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This paper summarizes some hot communication topics in the first half year in 2013 by combining academic views of some scholars. These topics include the reasons of network colony event, media mass try to adapt in network times, how journalists use SNS, the female gender of the mass media, analyze the report of national influence published by BBC, the situation of foreign investment in Chinese media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to contribute to the exploration of the ways through which Malaysia—the fourth largest economy in Southeast Asia—has engaged Chinese investment to pursue industrialization. It does so by comparing and contrasting the different approaches by which two of the most important Chinese-financed automobile projects, Chery Automobile's assembly operations in 2008 and Zhejiang Geely's partial acquisition of local producer Proton in 2017, have been embedded into the Malaysian political economy. While Chery Automobile ended up with a conundrum of extremely low local sales, Zhejiang Geely has fostered mutually beneficial partnerships with Proton and its cohort of suppliers that are shaped by the industry's ethnopolitical directives. More recently, Zhejiang Geely has exported an increasingly larger proportion of vehicles from its Malaysian operations. The contrasting fate of these projects illustrates that while they are driven by Chinese money and technological know-how, they are not necessarily Chinese-dominated. It is domestic politics—the establishment of a functional politico-commercial coalition in particular—that matters in shaping the outcome and impact of Chinese investment in Malaysia. More importantly, the paper highlights how foreign direct investment and the supposed (positive and negative) externalities are intimately tied to local factors such as political institutions and ethnocentric directives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the Belt and Road Initiative (B&R), an exogenous innovative model of economic integration proposed by China, to examine the growth effects of economic integration on local economies. From 2013 to 2019, more than 120 countries successively participated in the B&R, which intensified the regional integration and interdependence of B&R countries. Employing a difference-in-differences estimation methodology that exploits the cross-country, cross-time variation in the timing of participation in the Belt and Road Initiative, the author finds that the Belt and Road Initiative materially improved the economic performance of local economies, with particularly strong effects for lower-income countries. This paper also provides suggestive evidence that the growth effects can be interpreted in terms of foreign trade and foreign direct investment inwards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of EurAmerica is the property of EurAmerica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper investigates the role of corporate governance in China's outward foreign direct investment (ODI) using a sample of Chinese public firms over the period 2009–2015. Different from previous studies, which mainly use country-level aggregate data to examine China's ODI behavior, this study utilizes firm-level data to explore the impact of corporate governance on firms' ODI decision making. Building on the integration of agency theory and foreign direct investment theories, the study finds that ownership concentration, share ownership, and executive compensation significantly influence China's ODI flows in both full-sample and sub-sample estimations. The corporate governance has an essential effect on firms' ODI flows in that the firms with better corporate governance are more interested in undertaking ODI projects. The results are robust across different sample periods and in both state-owned and non-state-owned firm sub-groups. The government may design some policies such as friendly tax regulations to stimulate private firms to invest overseas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The rise of emerging economies challenges the conventional understanding of ILTT. • Actors in emerging economies have become more assertive. • Political-economic and multi-level governance processes are important. • These processes shape partnership building and technology adaptation of ILTT. The rapid rise of emerging economies challenges the conventional understanding of international low-carbon technology transfer (ILTT) from a North-South perspective. Rather than acting like passive recipients of foreign investment and technology, actors in emerging economies have become more assertive, seeking control over the processes of ILTT. To understand this emerging trend, this paper conceptualizes ILTT as political-economic and multi-level governance processes involving two key elements—partnership building and technology adaptation. The empirical findings, drawing from a case study on the transfer of the passive house concept from Germany to China, show that the priorities of domestic rather than foreign actors have defined the scope for collaboration and the purpose of the technology, resulting in the adoption of a version of the technology that best serves domestic political-economic interests. These findings suggest that ILTT is becoming increasingly complex geographically, which opens new perspectives into the spatial dimension of socio-technical transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) produce a plethora of positive direct effects on the host countries, such as additional resources and capabilities, added tax revenues, and GDP growth. Furthermore, they link the host economy to the global marketplace and improve the balance of payment. Apart from these direct effects, there are also many indirect consequences that must be taken into consideration, such as new management styles, new work culture, and more dynamic competitive practices. The sustained flow of FDI into developing nations is without a doubt an important stimulus for economic growth. In the present paper, the main objective is to present the inward FDI in China over the last 5 years, while highlighting the impact of the pandemic on the investment inflow. To achieve this goal, I have explained the importance of FDI inflows in the economic development of a country, I presented China's macroeconomic performance in recent years, and finally, I performed an analysis of the evolution of FDI inflows in China for the period 2017 -- 2021. Regarding the methodology used, I have elaborated quantitative research, by collecting information and data from China's national statistics, international statistics, and from specialized literature. The hypothesis of the research is that despite being the country where the pandemic broke out, China managed to remain an attractive place for foreign investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the Chinese government has committed additional resources in promoting research and development (R&D). At the same time, China has started implementing a more targeted foreign direct investment (FDI) policy. Using firm level panel data from China's iron ore mining industry, this paper aims to evaluate the performance differences between the firms that undertake R&D and those who do not. We also examine the role of FDI, which has not been the subject of an in-depth investigation. In addition, we use a relatively recently developed coarsened exact matching technique. We find that domestic firms in China's iron ore mining industry that conduct R&D are on average 0.3937% more productive and their sales are 0.0253% higher. While this industry attracts less than 1% of the total FDI in China, FDI has a positive and sizable impact on both productivity and profitability of domestic firms in China's iron ore mining industry. The results presented in this paper suggest that investment in China's iron ore mining industry offers attractive returns to foreign investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International technology spillovers have important impacts on innovation quality. In this paper, we integrate three main sources of international technology spillovers – imports, inward foreign direct investment (FDI), and outward FDI – into the framework of China's innovation quality. Accordingly, we empirically investigate the characteristics and channels of international technology spillovers that affect innovation quality. We find that, first, overall, the main sources of international technology spillovers that can significantly affect China's innovation quality focus on imports and outward FDI, especially imports, which plays a more dominant role; second, the characteristics of technology spillovers vary across different regions, that is, imports promote innovation quality more significantly in eastern and western China than in the central region, where only outward FDI affects innovation quality significantly; third, the channels of these three kinds of international technology spillovers that affect innovation quality cannot be separated from R&D capital investment and R&D personnel input. Our study not only enriches the extant literature about international technology spillovers affecting innovation quality but also sheds light on how to achieve high-quality economic development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the plan of the Chinese government to seek foreign investment in its forest products plan. Plan to build a complete forest product supply chain including plantations and wood pulp and paper mills.

China Railway Express (CRE) has changed the cargo transportation between China and Europe, as well as the environmental efficiency of relevant cities. This paper uses panel data for China's 256 cities from 2005 to 2018 and multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) method to study the impact and influence mechanism of CRE on environmental efficiency. The results found that the implementation of CRE has significantly improved environmental efficiency. The opening of CRE has improved environmental performance by promoting technological innovation and reducing the introduction of polluting foreign investment. The paper further examines and verifies that there are effects on resource crowding out and knowledge spillover between cities. The opening of CRE has a much greater impact on knowledge spillover. This study provides useful policy insights for improving environmental efficiency. • Cargo transportation and environmental efficiency have been changed. • China Railway Express has significantly improved China's environmental efficiency. • Technological innovation and Foreign investment are two influence channels. • There are both pollution transfer and knowledge spillover effects between cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is experiencing a tough transformation from rapid growth to quality development, with extensive implementation of land redevelopment. Previous studies have analyzed the mechanisms of land redevelopment at the urban and neighborhood scales, but little attention has been paid to its spatial heterogeneity at national scales, making it impossible to measure the role of macro factors and the central government, and the differences in the driving factors across cities. Using a city-level database of 287 Chinese cities from 2012 to 2018, this paper quantitatively reveals the spatial heterogeneity of land redevelopment among different regions, administrative levels, and city sizes, and analyzes how government and market forces generate such geographic characteristics. The findings reveal that: 1) The national land redevelopment ratio increased from 26.44% in 2012 to 31.95% in 2018, with an average yearly rise of 1%. 2) Eastern cities have the largest land redevelopment scale, while Northeastern cities have the highest proportion of land redevelopment, accounting for about 40%. Despite having the highest amount of land redevelopment, high-level administrative cities and large cities do not have a higher proportion of land redevelopment than other cities. 3) Market mechanism is imperfect and unbalanced. Foreign direct investment affects land redevelopment in eastern cities with a coefficient of 0.19, while real estate development affects the western cities and small cities, with coefficients of 1.72 and 1.11, respectively. Although the government plays a crucial role in propelling land redevelopment in China, the involvement of administrative power in expanding new construction land and non-market transactions has hindered the transition to the redevelopment of existing land. • Spatial heterogeneity of land redevelopment among cities of different regions, administrative levels and sizes. • The proportion of land redevelopment increased from 26.44% in 2012 to 31.95% in 2018. • High-level administrative and large cities do not have a higher proportion of land redevelopment than other cities. • The state, local governments, market forces and regional context jointly affect land redevelopment. • Market mechanisms are imperfect and unbalanced, with western cities driven by real estate, eastern cities driven by FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese state-owned enterprises are playing an expanded role in international port development, utilising their privileged access to state capital to finance, build, and operate hundreds of ports globally. This paper argues that the political nature of these investments vis-à-vis state ownership of the investing firms has introduced an array of unique economic, strategic, and political risks for recipient port states. We identify four such risks—port overcapacity, military entrapment, commercial and military espionage, and economic coercion—we argue that these risks flow specifically from state ownership of the port investor, and we demonstrate that these risks manifest in China's state-led foreign port investments. On this basis, we argue for FDI screening at the national level to manage the risks associated with foreign investments in critical infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the locational determinants of China's foreign direct (FDI) investments in Sub Saharan Africa and assesses whether their choice of investment destinations substantially differs from other global players. Using a panel dataset created from recently updated macroeconomic data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Bank, I find that China's choices of investment destinations in Africa over the last decade are substantially similar to traditional Western investors. Like other investing countries, China's FDI appears to be largely profit driven and its investments are concentrated in natural resource rich countries with relatively large domestic markets. Much has been made of the fact that, in contrast to other global players, China appears to be indifferent to the existence of stable property rights or rule based governance in the host country (see Chen, Dollar and Tang, 2015 among others). Yet, using regression diagnostics, I find that these findings are incredibly sensitive to outlier countries with substantial Chinese investment. China's sensitivity to property rights and rule of law in Sub Saharan Africa hinges on the inclusion or exclusion of outlier countries like South Africa, Sudan and Zimbabwe. Implications for public policy are explored in the final section of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a hotspot of foreign direct investment (FDI), China's coastal areas have seen rapid development in its marine economy. However, the frequent occurrence of pollution incidents in multinational companies, along with the continuous deterioration of the marine eco-environment has motivated the government to enact numerous environmental policies to avoid the potential adverse effects of FDI on marine sustainable development. To clarify the effects of these policies, this paper investigates environmental regulations' moderating effects on the relationship between the FDI and marine green economy efficiency, and the spatial performances of these moderating effects by the spatial Dubin model (SDM), using data from 11 provinces and cities in China's coastal areas. The results show that environmental regulation overall has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between the FDI and marine green economy efficiency, i.e., it enhances FDI's contribution to marine green economy efficiency. Specifically, different-type environmental regulations' moderating effects are heterogeneous, where command-and-control and public-participation environmental regulations have positive moderating effects, while economic-incentive environmental regulation has a negative moderating effect. From the further spatial performances, these environmental regulations' moderating roles, excluding the economic-incentive environmental regulation, have significant positive spatial spillover effects on the marine green economy efficiency, promoting the marine green economy efficiency in the surrounding areas. Based on the above findings, this paper proposes some recommendations to policymakers. • Environmental regulation as a moderator of FDI and marine green economy efficiency. • Environmental regulation enhances FDI's boost to marine green economy efficiency. • Different-type environmental regulations' moderating effects are heterogeneous. • These moderating roles have positive spatial spillover effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to provide a more systematic view of the relationship between environmental information disclosure (EID) and environmental public goods (EPG) to reconcile the existing conceptual controversy and empirical inconclusiveness. Based on the data on 202 cities and listed companies in China from 2008 to 2018, this paper constructs a dynamic spatial panel Durbin model to systematically investigate the impact mechanism of the impact of EID on the supply of EPG by local governments. The results show that there is a certain path dependence in the supply of EPG, and that there is a race to the bottom exists among local governments. EID helps promote the supply of EPG in local and surrounding cities. EID has a crowding-out effect on foreign direct investment (FDI) capital, which subsequently improves the supply level of EPG. In areas with a high degree of corruption, the authenticity of EID is questioned; thus, so the incentive effect on EPG is reduced. These findings can serve as an important reference provide important references for developing economies to improve their environmental management systems and achieve green transformation. • The impact of EID on EPG is examined with macro and micro data • Spatial spillover effects are considered • FDI is an important mediating variable • Objective media attention is used as an instrumental variable • Corruption has a moderating effect [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial green competitiveness has gradually become a core competitiveness for industrial development of a country in the world. Meanwhile, whether foreign direct investment (FDI) has pollution halo effect or pollution haven effect has always been the focus of academic debate. However, the impact assessment of FDI on the industrial green competitiveness in a large developing country, such as China, has received little attention. This paper first develops an evaluation system of China's industrial green competitiveness based on a panel dataset covering 30 provinces from 2001 to 2017 and adopts the meta-frontier, undesirable outputs and super slacks-based measure model to evaluate it. Then, this paper employs the dynamic spatial Durbin model (DSDM) to investigate the impact of FDI on China's industrial green competitiveness from the perspective of FDI quality, FDI quantity, and spatial spillover effects. The result indicates that the impact of FDI quality on industrial green competitiveness of a province and its neighbors is not significant. However, FDI quantity has a significantly negative effect on industrial green competitiveness of neighboring provinces, but an insignificant effect on that of the local province. Interestingly, the long term negative indirect effect of FDI quantity on industrial green competitiveness is not significant. Finally, FDI quality has a negative indirect effect on industrial green competitiveness in eastern and central China, while an insignificant effect in western China. A noteworthy phenomenon is that the long term negative indirect effect is greater than that of short term. Based on the above conclusions, specific recommendations for FDI to improve industrial green competitiveness are put forward for China and other developing countries. • This paper adopts the Meta-US-SBM model to evaluate China's industrial green competitiveness. • This paper employs the DSDM to investigate the impact of FDI on China's industrial green competitiveness. • The impact of FDI quality on industrial green competitiveness of a province and its neighbors is not significant. • The impact of FDI quantity on industrial green competitiveness of neighboring provinces is significantly negative. • The impact of FDI on China's industrial green competitiveness is with regional heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between intra-industry investment (III) and intra-industry trade (IIT) using cointegration and the Granger causality test. The empirical results indicate that there is a long-run equilibrium cointegration relationship between III and IIT in Chinese agriculture, manufacturing, the service sector and industry as a whole, and that this relationship is negative. Unidirectional Granger causality runs from III to IIT in manufacturing, the service sector and industry as a whole, but there is no strong evidence of causality running from IIT to III in any industry in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2003, Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) location choice has focused on three groups of host countries or regions, namely: countries or regions rich in natural resources but with high risk, developing countries or regions with abundant cheap labor, and highly developed countries or regions with plentiful sophisticated technologies. In order to realize the two national strategic goals-resource security and industrial structure adjustment, the Chinese government resorts to the twisted domestic financing system to grant preferential loan to the OFDI industries seeking SOEs (state-owned enterprises) to increase their investment capability in those countries or regions where economic risk is relatively high. Also, the Chinese government has actively promoted the establishment of foreign economic and trade cooperation zones in both Asian and African developing countries, improved the local supporting industries, and facilitated traditional Chinese manufacturing enterprises in their search of cheap labor in Asian-African countries to exert their industrial agglomeration advantages. Furthermore, the Chinese government has issued export-oriented policies and the foreign investment policies to increase the internationalization experience of Chinese firms and to promote their investment capability in the host countries or regions. The above-mentioned are the mechanism of how country-specific advantage influences Chinese OFDI location choice. This paper examines Chinese OFDI location choice from 2003 to 2010, and finds that Chinese OFDI does prefer countries or regions which have plenty of natural resources, cheap labor and/or strategic resources. In addition, with country-specific advantages, Chinese OFDI which seeks natural resources has stronger preference for countries or regions with high economic risk; for the OFDI which seeks cheap labor has less preference for host countries or regions of close geographic distance; and the internationalization experience becomes the key attraction for Chinese OFDI seeking strategic capital. The highlights of this paper lie in three aspects. Firstly, for the empirical model, this paper turns Buckley's generalized FDI model into one that can explain different OFDI location choices by integrating the factors affecting investment motivation with the factors affecting investment capability. Secondly, to explain where the ownership advantage of Chinese OFDI firms comes from, this paper embeds Chinese OFDI into China's macro-economic development background, relying on country-specific advantages to distinguish three different types of ownership advantage. Thirdly, to discover the unique Chinese OFDI location preferences, this paper finds that Chinese OFDIs prefer to invest in high-risk countries such as Iran or Iraq, that driven by the search for both natural resources and cheap labor, Chinese OFDI to Africa has surged, and that Chinese OFDI which seeks strategic resources tends to invest in countries or regions where China has had internationalization experience before, such as Japan and South Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since China adopted the policy of "reform and opening up" attracting foreign investment has long been part of China's bringing in strategy. The remarkable economic achievements in China over the past 30 years have proved this to be a right choice. However, with the gradual perfection of Charm's market-oriented economy, problems caused by the foreign investment have been emerging. Foreign investment goes into the host country market mainly via greenfield investments and cross-border acquisitions. Since the late twentieth century, cross-border acquisitions have replaced greenfield investments as the major way for multinational companies to enter new markets. In their attempts to occupy the Chinese market and extend the industrial chain, foreign enterprises took vertical mergers of China's upstream enterprises as one of their strategic choices. In this process, we noticed two typical facts: one is that multinational companies produce more high-end products than Chinese enterprises; and the other is that mergers do not immediately change the product positioning of acquired upstream enterprises. In other words, the short-term effects and long-term effects seem to be different. In order to better reflect these realities, we have constructed a theoretical framework based on the extended low-end to high-end distributed Hotelling model, which can be employed to explore the impact of foreign vertical mergers of the upstream enterprises on the downstream enterprises in China from the perspective of product positioning and market share. To the previous studies, this paper has made the following three contributions: First, we investigate the impact of mergers on China's downstream enterprises under both monopoly pricing and single pricing. Second, we study both the endogenous decisions made by upstream firms and the sequential decisions made by both upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain. Third, we divide the impact of merger into short-term effects and long-term effects according to whether the product positioning of upstream firms can be changed or not, which may better reflect the reality of poor compatibility between the foreign high-end downstream enterprise and the acquired upstream enterprise in the short-term after the merger occurs. We find that foreign vertical merger can lead to an improvement of the product positioning of China's low-end downstream enterprises, and even an expansion of market share in the short run. The impact of foreign vertical merger in the long run is associated with the cost of the upstream enterprises: upstream enterprises' lower costs will lead to a decline in the product positioning of China's low-end downstream enterprises, and the size of reduction will be in negative correlation with the cost of the upstream enterprises. The higher cost of upstream enterprises results in the upgrading of product positioning of low-end downstream enterprises and the size of upgrading is in positive correlation with the cost of the upstream enterprises. Whatever the cost of the upstream firm is, foreign vertical merger will bring about a decline in the market share of China's low-end downstream enterprises in the long run. The conclusion is robust under quadratic transport cost. By calculating the boundary condition, we also find that foreign vertical merger only occurs in the upstream industry of higher production cost or more technology intensity, which can be explained by the stronger input price effect with the increase in the upstream production cost. Because of limited space and data availability, this paper does not discuss the issues of consumer welfare effects, nor has strong detailed empirical support. Nevertheless, the conclusions of our paper do have practical insight and significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Review of International Affairs (04866096) is the property of Institute of International Politics & Economics and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Understanding the performance of each coastal area as it develops is the primary task of policy-makers in a marine economy; however, quantitative regional differences in China's marine economy have not been empirically examined. This paper offers a methodological contribution by applying a series of techniques, including the variation coefficient, Gini coefficient, and Theil index decomposition, to illustrate the relative differences among coastal areas. Additionally, the coastal areas of China were divided into two categories to reveal the provincial differences and regional disparities in China's marine economy. The results show that although the numerical economic differences in Gross Ocean Product (GOP) among coastal areas have increased significantly during the 21st century, the gaps among coastal regions have gradually decreased. In addition, China's marine economy presents three levels of regional development (developed, medium-developed, and developing). The results of the Theil index decomposition show that the overall difference in China's marine economy is derived mainly from differences within the three macro marine economic regions; these differences account for more than 95% of the overall difference. Furthermore, the underlying reasons for and driving mechanism of regional differences in China's marine economy can be illuminated in terms of differences in natural resource endowments and geographic locations; industrial agglomeration and diffusion; changes in regional development policy; and foreign investment. These findings offer basic data support and policy recommendations for marine economy management at the national and regional levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing the carbon intensity of the heavy industry is one of the main ways to achieve emission reduction goals. Most of the existing related studies use linear methods, which conceal the possible nonlinear relationship between carbon intensity and its influencing factors. The nonparametric models can address this deficiency. Thus, this paper uses this model to explore carbon intensity and obtains several novel results. (1) Energy consumption structure has a "pull first, then lower" inverted U-shaped nonlinear effect on carbon intensity, which means energy structure only plays a role in mitigating carbon intensity at a later stage. (2) The nonlinear impacts of incentive and mandatory environmental regulations exhibit an inverted U-shaped pattern. It is because in the later stage, the government invested more environmental governance funds and formulated more environmental laws. (3) Technological progress also has an inverted U-shaped effect, since R&D investment accelerates over time. (4) Similarly, the impact of foreign direct investment is an inverted U-shaped pattern, due to the introduction of more technologically advanced foreign investment projects in the later stage. (5) The impact of economic growth is more complex, showing an inverted N-shaped pattern. These findings have important policy implications. The above results have important policy implications. • This article examines the carbon intensity in China's heavy industry. • Energy structure has an inverted U-shaped nonlinear effect. • The impact of environmental regulations exhibits an inverted U-shaped pattern. • The impact of economic growth shows an inverted N-shaped pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The sustainable level of 20 cities in two urban agglomerations in Northeastern China were measured. • A weighting method considering the dynamic development level of each indicator was proposed. • An indicator system was built from three dimensions of Economy, Society, and Environment. • The sustainability of Ha-Chang Urban Agglomeration and Mid-southern Liaoning Urban Agglomeration was analyzed in detail with the Coupling Coordination Degree Model, Geographic Information System and Obstacle Degree Model. • Targeted suggestions were presented to promote the sustainable development of the study case. With economic development and environmental degradation, more scholars have realized the importance of urban sustainability. Government of Northeastern China institutes policies to promote local sustainability, in which urban agglomerations are the core of regional development. This paper measured the sustainability of 20 cities in Ha-Chang Urban Agglomeration (HCUA) and Mid-southern Liaoning Urban Agglomeration (MSLUA) through 18 indicators selected from three dimensions of economy, society and environment. A growth-oriented sequential relationship analysis (GO-SRA) method was proposed to calculate indicator weights, which considers the growth rate and annual growth trend of indicators. In addition, the sustainability of the 20 cities was analyzed in detail with the Coupling Coordination Degree Model, Geographic Information System and Obstacle Degree Model. Results showed that these cities had good development trends, but their sustainability was not satisfactory. Although the level of coupling coordination among the three dimensions was on the rise, the improvement was not ideal. Environmental dimension had obvious advantages, but it lacked development momentum. Furthermore, we found that per capita actual utilization of foreign capital was the main obstacle factor to development. Finally, we proposed corresponding suggestions for sustainable development of these cities according to current situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The paper explores the effects of industrial structure caused by FDI from the aspects of scale and structure by using empirical analysis method. Especially, the paper analyses the impacts of FDI in secondary sector which absorbs the largest portion of FDI. Empirical evidence indicates that we should build up better investment environment to attract more inflow to tertiary industries and bring into the positive foreign capital spillover so as to realize the country's industrial structure upgrading. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The spatial and sectoral distribution of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in China has changed dramatically in the past two decades. FDI was largely concentrated in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) and other Southern Coastal provinces in early stages and shifted to the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and the Bohai Economic Rim (BER) sequentially in later stages. It created unique and dynamic paths of the spatial evolution of FDI in China. Although many provinces have received relatively more FDI since the late 2000s, Guangdong and Jiangsu are still the two major recipients of FDI in China, demonstrating and over-arching polarization process. Furthermore, most FDI in China has been in the manufacturing sector, making China well-known as the “World Factory of Manufacturing”. This paper analyses the most recent trends, characteristics and patterns of FDI in China. It portrays the factors that determined the investment location and the dynamic pathways of different kinds of FDI. This paper also foresees the possible changes in spatial and sectoral distribution of FDI in the near future and provides policy suggestions for both China and other developing countries in seeking new FDI inflows and transforming their industrial structures and economies in this particular phase of globalization. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The imbalance of regional distribution of FDI which brings negative effect on the strategy of regional harmonious development of China has been one problem of most deserving attention. Therefore, how to contract regional disparity of FDI and promote coordinated development between different areas has become a significant issue. This paper first probes into the phenomenon of regional disparity of FDI by decomposing Theil index and finds that regional difference of FDI mainly stems from the three traditional economic belts; meanwhile, internal difference shows rising trends in recent years. Empirical analysis reveals that the level of regional economic development, construction of infrastructure, labor cost, agglomeration effects of FDI, the degree of openness, and preferential policy to FDI, play a significant role in the distribution of FDI. However, preferential policy shows decreasing effects on absorbing FDI while spatial agglomeration of FDI exhibits increasing effects based on further analysis. Finally, the paper gives a general conclusion and provides some feasible suggestions for reducing the disparity of FDI for different areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political risk is taken as the starting point for assessing overseas investment projects, and it is also a crucial factor which influences the success of foreign investment. Therefore, to analyze the factors influencing the political risk and to construct a sensitive early warning system of political risk is of great practical and theoretical significance. Although there are some professional institutions worldwide that are specialized in measuring political risk, their assessments are simply conducted based on the host countries' own political, economic and social environment, ignoring the specific political risk of foreign direct investments regarding to a particular home country and a particular host country. Moreover, most of the political risk researches focused on risk assessment and prevention, but few of them paid attention to the early warning system. As a supplement of the previous researches, this paper aims to provide macro-level politicaI risk information for Chinese overseas investments by constructing an early warning system of political risk in 26 countries where Chinese investment flow abroad. On the basis of the summary of the relevant researches on political risk, this paper has explained the formation mechanism of the political risk and analyze the main factors influencing the political risk, which can be considered in the political, economic and social dimensions. We have proposed an indicators system to assess and predict the macro-political risk faced by Chinese OFDI. The indicators system suggested in this study consists of indicators such as political stability, the distance of the democracy degrees between China and the host country, the distance of the corruption levels between China and the host country, the host country's law culture, the host country's dependence on China, per capita income of the host country, GDP growth, inflation rate. With the annual data on the 8 indicators of the indicators system from 2002 to 2009, we have given scores to 26 host countries according to principal component analysis in terms of their macro political risk. Then this paper further classifies the political risk of these years into four levels. danger, alerting, basically safe and safe. Additionally, this paper has constructed an early warning system in political risk for foreign investment of Chinese companies based on BP Artificial Neural Network, through which we also predict the political risk of Chinese foreign investment in 2010. Based on the empirical study mentioned above, we argue that Chinese investors should guard against risk arising from political factors in politically and economically less-developed countries, against risk arising from economic factors in politically and economically moderately developed countries which also maintain good diplomatic relations and have less cultural differences with China,and against risk arising from political, cultural and social factors in politically and economically highly developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The frequency, sum of money and scope of transnational mergers made by Chinese firms are growing. This paper, based on the ESP paradigm in FDI, analyzes the impact of non-economic factors such as politics, law, national awareness, public opinion and the union''s forces upon transnational mergers. In the meanwhile, the paper makes effort to propose some countermeasures. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this paper we analyze foreign direct investment (FDI) in China from several points of view. After putting the subject into an historical context, we use time series to illustrate the main trends of capital inflows. Our main finding is that the significant growth of FDI inflows since the beginning of the 1990s can be attributed to two factors: first, the strengthening trust in the irreversibility of the reform process, second, the gradually opening domestic market. The paper also deals with two specific, and very important issues: the so called round-tripping capital, and role of off-shore areas in FDI inflows. We show that these phenomena are strongly linked to each other, and based upon the different handling of domestic and foreign enterprises by the government. Another special feature we try to understand is the large volume of FDI compared to portfolio investments. According to our explanation this is a consequence of the relative backwardness of the Chinese financial system compared to that of in advanced economies, which makes FDI a much safer way of financing than the use of the underdeveloped Chinese capital markets. JEL: F21 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper examines the Internet security environment as an FDI location determinant and its mechanisms. • The spatial econometric approach is employed to analyze both the direct and spatial spillover effects. • Internet security plays an increasingly important role in acquiring FDI with time passing. • Internet security becomes more crucial for attracting FDI when host country turning into Internet society. This paper examines the impact of the Internet security environment on Chinese outward foreign direct investment (FDI) using a merged cross-country data set over 2010–2017 with a dynamic spatial model. The results show that Internet security is a crucial determinant for Chinese firms to make location decisions overseas. Particularly, a secure Internet significantly promotes Chinese outward FDI to a host country. In contrast, Internet security in surrounding countries yields negative spatial location spillovers that hinder Chinese firms from investing in the host country. This phenomenon can be regarded as a national competition for Internet security to attract FDI. Mechanism tests show that Internet security promotes FDI in host countries through four channels: operating cost reductions, transaction cost-cutting, information asymmetry decreases, and confidentiality protection. Further heterogeneous analyses show that the impact of Internet security is more significant as time passes and the host country becomes an Internet society. In contrast, specific international cooperation frameworks led by China weaken the location effect of Internet security for Chinese outward FDI. These results are robust after controlling for potential endogeneity and to different specifications. Therefore, the host authorities should endeavor to create a high-quality Internet security environment to attract FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies on the regional selection of FDI and its determinants, which is studied by the first order difference of general moment method (DIF-GMM) utilizing the provincial panel data from 1988 to 2004. The DIF-GMM method can solve the endogenous problem better than the OLS and Fixed Effect Model which make the estimation more robust. The result implies that the openness, the market capacity, the extent of marketization, and the preferential policies will have positive effects on FDI, while the wage rate has a negative effect. The empirical results satisfy the most assumptions which we set at first. This paper gives possible explanation to the unexpected results and points out the further research direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how multinational firm take decisions with regard to outward FDI (OFDI) depending on total factor productivity (TFP). In particular, we examine how the TFP of an individual firm interacts with the host country's factors, and its indirect impact on the location decision. An annual data set from 2008 to 2013 for publicly listed multinational firms in China is examined. The empirical results suggest that, first, the TFP could stimulate the OFDI engagement of a firm. Second, the influence of the firm's TFP is consistent across firms with different institutional advantages. Third, the firm's TFP reduces the importance of the host country's market potential on the likelihood of the firm's entry into a host country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although productivity spillovers have long been recognized to be a major benefit of foreign direct investment (FDI), such spillovers have not yet been systematically studied in the context of the hotel industry. This paper investigates hotel-related FDI spillover effects as well as moderating factors (geographic region, star rating classification, ownership type and foreign capital origin) in China. Evidence from province-level panel data reveals the existence and significance of intra-industry spillovers from foreign to domestic hotels in China, although the nature and magnitude vary based on different moderating factors. Domestic hotels in eastern and western China and those with alliance and limited liability ownership structures benefit significantly from productivity spillovers. Foreign-invested three-star hotels transfer a significant amount of positive productivity, whereas domestic three- and five-star hotels benefit the most from productivity spillovers. Moreover, foreign-invested hotels from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan (HMT) and non-HMT countries generate positive spillovers of similar magnitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A theoretical model is developed to predict how command-and-control environmental regulation affects innovation. • The causal relationship between environmental regulation and innovation is empirically identified. • Environmental regulation exerts significant and negative effect on innovation. • A sharp decline in labor demand, firm entry, and inbound foreign direct investment are the main channels. The relevance of analyzing effects of environmental regulation on innovation cannot be overemphasized. In this paper, we first develop a theoretical model to predict how command-and-control environmental regulation affects innovation, and then we derive its channels. Using the difference-in-difference-in-differences strategy and a comprehensive dataset at city-industry-year level of manufacturing sectors in China, we found that the more stringent environmental regulations that are faced by cities, measured by the reduction targets of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and sulfur dioxide (SO 2) during the eleventh Five-Year Plan, are negatively associated with innovation. Thus, the evidence contradicts the Porter Hypothesis. On average, a one standard deviation increase in the reduction targets of COD (SO 2) is associated with a 0.023 (0.016) standard deviation decrease in the innovation index. We controlled carefully for various potential confounders, and the results were supported by robustness and falsification checks. There exists an evident heterogeneity effect across regions and industries with different pollution intensities. The channel analysis shows that stricter environmental regulation also accounts for a sharp decline in labor demand, firm entry, and inbound foreign direct investment. Our findings are also robust to alternative measures for innovation and environmental regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Haze has seriously threatened the ecological environment and public health, so researching environmental efficiency under haze constraints is significant in managing pollution and evaluating the balance between economic development and environmental health. Based on the panel data of China's 99 cities during 2005–2017, this paper uses α-convergence and β-convergence models to analyze the spatial convergence of environmental efficiency under haze constraints and its drivers in China,specifically in Eastern China, Central China, and Western China.The main results are as follows: (1) The trend of environmental efficiency under haze constraints in these regions evidently follows a dumbbell curve. In recent years, it has been growing slowly in Eastern China, Central China, and Western China, and the environmental efficiency in the Eastern China is the highest, the Central China is the second, and the Western China is the lowest; (2) it demonstrates both α-convergence and β-convergence in Central China, Western China, and Eastern China, and the speed of convergence is the fastest in the Central China, the second in the Western China and the slowest in the Eastern China; there is a "catch-up effect" in cities from less environmentally efficient regions to more efficient regions; and (3) Industrial structure and degree of trade dependence have a significantly negative correlation; characteristics of the region and dependence on foreign investment have significantly positive correlations with the environmental efficiency of Eastern China and Central China; environmental regulations and economic scale limit the improvement of environmental efficiency of Central China and Western China; and technological innovation significantly impacts Eastern China only. Although the paper refers to the specific evidence of China, with haze as a new indicator in the comprehensive evaluation of environmental efficiency can be extended to other developing countries as well as to other pollutants such as land pollution and waste water. The understanding of drivers of environmental efficiency under haze constraints in China provides international policy-makers with valuable reference for formulating effective measures to balance the dilemma between economic development and environmental health. • Haze was brought into the framework of environmental efficiency. • The environmental efficiency in China followed a dumbbell curve. • A "catch-up effect" in less environmentally efficient regions was confirmed. • Industrial structure had a negative correlation with the environmental efficiency [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Relations / Uluslararasi Iliskiler is the property of International Relations Council and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The increasing of carbon productivity is crucial to the success of China's green development goals. Among them, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is seen as a potential pillar of achieving these strategic goals. Based on 1998–2016 provincial-level panel data in China, this paper combines influencing mechanisms such as the scale effect, structural effect, technical effect and environmental effect, and constructed a spatial simultaneous equations model of carbon productivity. This study calculated the comprehensive impact of FDI on carbon productivity by using the generalized space three-stage least-squares estimator method (GS3SLS), and further explored the moderating effect of the regional industrialization level by adding interaction items, in order to discuss the turning point of the local government's investment policy. The results showed that: (1) Local FDI has a positive impact on local carbon productivity, but FDI in surrounding areas (SFDI) has a negative impact on local carbon productivity, structural effect is the main reason for the difference; (2) The moderating effect of industrial development does exist. By calculating the threshold of FDI and SFDI, this paper classifies China's industrialization development level into three levels. When formulating and implementing relevant policies to attract investment, the Chinese government should not simply implement the policy on the basis of geographical regions, but should fully coordinate heterogeneity between the introduction of FDI and industrialization development, so as to significantly improve China's carbon productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Chinese economy has developed rapidly during the past 30 years and a market-oriented state capitalism has emerged. The policies of the Chinese party-state have led to concentrating effects both in - and outside of China: Huge state-owned enterprises and conglomerates have emerged at the expense of smaller ones. With the support of state institutions, the remaining SOEs increasingly involve in overseas activities. Chinese outward foreign direct investment has grown considerably since the year 2000. This paper depicts Chinas capitalist development and illustrates underlying motives and effects of the "Go Global Strategy". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: China has undergone large-scale urban expansion and rapid loss of cultivated land for more than two decades. The goal of this paper is to examine the relative importance of socioeconomic and policy factors across different administrative levels on urban expansion and associated cultivated land conversion. We conduct the analysis for urban hotspot counties across the entire country. We use multi-level modeling techniques to examine how socioeconomic and policy factors at different administrative levels affect cultivated land conversion across three time periods, 1989–1995, 1995–2000, and 2000–2005. Our results show that at the county level, both urban land rent and urban wages contribute to total cultivated land conversion. Contrary to expectations, agricultural investment drives farmland conversion, suggesting a policy failure with unintended consequences. At the provincial level, urban wages and foreign direct investment both positively contribute to cultivated land conversion. We also find that higher GDP correlates with more urban expansion but the relationship is nonlinear. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: For providing the government with effective monitoring of the trends of the economic variables in the future and good reference for developing a reasonable policy, in this paper, we establish a time series model on China''s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by using wavelet analysis and intervention analysis and time series analysis and predict the trend of FDI in the next several years. This model eliminates the interference of noise for predicting by using wavelet analysis, and describes the autocorrelation and time-varying volatility of the financial time series by using ARIMA- GARCH-M model. The simulation results show that this model explains the dynamic structure of China''s FDI trends well. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Governments spend considerable public resources, including tax dollars, on marketing their cities or countries in order to become a strong brand attractive for exports, foreign direct investment and tourism. Ironically at the same time, self-imposed and strict visa regulations that can potentially hamper the productivity of marketing and branding are fairly common. There are valid reasons for imposing strict visa regulations, two of the most important being national and economic security. Although strict visa regulations are a common phenomenon around the world, the tourism academia have yet to argue against strict visa regulations by providing empirical evidence on their potential impact on tourism demand, and hence the economy. The current study is a pioneer attempt to generate awareness about the potential detrimental impacts of visa restrictions on a country’s economy, by using the case of People’s Republic of China, one of the countries known to have a history of strict visa regulations. The research reported in this paper was based on the standard tourism demand function, which models the causal relationship between tourism demand and a number of macroeconomic variables. The autoregressive distributed lag model (ADLM) was used since it has a dynamic specification that takes the time path of the tourist decision-making process into consideration by using both current and lagged values of variables. Results show the negative effect of visa regulations on both country-level and prefecture-level economies. Implications are discussed and recommendations provided. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]