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Employing an institutional – FDI – economic growth lens the purpose of this paper is to identify and explain the impacts of Chinese FDI (CFDI) on host countries' economic growth. While extensive research has been undertaken regarding determinants of CFDI, little is known about the actual outcomes of CFDI in recipient countries. Based on a sample of 22 countries over the period 2003–2018, our results identify that while general flows of FDI exhibited positive impacts on host countries' economic growth, CFDI had a negative effect on host country economic growth. From the host country perspective, given the emphasis that is placed on FDI as an instrument of growth and development, our findings raise questions about what host countries are actually gaining from CFDI and the potential implications of whether pursuing the 'Beijing Consensus' as opposed to the 'Washington Consensus' is really in the long-term interests of countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To figure out at what extent of China's investment in energy technology in recent years has helped economic growth and improved the environment. From the basic theory of environmental regulation's influence on energy consumption efficiency, this study uses the super-efficiency slack base model to measure the green energy efficiency of 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2019, and uses the kernel density function to analyze evolution trajectory. Then, the spatial Dubin model is used to test the influence of some important economic variables. The results of value show that although China's green energy efficiency improved significantly from 2010 to 2019, the overall performance was lacking. However, the overall efficiency value was significantly improved during the study period. Moreover, the efficiency value was closely related to the performance of economic development. From the dynamic trajectory perspective, efficiency values of all years show the type of "two peaks".Altough the width between the two peaks did not change noticeably, but the efficiency still had a significantly improved. In addition, according to the results of spatial economic regression analysis, eco-environmental constraints, foreign direct investment, and industrial agglomeration were not conducive to the efficiency value, while industrial structure and manufacturing enterprise scale had positive effects. In addition, the influence effects had obvious spatial phenomena. Therefore, for the Chinese government, enterprises and society, the next step is not only to vigorously exploit energy-saving and emission reduction technologies to improve energy consumption efficiency but also to establish reasonable environmental regulation policies to push enterprises to produce in a cleaner way. Additionally, a reasonable regional development plan should be established to promote the rational distribution and flow of the energy industry across different places. This paper provides a novel perspective for the study of energy input and usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the transition of China's economy toward high-quality development, it will be increasingly important to coordinate the relationship between local government competition, environmental regulation, and the transformation of the economic growth mode. To explore the impact of local government competition and environmental regulation on total factor productivity (TFP), in this study empirical analysis models were established using panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2001 to 2017. Local government competition was measured from the perspectives of foreign direct investment (FDI), fiscal expenditure, and tax. The results show that local government competition has a positive impact on the improvement in TFP. Taking environmental regulation into consideration, the impact of local government competition on TFP is weakened. Furthermore, under the current intensity of environmental regulation, local government fiscal expenditure competition and tax competition both lead to improvement in TFP, while FDI competition has the opposite effect. This paper explores the heterogeneity of the impact of local government competition and environmental regulation on TFP under different local government competition levels. Under the influence of environmental regulations, local government FDI competition has a negative impact on the improvement in TFP, particularly in "low" FDI competition areas. Local government fiscal expenditure competition has a positive impact on the improvement in TFP, particularly in "low" fiscal expenditure competition areas. The current level of local government tax competition has a negative impact on the improvement in TFP in "high" tax competition areas, whereas it has a positive impact on the improvement in TFP in "low" tax competition areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid growth of foreign direct investment (FDI) has had a significant impact on rapid economic development and environmental pollution in China. Nonetheless, the underlying mechanism and empirical evidence of FDI impact on carbon emission efficiency have not been systematically explored. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of FDI on carbon emission efficiency via energy intensity, as well as the moderating role of the Low-Carbon City Pilot Policy (LCCP) in the process. We found that: (1) During the study sample period, the average carbon emission efficiency tends to rise, however, there remains a gap between the optimal carbon emission efficiency; (2) FDI is one of the key factors that inhibit the improvement of carbon emission efficiency, with a non-linear relationship between them; (3) FDI indirectly suppresses the improvement of carbon emission efficiency by promoting energy intensity. Nevertheless, the implementation of LCCP has a positive effect on carbon emission efficiency; (4) The implementation of LCCP has improved the negative impact of FDI on carbon emission efficiency, nonetheless, it cannot significantly influence the process that FDI affects carbon emission efficiency through energy intensity. Thus, we propose improvement measures from three aspects, i.e., increasing the introduction of foreign capital, adjusting the energy consumption structure, and expanding the scope of low-carbon cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's growing presence in Africa is not news: the expansion of bilateral trade and investment ties has garnered intense media and political focus over the past decade. However, less is known about the people accompanying these increasingly intensive flows of goods and capital. This paper focuses on Zambia, drawing on multiple primary datasets to shed light on both the scale and nature of Chinese migration to the continent. Two years of Department of Immigration employment-permit data serve as the basis for the first quantitative analysis of the "Chinese" in "Africa," illuminating the increasing diversity of this population flow. While the growing Chinese presence in Africa is often viewed as a coherent neocolonialist strategy planned and implemented by the Chinese state, this paper demonstrates that it is in fact typified by a multitude of both public and private actors with independent motives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines a lacuna in the literature on foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to China: the absence of analysis for the prominent location of small Caribbean and Pacific islands as leading sources of FDI. An indeterminate amount of domestic capital is embedded in these FDI flows, which distorts comparative studies on FDI in developing economies between China and other states. Direct investment from China has also increased in recent years and offshore financial centres (OFCs) often serve as the initial destinations. This paper excavates the rationales behind the presence of OFCs and suggests that Chinese actors will emulate the practices of developed state multinational corporations and high-net-worth individuals. The implications of these investment practices are outlined along with possible trajectories for their impact on the process of financial liberalisation in China. Consequently, it encourages increased Chinese participation in the development of global financial governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many years, foreign funded companies in China enjoyed a relatively low tax rate and a series of preferential policies which were aimed at encouraging foreign direct investment in China. By adopting a new law in 2007, however, the National People's Congress proclaimed the end of the dual corporate-income-tax system. From 2008, the preferential tax treatment of foreign capital will be phased out. As a result, the income tax rate for domestic and foreign funded companies will be unified at the rate of 25%. This paper explores the impact of the dual corporate income tax system on both domestic and foreign funded enterprises and discusses the possible effects of the unification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pharmaceutical industry in China has undergone dramatic development over the past two decades. From a poor agricultural country, China has now become a country with an increasingly strong economy and, more significantly, the eighth largest pharmaceutical market in the world with more than US8bn total sales in 2004. This paper describes the distribution pattern of the pharmaceutical industry in China, explores the reasons of the emergence of this pattern, and provides investment suggestions to foreign investors who are considering moving into the pharmaceutical market in China. Analysis of the Chinese pharmaceutical industry reveals: (1) most pharmaceutical firms are located in the southeastern zone, which includes two well-developed areas and three sub-developed areas; (2) the development of the pharmaceutical industry in China is predominantly driven by economy factors; (3) there is a slightly changing market distribution pattern from the micro angle, while the general pattern remains steady from the macro angle and (4) the pharmaceutical industry in China is extensively fragmented. The major constituent factors of these features are: (1) misconceptions of the profitability and growth of the pharmaceutical industry, (2) unnecessary political competition between regions and (3) excessive exploitation of regional administrative power. Finally, it is suggested that the foreign investors should concentrate on the southeastern zone that includes two well-developed areas and three sub-developed areas.Journal of Medical Marketing (2007) 7, 18–24. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jmm.5050061 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While China's experience of using special economic zones (SEZs) for advancing economic development is a model increasingly adopted in other developing countries, the processes involved in replicating this model elsewhere and the outcomes of such replication remain little understood. This review article's nested examination of three relevant strands of literature and two case studies of India and Ethiopia indicates that successful replication of China's SEZ-led development would involve deliberate processes of adaptation from the original model. Replication must be "smart," by taking into account the temporal, systemic, and other discrepancies between the Chinese model and the replicating country; replicating the benefits of China's approach whilst avoiding the drawbacks; and maximising the positive effects of direct Chinese involvement and investments while reducing negative repercussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental degradation has been recognized as a global issue due to high energy consumption and economic growth. This situation needs researchers to focus on, thereby, the current article examined the impact of renewable energy production (REP), energy import, renewable energy consumption (REC), gross domestic product (GDP), inflation, and foreign direct investment (FDI) on the carbon dioxide (CO2) emission in China. The study considered secondary data and extracted it from the World Bank database covering the period 1981 to 2018. The current article has examined the stationarity of the constructs using Augmented Dickey-Fuller tests and investigated the association among constructs using the quantile autoregressive distributed lag (QARDL) model. The data revealed that REP, energy import, and REC, had a significant and negative linkage with CO2 emission in China. In contrast, GDP, inflation, and FDI are linked with CO2 emission in a positive manner. The article also guided the policymakers regarding the policy development related to reducing carbon emissions using renewable energy production and consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the high-quality development of the Chinese economy, the improvement of environmental efficiency in Chinese industries has become a significant task. Understanding the environmental efficiency of the logistics industry is essential for implementing effective environmental policies. This study aims to explore the impacts of economic growth, foreign direct investment (FDI), and innovation on the environmental efficiency of the logistics industry. In this paper, we apply the undesirable SBM model to calculate the environmental efficiency of the logistics industry and use the Tobit model to analyze the impacts of economic growth, foreign direct investment (FDI), and innovation on the environmental efficiency of the logistics industry in provinces along the Belt and Road in China from 2009 to 2018. Based on the results indicate the average environmental efficiency of the logistics industry in Chinese provinces along the Belt and Road is 0.7880, indicating that the environmental efficiency of the logistics industry was generally low in some regions along the belt and road. Innovation and FDI were found have a significant impact on the environmental efficiency, while economic growth fails to significantly impact on the environmental efficiency of the logistics industry in provinces along the Belt and Road. Therefore, we should encourage improvement of the level of environmental efficiency of the logistics industry. It is necessary to realize the co-ordinated development of the logistics industry and the environment through optimization of the development of innovation and transforming the FDI model in provinces along the Belt and Road. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) provides a window of opportunity for the Belt and Road (B&R) countries to solve their transportation challenges and achieve green economic growth. This study examines the causal relationship between China's OFDI, transport, and green economic growth in 63 B&R countries from 2005 to 2019 using system GMM estimators. The empirical results indicate that there is a multifarious relationship between these factors. China's OFDI can effectively facilitate the transport infrastructure construction of host countries, which will spur green economic growth. Moreover, the B&R countries with transport and green economic growth gap are more likely to contribute to China's OFDI "attractiveness." These conclusions provide a policy basis for the B&R countries to attract China's OFDI, develop adequate transportation infrastructure, and enhance sustainable green economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Export tax rebate (ETR) and inwards foreign direct investment (IFDI) are important driving forces for the steady development of China's export-oriented economy. Based on data from 2004 to 2019, this study puts forward relevant assumptions on constructing a model for empirically analyzing the impact of the ETR on China's IFDI from the perspective of the national and the sub-national. The result demonstrates that there exists a complementary relationship between the ETR and IFDI; the weak lag effect of ETR on IFDI in the eastern, middle, and western regions of China; an explicit impact on the performance in the western region, which lags behind only one period; and no significant lag effect of ETR on IFDI in developed, moderately developed, and underdeveloped regions. On the basis of this evaluation, the conclusion could be achieved that that ETR has a significant effect on IFDI, though there may be differences in the direction and value of the impact. The highlight of this research is to detect the impact of ETR on IFDI by taking China as a case, and achieved that there exist sub-national differences, including the geographical and development-level differences. Plain Language Summary: Export Tax Rebate on IFDI The purpose of this article was to detect the impact of export tax rebates (ETR) on China's Inwards Foreign Direct Investment (IFDI) by considering various types of regional differences. The main methods was to establish econometric model considering of time lag effect and control variable and bring relevant hypothesis, then made panel data model to reveal the impact from perspectives of different regions. The conclusion was that the impact of the ETR on the IFDI generally demonstrated differences in complementarity, lag, and geographical and development levels. The implications was that China should implement different regional ETR policy for achieving larger effect on IFDI. The limitations could be detected from two aspects, which was whether an ETR that lags behind to be adopted being debatable and the adoption of enterprise microdata could effectively examine the impact of ETR on IFDI respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The medical device market is one of the most attractive and profitable areas in the global economy. Since China opened its doors to the world, it has attracted increasing amounts of foreign investment. The Chinese medical device market is currently one of the most promising and fastest growing markets, which is the second largest market in the world with 200 billion yuan (RMB) total sales in 2013. This paper illustrates the geographical distribution of the Chinese medical device industry, combined with the location quotient (LQ) assessment, to reveal the medical device industry’s professional level and degree of concentration in each province, providing guidance for investors who are interested in medical device investment in China. The LQ and market share (MS) matrix reveals that the best investment regions in China are Bohai Economic Rim, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta Economic Zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the spatial pattern of hotel distribution in Chinese cities and shed light on the factors shaping this pattern. Several spatial data analysis methods are applied to examine the number of star-rated hotels in 342 Chinese cities from 2001 to 2010 as well as the number of budget hotels in 2008. Three significant hot-spot areas for star-rated hotels have been identified in 2010, namely, the Yangtze River Delta cluster, the Pearl River Delta cluster, and the Beijing–Tianjin cluster. Furthermore, based on the results from bivariate local Moran statistics, the star-rated hotel hot-spots are found to be spatially associated with local economic condition, foreign investment dependence, and the level of tourism development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

China has re-emerged to become a dominant foreign player in Cambodia. Politically, Cambodia is one of China's oldest and closest allies. Economically, China is Cambodia's top foreign investor, a major donor, and an increasingly important trading partner. Culturally, Chinese values are deeply embedded in many aspects of Cambodian society. However, China's dominance is surrounded by renewed controversies. While the government warmly welcomes Chinese aid, saying that it comes with no strings attached, many experts are concerned that China is providing aid for more nefarious reasons. Critics also accuse Chinese investment and aid of having exacerbated corruption, weakened governance and harmed human rights, and of ruining Cambodia's natural resources and environment. With such controversies, it is relevant and significant to assess the roles that China has played and continues to play in Cambodia's socio-economic development. Using expert interviews, media analysis and an extensive literature review, this paper uniquely contributes to the existing discussion on China-Cambodia relations by closely examining the controversies of China's investment and aid, critically analysing China's interests in Cambodia, and asking if the relationship between the two nations is a positive-sum game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper systematically investigates the impacts of openness on regional innovation in China, especially the role of absorptive capacity in mediating the spillover effect brought about by openness. Based on provincial-level data over the period 1997-2007 and adopting patents as indicator of innovation, the empirical results show that the estimated patents-R&D elasticity is lower than that for OECD countries, while there is a significant R&D spillover effect across regions in China. Technology import overall has no significant influence on fostering innovations, but it is significantly positive for coastal regions. Openness to trade, in terms of FDI and high-tech product exports, is witnessed to exhibit a significantly positive impact on promoting regional innovation. Crucially, the effects of technology imports and FDI on innovations vary significantly between coastal and non-coastal regions. Using human capital as a proxy for absorptive capacity, we find it helps in learning external sources of knowledge and then contributes to innovations. Moreover, absorptive capacity is expected to play an important role in mediating the spillover effect brought about by openness to trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses foreign direct investment from Southeast Asia to China. With the exception of some government-linked companies, most investments from Southeast Asia have been dominated by the region's overseas Chinese businesses. In addition to cheap labour costs, large domestic market and growing economy, China has provided business opportunities to investors from Southeast Asia thanks to their geographic proximity and ethnic connections, at least during the initial investment period. However, the network effects seem to decline soon after. As the Chinese economy becomes more globalised and more competitive, the success of foreign investment in China will increasingly depend on business competency rather than ethnic relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores how the institution of the host countries affects the natural resource-seeking and strategic asset-seeking motives of the Chinese outward foreign direct investment. Using the system GMM estimation method and data of the Chinese outward foreign direct investment during the period from 2003 to 2020, the study shows that the search for strategic assets by the Chinese outward foreign direct investment is directed toward the host countries with well-established institutions, while the search for natural resources is driven by poor institutions of the host countries. Findings from this study provide empirical evidence for policymakers to formulate appropriate foreign investment policies given the dynamics of Chinese foreign direct investment worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We attempt to investigate how and when foreign direct investment (FDI) impacts different types of environmental pollution in host countries. Using provincial data from China between 1995 and 2015, we find that FDI mitigates air pollution, yet it has insignificant effect on water and solid pollution. We further reveal that it is the combination of the technology, scale and structure effects that jointly determines the impact of FDI on environmental pollution. Among them, the technology effect takes the most dominant role, followed by the scale effect and structure effect. In addition, by considering the time effect on environmental policy change, we suggest that the pollution halo effect mainly occurs after air pollution policy revision. Our findings provide insight on the complex mechanisms and theoretical boundary of FDI on different types of environmental pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 2010s, foreign direct investment in real estate (FDIRE) by Mainland Chinese firms has emerged as a major force within global real estate markets, challenging Western investors' traditional dominance. It is unclear, however, whether Mainland Chinese FDIRE is fueled by the same motivations as those of investors from advanced economies, which to date have represented both the primary investors and main objects of study. One major difference may be that Mainland Chinese investment originates in an institutional environment comprised of strong state intervention and social networks important for fostering business and ethnic ties. To uncover the potentially unique determinants and heterogeneity of Mainland Chinese corporate real estate investors, we build and analyze a state-level panel dataset of Mainland Chinese FDIRE by state-owned enterprises and private enterprises in the U.S. from 2010 to 2017. Our empirical results reveal the importance of Chinese migrants in promoting Mainland Chinese real estate investment, especially by private enterprises. Our findings also demonstrate that at the state level, Mainland Chinese FDIRE exhibits few agglomerative tendencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative research explores how multinational enterprises (MNEs) respond to institutional pressure at home. Focusing on the case of China, a major source of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in the world, we analyze and theorize the meanings of firm actions within a policy regime designed for global competition. We find, in a country where its governments (both national and regional) seek OFDI development through policymaking, that domestic firms will confront these regulative interventions with four types of strategies—institutional compromise, institutional innovation, institutional manipulation, and institutional defiance—as they pursue value creation from internationalization. More importantly, these responses are driven by two key enabling conditions: the flexibility of the institutional arrangements and the actor's position in the field. Our findings provide valuable insights for international business research surrounding the theme of home country institutional pressure and MNE agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue of American Behavioral Scientist examines the irregular transactions and informal institutions that constitute the essential underside of the Chinese economy. Contributors with a range of disciplinary backgrounds explore shadow banking, social welfare and rural development by private enterprise, NGO financing, the credit/debt cycle of informal international trade, and offshore investment by Chinese state-owned enterprises. The question posed by all contributors is as follows: How, in China through the 2010s, do irregular or nonlegal financial transactions influence political authority? Institutions, the rules and norms by which we live, are found to be key. This "Introduction" sketches the conceptual links between money, rules, and ruling in the context of the heightened authoritarianism and institutional formalization of the 2010s—the Xi Jinping era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pattern of international capital flows has changed dramatically in the process of globalization. In this study, we argue that human capital (HC) facilitates a region's reversal from being a net recipient of external resources to being an active contributor in the global market. Using a panel vector autoregressive regression method, we examine the relationships among regional HC, foreign direct investment (FDI), and outward FDI during 2004–2015 in China. Our results show that HC plays a key role in both attracting FDI and generating outward FDI. The findings contribute to research on the dynamic capacity building of regions participating in the global economy, especially strengthening HC for local economies participating in the global economy as either investment recipients or contributors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since economic reform, accounting practices have progressively moved from accountability to governments and control over economic activities to various forms of economic entities. The development of Chinese accounting practices is to serve enterprises and the market, which are the micro organs of the national economy. This paper reviews the economic reform in the Mainland, and the reform of Chinese enterprises, legal environment, foreign direct investment and securities markets which have been contributing to the development of accounting practices. It also suggests that the Chinese Government should advance the new accounting standards to all business enterprises in order to ensure consistency. The continuous economic reform will certainly elevate industrial accounting, which calls for more stringent corporate governance to reduce corporate frauds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comparative historical perspective shows how globalization and the specificities of China's rapid growth era limit its hegemonic potential in the twenty-first century global economy. Although state capitalism and openness to foreign capital facilitated China's economic transformation, interactions among three forms of capital—state, private, and foreign—have produced developmental dynamics that constrain China's capacity to assume the position of the world's economic hegemon. These include (1) the compromised competitiveness of China's corporate sector due to the domination of state-owned enterprises, (2) limits on the ability of Chinese firms to develop leading transnational corporations, and (3) early openness to and continued dependence on foreign capital. Moreover, the party-state's efforts to ameliorate these constraints arouse external suspicion rather than support a Chinese-led hegemonic order based on consent and shared interests. These historically conditioned realities should temper expectations that China is converging teleologically toward a familiar hegemonic role in the international economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How relevant are human resource (HR) practices in economies undergoing significant economic transition from a command to a market-based system? Using data drawn from a large sample of Chinese establishments, the authors investigate the spread of a range of Western-style HR practices in China and estimate the relationship between the adoption of these practices and three organizational outcomes: sales per employee, total labor costs, and unit labor costs. They find a mixed result for the relationships between labor management practices and establishment productivity. While the introduction of a number of HR practices was also associated with significantly higher labor costs, the results indicate a more mixed result for the relationship between these practices and unit labor costs. Their findings further the understanding of the relationship between work practices and organizational outcomes, and they help clarify the effects of the changing economic context on HR management in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growth of economic globalization and international tourism, tourism outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) has become a significant phenomenon in the development of the tourism industry. This article aims to estimate how emigration affects OFDI in tourism. It develops the theoretical framework of the effects of emigration on tourism OFDI, including the outbound tourism effect, the economic effect, the cultural effect, and the social effect. The empirical evidence in China reveals a significant effect of Chinese emigration on China's tourism OFDI. However, this positive effect is found to decrease over time. This study also suggests that the level of development in the destination country, cultural distance, and geographical distance determine the size of this positive effect. Lastly, it was found that Chinese emigration has also had a positive effect on China's OFDI in tourism to developed economies and neighboring economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 13 August 2018, the president of the United States signed a bill to strengthen the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an interagency executive body responsible for screening foreign investments made in the United States for national security risks. The move is primarily aimed at preventing Chinese firms from exploiting the US open capital markets to acquire technology. While much commentary exists spelling out the changes made to CFIUS by way of the legislation, their focus is largely on the legal and business ramifications of the policy at the firm level. This analysis assesses what CFIUS strengthening portends for the tech ambitions, examines the Chinese state's response to the move, and observes its relevance to US–China economic decoupling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the energy efficiency transitions in China using provincial data covering the period 2003-2015. Sustainable progress in energy efficiency achievement is beneficial to energy security and the achievement of the Paris Agreement. This article combines the stochastic frontier method with the panel Markov-switching regression to model energy efficiency transitions. The estimated energy efficiency scores show significant regional and provincial heterogeneity. Also, while human capital development, urbanization, and foreign direct investment promote energy efficiency, price and income per capita reduce it. The transition probabilities indicate that the high energy-efficient state is less sustainable, and the movement towards the frontier seems less persistent than movement from the frontier. Thus, it appears that China is not making sustainable progress in energy efficiency. The unsustainable nature of the high energy-efficient state suggests that in China, there are weak energy efficiency efforts and energy efficiency policies lack robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study is a content analysis of international economic news about Chinese outward foreign direct investment in Latin American countries from corresponding Latin American newspapers. We studied the portrayal of Chinese outward foreign direct investment among 14 different Latin American newspapers. The study aims at illustrating differences between newspaper portrayals of Chinese outward foreign direct investment in the region, with a special focus on the possible factors that influence the editorial selection of relevant news frames on international economic news. We found that the use of conflict and economic consequence frames corresponds to the editorial distinct focuses on either geopolitical interpretations or economic interpretations of international economic news in the case of Chinese outward foreign direct investment in Latin America. We also found attitudes and perspectives adopted in the portrayals are different both on a national basis and on an editorial basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a G20 member, China has been engaged in financial reform since the end of the global financial crisis. A core piece of this reform is Basel III, the new prudential standard issued by the Basel Committee. Rather than being merely compliant, China's banking regulation is stricter than the global standard and being implemented ahead of the international timetable. Why is China voluntarily subjecting itself to tougher regulatory standards than the rest of the world? This article shows that low adjustment costs, factional politics, and, above all, an unusual alignment of domestic interests in the quest for international reputation are driving this phenomenon. The troubled institutional history of China's financial system motivates all relevant stakeholders to seek external validation in order to address a credibility gap abroad, albeit for different reasons. The article examines the power of reputation as a driver of regulatory positioning in the context of China's integration into international financial institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws upon a sample of more than 27,000 Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to explore whether and how foreign equity investment in local SMEs affects the cost of debt. The results show that foreign ownership lowers the cost of borrowing for Chinese SMEs, and that this effect is stronger in more developed provinces. These findings contribute to evidence regarding the halo effect of foreign direct investment in emerging markets. This study also expands pecking order theory by demonstrating the signalling effect of equity structure characteristics on debt financing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research Highlights and Abstract This article: Assesses the role of Caribbean offshore financial centres ( OFCs) in FDI flows to China., Argues the OFC provides financial intermediation services beyond simply tax minimisation., Demonstrates a similar use of the OFC in other developing economies., Suggests the position of the OFC in global finance continues to evolve., This article examines the prominent location of offshore financial centres ( OFCs) among the leading origin and destination points for foreign direct investment ( FDI) to China. The OFC (characterised as a tax haven) frequently has been ignored or assumed out of analyses on Chinese FDI as simply servicing tax minimisation practices. This article challenges that assumption and emphasises the financial intermediation role performed by the Caribbean OFC beyond practices of tax arbitrage. Through the use of an international business company ( IBC) registered in an OFC these jurisdictions perform several functions for investors, to include providing access to foreign capital markets, reducing tax obligations across multiple jurisdictions and concealing potential politically-sensitive beneficial ownership of the investment. This assessment for the role of the OFC in circuits of global capital involving FDI to China demonstrates that China's relationship with the OFC is different from that experienced by Europe and North America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, China has launched a nationwide endeavor to push domestic firms up the value chain. This article explores why, in some localities, Chinese firms had significant success in upgrading, while in other localities, firms were paradoxically trapped in a race-to-the-bottom competition. Drawing on national economic census data, a firm-level survey, and in-depth interviews, the article conducts a controlled comparison of China’s largest electronics manufacturing bases in the Yangtze and the Pearl River Deltas. It argues that the local government’s choice of global business allies shaped the upgrading behavior of domestic firms. When local governments allied with large multinational corporations (MNCs) at the top of the value chain, they reinforced the hierarchical structure of production, shrank the upgrading space for domestic firms, and squeezed them to the bottom of the value chain. In contrast, alliances with small foreign invested firms at the bottom helped break the hierarchical segregation and held more potential for local learning and innovation. The article sheds new light on the question of when industrial policies succeed or fail to facilitate domestic upgrading in a globalized era. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In contrast to the Pollution Haven Hypothesis, the Trade-Up Hypothesis holds that international integration helps improve firms' environmental performance in developing countries. Using firm-level data from Shanghai, this article examines how international linkages, in the form of foreign direct investment or international trade, affect firms' environmental compliance and performance. We find that firms with international linkage via ownership exhibit better compliance with environmental regulation and emit less pollution than firms with no international linkage. We also find that firms with international linkage via market exposure are more likely to exhibit better compliance with environmental regulation than firms with no international linkage, but find no evidence that the former emit less pollution than the latter. This provides a piece of empirical evidence for the Trade-Up Hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development zones are the important carriers of China’s promoting industrialization and attracting international investment in the past 30 years and act as the primary means of city expansion. In this article, we analyse the low efficiency of land use problem existing in China’s current development zones. Comparing with the general old city update phenomenon, we make a detailed illustration on the feasibility and comparative advantage of redevelopment of development zones. On this basis, combining with the investigation practice, we propose the basic redevelopment models of development zones and analyse the typical redevelopment cases of development zones in Xi’an, Shanghai, Changzhou, Hangzhou and Nanjing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In recent years, China and India have extensively liberalized their economies. They have departed from the East Asian developmental states, which have restricted foreign direct investment (FDI) to protect domestic industry, and the liberal FDI strategy of Latin America during a similar stage of development as they have eschewed dependent development. Instead, they have taken a “liberalization two-step,” which follows liberalization with reregulation that varies across industrial sectors. Country and sectoral case studies demonstrate the perceived strategic value of a sector, sectoral characteristics, and the organization of state institutions shape the ways in which reregulation varies. Insulated from political pressures, the Chinese state shifts from universal controls on the aggregate level to selective controls at the sectoral level and adopts a bifurcated strategy in its reregulation. In India, the government liberalizes FDI according to state goals but reregulates as a function of sectoral interests arising from the legacy of its postindependence economic strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the determinants and interregional spillovers of regional productivity and multinational enterprise (MNE) research and development (R&D) in China. The authors apply a two-equation recursive model to a panel data set of thirty provinces and equivalents from 1998 to 2005. The estimated MNE R&D location equation indicates that the main determinants of MNE R&D location are supply-side factors—the availability of scientists and engineers, the average salary of R&D personnel, regional infrastructure, and spillovers of MNE R&D in the neighboring regions, but not demand-side factors such as the size of regional market and the previous foreign direct investment (FDI). Moreover, MNE R&D has a strong tendency to locate in regions with an export-oriented economy. The productivity equation reveals a significant causal relationship between MNE R&D investment and regional productivity. The estimates further indicate that regional productivity is determined not only by factor inputs within own region but also by productivity in the neighboring regions. In conclusion, the authors briefly discuss the policy implications of the findings for increasing the productivity of different regions and using MNE R&D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the foreign direct investment (FDI) policies in the telecommunication and media industries in China and India. It cites the different paths taken by China and India to develop their industries while both countries use FDI to achieve similar industrial objectives. Comparison shows that the Indian government allows both domestic and foreign investors to participate in moderately regulated industries, while China regulates both industries and limits the space for foreign companies, keeping the dominance of state-owned enterprises.

The article discusses the challenge pose by China and India, or Chindia, to global communication. It discusses the relationship between China's media market to foreign investment and the internationalization of Chinese media, as well as the possible impact of the nature of media internationalization in China or India on the world communication system. It also deals with the implications of the media and cultural internationalization for the academic debate on globalization within media studies.

This study aims to identify and analyse the most recent media structural changes in post-WTO China. The study finds that a media structural reform strategy involving an internal shakeup and external opening up is taking shape in both policy and practice. There are signs to suggest that the media sector is in transition from a market socialism model to a state-controlled capitalist corporation model. This pragmatic approach of media structural reform reflects the Chinese government's strategy to absorb private/foreign capital and western know-how of media management without losing its ownership and political control of the media sector. The author argues that a more diverse media structure and more open media market may lead to a more professional and less corrupt media system in China in the foreseeable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on China's involvement and diplomacy with Latin America. China is providing economic aid and investing on Latin America to improve its global image, isolate Taiwan and secure access to commodities like oil, gas, copper, iron and other important resources. It started with the tour of president of China, Hu Jintao, in 2004 to Latin American countries like Brazil, Chile, Cuba and Argentina. China has also raised trade agreements with Latin America and designed informal summits among the opinion leaders of both the regions. It referred that all these investments and ties could threat the U.S. political, socio-economic and trade interests in Latin America.