East Asia

About: East Asia is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 17591 publications have been published within this topic receiving 274073 citations. The topic is also known as: Eastern Asia.

Socio-economic status and self-rated health in East Asia: a comparison of China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan

Abstract: Background: Few cross-national studies have compared the relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and health among East Asian countries. This study elucidates the relationship between SES and self-rated health (SRH) in four societies of East Asia: China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Methods: We used the data from the East Asian Social Survey 2006, which consists of nationally representative samples from each of the four countries. Logistic regression analysis of SRH was performed using four standardized SES indices (income, education, occupation and class identification) as explanatory variables to compare the degree of association of each SES index with SRH. Results: A total of 8120 respondents in the age range of 20–69 years were analysed. Overall, social gradients in health were observed in the East Asian societies. In China, South Korea and Taiwan, three of the four SES indices showed a statistically significant association for both male and female groups. In Japan, except class identification, no other SES index showed a significant relationship with SRH. With regard to the differences between the SES indices, class identification exhibited the strongest association with SRH, while occupational class displayed the weakest association. Conclusion: Our study results indicate that Japan has low levels of health inequality compared to other East Asian countries. Furthermore, an index of occupational classes may be insufficient to explain health inequalities in East Asia.

China's geography : globalization and the dynamics of political, economic, and social change

Abstract: Chapter 1: China's Path and Progress Chapter 2: China's Natural Environments Chapter 3: Ancient Roots and Binding Traditions Chapter 4: The Political Geography of Emerging China Chapter 5: Population and Human Resources Chapter 6: The Production and Consumption of Culture in Postsocialist China Chapter 7: A Preface to China's Changing Economic Geography Chapter 8: Agriculture: From Antiquity to Revolution to Reform Chapter 9: China's Industry, Energy, Trade and Transportation in a Global Context Chapter 10: Urban Development in Contemporary China Chapter 11: Hong Kong before and after the Return Chapter 12: Macau (Macao) Chapter 13: Taiwan: Enduring East Asian "Economic Miracle"

Growth and Divergence in Manufacturing Performance in South and East Asia

Abstract: The growth experience in manufacturing in South and East Asian economies is well documented. Less is known about absolute levels of economic performance. This paper presents a star comparison of six Asian economies (China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan) and the USA, the world productivity leader in manufacturing. The comparison of manufacturing performance is based on an industry of origin approach. Korea and Taiwan experienced catch up compared to the USA, especially since 1985. In 1993, labour productivity in manufacturing in these countries had increased to 49% of the US level in the case of Korea, and to 28% in the case of Taiwan. On the other hand, relative productivity levels in Indonesia, India and China stagnated throughout the 1980s, and are only recently showing weak signs of convergence. Comparative levels of labour productivity were 12% in Indonesia (in 1993), 9% in India (in 1990) and 6% in China (in 1992). Adjusting for small scale establishments brings down the levels in the latter group even further. A breakdown of manufacturing performance by fourteen branches of manufacturing, revealed the same patterns in each countries as at the aggregate level of manufacturing. This indicates that the factors making for catch-up or relative stagnation operate at the level of the total economy, rather than within specific branches. This finding is consistent with theories of conditional convergence. Structural change within manufacturing contributed little or even negatively to the growth in labour productivity. There is no evidence of a systematic pattern of structural change from early industries characterised by low productivity levels, to late industries characterised by high productivity. Manufacturing structures of both catch-up and non-catch economies tend to converge to each other. Comparisons of levels and trends of capital intensity and total factor productivity show a similar distinction between catch-up and non-catch-up economies. In Korea and Taiwan, labour productivity catch up is due to catch up in capital intensity, rather than catch up in total factor productivity. Capital intensity in Korea is 65% of the USA (in 1986) and almost 50% in Taiwan (in 1991), while relative total factor productivity levels are still below 30% of the US level in both economies. Capital intensities in China, India and Indonesia are still below 30% of the USA, with relative total factor productivities not exceeding the 25% level.

Air quality and acid deposition impacts of local emissions and transboundary air pollution in Japan and South Korea

Abstract: . Numerous studies have reported that ambient air pollution, which has both local and long-range sources, causes adverse impacts on the environment and human health. Previous studies have investigated the impacts of transboundary air pollution (TAP) in East Asia, albeit primarily through analyses of episodic events. In addition, it is useful to better understand the spatiotemporal variations in TAP and the resultant impact on the environment and human health. This study aimed at assessing and quantifying the air quality impacts in Japan and South Korea due to local emissions and TAP from sources in East Asia - one of the most polluted regions in the world. We applied state-of-the-science atmospheric models to simulate air quality in East Asia and then analyzed the air quality and acid deposition impacts of both local emissions and TAP sources in Japan and South Korea. Our results show that ∼ 30 % of the annual average ambient PM 2.5 concentrations in Japan and South Korea in 2010 were contributed to by local emissions within each country, while the remaining ∼ 70 % were contributed to by TAP from other countries in the region. More detailed analyses also revealed that the local contribution was higher in the metropolises of Japan ( ∼ 40 %–79 %) and South Korea ( ∼ 31 %–55 %) and that minimal seasonal variations in surface PM 2.5 occurred in Japan, whereas there was a relatively large variation in South Korea in the winter. Further, among all five studied anthropogenic emission sectors of China, the industrial sector represented the greatest contributor to annual surface PM 2.5 concentrations in Japan and South Korea, followed by the residential and power generation sectors. Results also show that TAP's impact on acid deposition ( SO 4 2 - and NO 3 - ) was larger than TAP's impact on PM 2.5 concentrations (accounting for over 80 % of the total deposition), and that seasonal variations in acid deposition were similar for both Japan and South Korea (i.e., higher in both the winter and summer). Finally, wet deposition had a greater impact on mixed forests in Japan and savannas in South Korea. Given these significant impacts of TAP in the region, it is paramount that cross-national efforts should be taken to mitigate air pollution problems across East Asia.

China: A Stabilizing or Deflationary Influence in East Asia? The Problem of Conflicted Virtue

Abstract: Rapidly growing Chinese exports are middle-tech--and increasingly high-tech--manufactured goods. China runs a huge and growing bilateral trade surplus with the United States, and the position of Japan has changed radically from being a net exporter to China in the 1980s and most of the 1990s to being a net importer today. China's smaller East Asian industrial competitors such as Taiwan, Korea, and Singapore face fairly difficult readjustment problems. However, China is a huge importer of primary products and industrial raw materials and runs large import surpluses with the ASEAN group. On the macroeconomic side, China has been a stabilizing influence. While maintaining steady high growth and exchange rate stability at 8.28 yuan per dollar since 1994, it has largely avoided, and thus dampened, the business cycles of its East Asian trading partners. But there are potential clouds on this horizon. Since 1995, China has run moderate multilateral trade surpluses coupled with large inflows of foreign direct investment. The resulting balance of payments surpluses have led to a rapid buildup of liquid dollar claims on foreigners--both in official exchange reserves and, less obviously, in stocks held privately or in China's nonstate sectors. This increasing private dollar overhang leads to what we call the syndrome of conflicted virtue. If there is no threat that the renminbi will appreciate, private portfolio equilibrium for accumulating and holding both dollar and renminbi assets can be sustained. However, foreigners, particularly Japanese, are upset with China's excessive mercantile competitiveness. They are urging China's government to appreciate the renminbi--and show greater future exchange rate flexibility, which could lead to repetitive appreciations. The result would be severe deflation throughout China's economy and a zero-interest liquidity trap--as in Japan, when forced into repeated appreciations of the yen in the 1980s into the mid 1990s.