.

East Asian Growth Before and after the Crisis

Abstract: The paper surveys the literature on the growth performance of the East Asian economies, evaluates the sustainability of that performance, and provides a preliminary assessment of their long-term growth prospects in the aftermath of the current crisis. It highlights special features of East Asian growth, including unusually high factor accumulation and a favorable demographic transition, but argues that total factor productivity growth has generally been somewhat disappointing. It argues that there are downside risks to the East Asian "developmental state" model, and that it may become less attractive as these economies mature. Copyright 1999, International Monetary Fund

The Sextants of Beijing: Global Currents in Chinese History

Abstract: The myth that Chinese civilization is monolithic, unchanging and perenially cut off from the rest of the world has long obscured China's diverse and dynamic history. Drawing on research, the author provides an accessible account of China's fertile relations with other Asian cultures and the West from the days of the Silk Road to the present. The author argues that well before the arrival of Europeans in East Asia, China was integrated into a wide-ranging network of commercial, intellectual, religious and cultural contacts. Among the most influential features of this traffic was the spread of Buddhism from India to China. Later, Catholic missionaries would interpret the Chinese resistance to their religion as evidence of an arrogant complancency, just as Western emissaries would interpret China's objections to trade on Western terms. The author argues that throughout history, in trade, religion, ideology or technology, China has interacted with the rest of the world, so long as the rules of engagement were not externally imposed. She shows the reader a cosmopolitan China, a civilization actively engaged with other cultures and societies.

Resolution of corporate distress - evidence from East Asia's financial crisis

Abstract: The widespread financial crisis in East Asia caused large economic shocks, which varied by degree across the region. That crisis provides a unique opportunity for investigating the factors that determine the use of bankruptcy processes in a number of economies. The authors study the use of bankruptcy in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan (China), and Thailand. These economies differ in their institutional frameworks for resolving financial distress, partly because of the different origins of their judicial systems. One difference is the strength of creditor rights, which the authors document. They expect that differences in legal enforcement and judicial efficiency should affect the resolution of financial distress. Using a sample of 4,569 publicly traded East Asian firms, they observe a total of 106 bankruptcies in 1997 and 1998. They find that: 1) The likelihood of filing for bankruptcy is lower for firms with ownership links to banks and families, controlling for firm and country characteristics. 2) Filings are more likely in countries with better judicial systems. 3) Filings are more likely where there are both strong creditor rights and a good judicial system. These results alone do not allow the authors to address whether increased use of bankruptcy is an efficient resolution mechanism.

The world's religions : old traditions and modern transformations

Abstract: Preface Introduction Part I. 1. Earliest Religion 2. South Asia 3. China 4. Japan 5. Southeast Asia 6. The Pacific 7. The Americas 8. The Ancient Near East 9. Persia and Central Asia 10. The Greek and Roman World 11. Classical and Medieval Christianity and Judaism 12. Classical and Medieval Islam 13. Classical African Religions Part II. 14. The Explosion of Europe and the Re-Forming of Christianity 15. North America 16. South Asia and Reactions to Colonial Intervention 17. China and Korea in Modern Times 18. Modern Southeast Asia 19. Japan in Modern Times 20. Islam Passes Through the Shadows 21. The Colonial Impact in the Pacific 22. Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union 23. Africa in the Modern World 24. Latin America and the Caribbean 25. Some Final Reflections on Global Religion Bibliography Credits Index.