Asian Economic Symposium - 2016

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://ir.lib.pdn.ac.lk/handle/20.500.14444/5722

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Social entrepreneurship: a new model for inclusive recovery in post-crisis situations
(University of Peradeniya, 2016-08-20) Maheswaran,Sivagnanam
In post-crisis situations, people affected by the crisis struggle to recover due to a weak or complete absence of supporting institutional setups. On some occasions, private organizations are active in providing supportive services complementing traditional informal capitalists in filling institutional voids. This has created further challenges and can overwhelm the on-going recovery processes. However, local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) can be considered as social enterprises, substituting private or informal capitalists‟ roles to fill the institutional voids in post-war situations. This changing condition allows social enterprises to pursue institutional voids as entrepreneurial opportunities to help war-affected citizens to enter into markets and improve their socio-economic wellbeing. However, it is unclear how social enterprises create new entities, ties and norms to support war-affected citizens to connect them into market and main stream development. Drawing on four cases of entrepreneurial NGOs in eastern Sri Lanka, the paper explores a) how social enterprises forms new entities, branches and ties as supporting organizations and b) how affected people become inclusive in this changing situations. The major finding suggests that NGOs play an intermediary role in post-war eastern Sri Lanka and to make the war-affected citizens inclusive in on-going recovery processes.
Global grain market and human security in Asia
(University of Peradeniya, 2016-08-20) Kaneko,Shinsuke
In 2011, the Arab Spring erupted, and the collapse of dictatorial governments and civil wars successively broke out in certain North African and West Asian countries. Terrorist groups were also formed, most notably the ISIL/ISIS, which are responsible for the murder of many innocent civilians today. In Syria and Iraq, the ISIL/ISIS declared the restoration of slavery and implemented human trafficking of women and children of religious minorities. This has become a serious humanitarian crisis. Why has this severe crisis of human security continued since 2011? This paper argues that there could be three possible economic factors which have formed the background for this situation, namely, global grain prices, the grain self-sufficiency rate, and per capita Gross National Income (GNI). From 2006 to 2010, global grain prices soared rapidly. During the period from 2001- 2005, the global wheat price remained at US$161 per ton; however, by 2011, it had climbed to US$347. The grain self-sufficiency rate of the countries that fell into civil wars had been low. For instance, in 2010, it was 7% in Libya, 23% in Yemen, 51% in Iraq and 53% in Syria. With the exception of Libya, per capita GNI was low in Arab Spring nations. In 2010, it stood at US$11,416 in Libya, US$2,819 in Syria, US$1,375 in Yemen, and US$835 in Iraq. Generally, in the countries with low grain self-sufficiency rate and per capita GNI, the global grain price has a great impact on the domestic grain price. For example, in Yemen, the domestic wheat price was US$296 per ton during 2001-2005. But by 2011, it had risen to US$653. The rise of domestic grain prices had harmful effects on the lives of low-income people. Hence, some young people opted to join terrorist groups or participate in civil wars to earn money. Especially, the ISIL/ISIS recruited combatants by paying US$800 per month. Thus, poor young men joined this terrorist group in droves. How can we maintain human security and peace? The foundation for peace lies with the stability of domestic grain prices. Grain prices can be kept stable by improving grain self-sufficiency rates and grain reserve quantities. Therefore, an appropriate policy for food and agriculture is essential.
Construction and real estate in Thai regional development
(University of Peradeniya, 2016-08-20) Budsayaplakorn,Saksit; Sompornserm,Thana
This paper analyzes structural relationships among growth of construction and real estate sectors with various macroeconomic and regional economic variables in Thailand. A Pooled Vector Auto-regressive Model was estimated using quarterly data in six regions of Thailand for the period 2010-2014. The results of the econometric estimation indicate that the structure of construction and real estate sectors of Thailand and regional economic growth depend on business confidence. Moreover, it was revealed that the lag of regional real estate adjustment was eight quarters, and economic adjustment was slow and highly volatile. The results suggest that consideration of the real estate loans of commercial bank as a policy variable to stimulate regional development would not be an effective strategy for the government. Direct productivity improvement to boost growth in real gross regional product will be necessary.
Trade openness, foreign direct investment and job reallocation of chinese industrial sectors
(University of Peradeniya, 2016-08-20) Mao,Risheng; Whalley,John
Both trade expansion and inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) potentially play important roles in shaping the Chinese labor market, but most studies of the effects of trade and FDI on the labor market focus only on the net employment change. In this study, we describe the pattern of job flows both within and across sectors and investigate the links between trade expansion and FDI inflow with gross job flows in Chinese industrial sectors. The study yields three main results. First, gross job flows mainly occur between firms and within industrial sectors and there is relatively small employment change across sectors over the past 10 years. Second, trade openness overall has limited effects on job flows occurring within sectors but has substantial effects on the net change in employment across sectors. Third, in contrast to trade openness, FDI inflows have small effects on changes in employment across sectors after controlling for trade expansion effects but can generate substantial effects on job flows within industrial sectors.
Emerging Asia: the paradigm of unevenness and the limits of inclusive growth
(International Research Centre (InRC),University of Peradeniya, 2016-08-20) Batabyal,Rakesh
The contemporary times have seen a rapid emergence of Asian economies with the rise in the level of education and informational infrastructure. Centrality of both information and education defined the new order of things. India, while seeing an increasingly expanding informational infrastructure however has not been able to install a parallel structure in its educational and particularly higher education segment. While it has consequences for overall development, this influences the long term directions in the way development itself is viewed through the categories of other societies. For an inclusive economy therefore an equitable and accessible educational structure must be the central and not a peripheral or instrumental concern.
The employment linkage effect of social service industry in South Korea
(International Research Centre (InRC),University of Peradeniya, 2016-08-20) Na,Jumong; Shin,Woo-Jin; Byeon,Jangseop
We must develop the social service industry in order to create employment through the social economy in the ongoing period of jobless growth. Organizations of social economy are active primarily in the social service industry to pursue a social objective on a priority basis. We examine the employment linkage effects focused on social service industry as potentially active in vitalizing social economy using the Hypothetical Extraction Method (HEM). There are three results based on the empirical analysis. First, the total employment linkage effect of overall industry estimated by HEM is 38,575,267 persons. Second, the total employment linkage effect in the social service industry is estimated as second highest value next to „Wholesale and retail trade‟. Finally, when manufacturing industry and service industry are compared, average employment linkage inducement effect in the manufacturing industry (11,507 persons) is lower than that in the service industry (34,707 persons). In conclusion, it is essential to intensively foster the social service industry to create employment as a part of regional industrial policies, because the social service industry shows higher employment effects affecting the other industries in the era of growth without enough employment. In addition, it is necessary to make industrial linkage policies with service industries; the linkage relationship among industries can foster the social service industry in the industrial ecosystem.
Regional economic variables and local employment growth: the case of Korea
(International Research Centre (InRC),University of Peradeniya, 2016-08-20) Kim,Iltae; Choi,Jihye
This paper examines the effects of regional economic variables on local employment growth using panel data from 1998 to 2013 in South Korea. The employment equation is derived from a Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES) production function. Employment growth is specified as a function of wage rate, output, local public expenditure, and research and development expenditure as a proxy for innovation. The demand for labor takes into account dynamics since the cost of adjustments in the demand for labor will be induced in the long-run. A Dynamic Panel Regression Model is employed considering the effect of lagged employment using regional panel data. The results show that public expenditure has positive effects on local employment growth and that the effect of public expenditure in the manufacturing sector is more elastic than that of the service sector. A one percent increase in public expenditure increases industrial employment in manufacturing by 0.14 percent and industrial employment in services by 0.04 percent. Total gross value added per capita (labor productivity) has a positive effect on employment growth in the manufacturing sector and a negative effect on the same in the service sector. Total fixed capital formation has positive effects on total industrial employment and industrial employment in the service sector. The effects of wage rates on employment growth in all industry sectors are negative.
Does private domestic investment crowd in or crowd out foreign direct investment (FDI) in Sri Lanka? Evidence from multivariate vector error correction model
(International Research Centre (InRC),University of Peradeniya, 2016-08-20) Rathnasekara,Hasara
While private investment undoubtedly dominates the investment sector in Sri Lanka accounting for more than 75% of total investment, private domestic investment (PDI) comprises more than 95% of private investment. Although in order to attract FDI the government offers numerous incentives in the form of corporate tax incentives, import duties, tax on dividends, exemption on exchange control etc., its contribution to private investment has remained at minimal levels over the preceding decades. This study attempted to investigate the effect of PDI (crowding in or crowding out) on FDI applying a multivariate Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) for time series data from 1970 to 2014. Interestingly, short run dynamics suggested that FDI favors public investment at statistically significant levels. Conversely, associations between PDI and FDI in the short run were found to be insignificant. In conclusion, the effect of PDI is two-fold: complementary with public investment (crowding-in) but competing (crowding-out) for FDI in the long run investment equilibrium.
Has Asia’s growth been gender-inclusive? Recent panel data evidence (1990-2015) on female employment
(International Research Centre (InRC),University of Peradeniya, 2016-08-20) Prasada,D. V. P.
The long-standing losers of economic growth have been the poor, marginalized and indigenous groups. Within the Asian spectrum, gender disparities have been a large threat to the inclusivity of growth. Gender wage gaps, difficult working conditions, child rearing responsibilities, disparities in access to school education are all very common barriers to female inclusion in economic activity. This study looks at the recent panel data evidence for Asian (South Asia, East Asia and Asia-Pacific) countries over the time period 1990-2015 in order to determine the factors affecting the growth generically and how gender-sensitive legal and financial infrastructure is related to female labour force participation in particular. As a preliminary inquiry into the statistical evidence, we utilize panel data estimation with fixed and random effects in order to determine the statistical robustness of the conventional and institutional variables as predictors of female labour force participation. We find that the country-specific unobservables correlate only with the female labour-literacy association while the associations of female labour with growth rate and equal pay legislation are not affected by country-specific unobservables
Acceptance of foreign capital, immigrants, and eco- friendly technology from Japan: The case of Nanbey Takusyoku Co. Ltd. in Brazil
(International Research Centre (InRC),University of Peradeniya, 2016-08-20) Yamamoto,Choji
The Nanbei Takusyoku Co. Ltd. was founded by Sanji Muto (1867-1934) in 1928, who was the former President of Kanegafuchi Spinning Co. Ltd. (Commonly known as Kanebo). Nanbei Takusyoku was promoting a Brazilian Amazon river basin business related to settling down of Japanese immigrants in Para Tome-Acu. It was carried out as a response to a request made by the Para Governor for development assistance from Japan. Presently agro forestry, which is done in Tome-Acu by Japanese and Japanese descents, is attracting worldwide attention as it has created both agricultural income and environmental conservation. This study aims to analyze the opportunities and challenges of emerging Asia, with special reference to accepting foreign capital, immigrants, and Eco-technology from Japanese and Japanese companies. An emphasis was given to examine the relationship between the Muto‟s Kanebo management system and his immigrant settlement business in Brazil

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