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This book, titled "The United States and the East Asia Society in the Cold War Era," is a collection of articles that were presented in a 2017 workshop. The articles aim to shed light on the significant impact of the Cold War on both the United States and East Asian societies. The topics covered include the American garrison in mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, and the Soviet troops in East Asia. The articles also explore the fate of medical institutions, women, diplomats, and scholars during this period. The studies in this book are based on primary sources such as police archives, official reports, newspapers, magazines, and diaries, and they aim to challenge the prevailing notion of the Cold War as solely a military and diplomatic contest by examining social issues and the impact on the societies involved. The book also highlights gendered perspectives, the history of drugs and violence, and features international, transnational, and comparative perspectives. While the book has received praise, there are some areas for improvement, such as further exploration of gender and racial dimensions, and providing more historical background in some articles. Overall, this book provides a comprehensive examination of the Cold War in East Asia and is recommended for both professional historians and the general public interested in history. [Extracted from the article]

Public policy courses have increasingly become an indispensible part of professional training programs in public affairs in East Asia in response to rapid changes in the political, social, and economic environment in the region. This paper examines the current trends in public policy education in East Asia through the lens of syllabi of public policy courses offered in graduate programs in leading universities in mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. The comparative analysis points to three main challenges in teaching public policy in East Asia: insufficient attention to policy knowledge rooted in the local context, inadequate teaching capacity, and under-representation of policy analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most striking features of the economic development that has occurred in the East Asian region has been the influential role of the state in directing its course. Vietnam is also following this well-worn path of state-led developmentalism. The principal contribution of this paper is two-fold. First, we place the Vietnamese experience in comparative historical and conceptual perspective. It is suggested that the structure of the Vietnamese state itself and the distinctive nature of the policies it has undertaken are reflections of the country's traumatic recent history and the fact that its leadership is notionally “communist.” Our second contribution is to detail some of the more important aspects of this process. We provide two case studies which focus on the role of state-owned enterprises and decentralisation initiatives which demonstrate that, despite the frequently ad hoc and contingent nature of the developmental project and an absence of the sort of state capacity that distinguished the likes of Japan in its heyday, the Vietnamese government is overseeing economic development in creative and surprisingly effective ways. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In recent years, one driver behind the promotion of home ownership in Western countries has been the belief that owner-occupied housing assets provide a means to build up individual welfare security, potentially offsetting pension shortfalls in retirement. In contrast, many developed East Asian societies have both long focussed on advancing ‘asset’ or ‘property-based welfare’ systems as well as experienced the late-1990s Asian Financial Crisis which forced changes in housing and welfare practices. This paper examines how home ownership and asset-based welfare fared in these contexts and the lessons to be learned. It begins by considering the role of owner-occupied housing assets in different welfare regimes before empirically examining how asset-based welfare systems have been realized. It then considers how East Asian home ownership and asset-based welfare systems have stood-up to economic crises. The final section considers what the East Asian experiences contribute to an understanding of the housing assets–welfare relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies the generalized purchasing power parity (G-PPP) theory to assess the potential for an optimum currency area (OCA) for the ASEAN5 plus the big three (ASEAN5+Big3) during a period containing significant structural breaks, using the US, Japan and China as base countries. The relevance of considering breaks is demonstrated by utilizing the Johansen et al. (2000) procedure that allows for up to two predetermined breaks. The results provide support for long-run G-PPP and suggest that the larger group ASEAN5+Big3 could form an OCA in one step. Conversely, for smaller groups, such as the Big3, an OCA is not supported. However, adding one or more countries to the Big3 supports an OCA. The impact of the Asian crisis seems to be limited to when the US is the base country and the results suggest a change in the G-PPP relationship between the pre- and postcrisis periods. Moreover, stability tests suggest that G-PPP has been stable for the period analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on archeological complexes representing the most ancient ceramics of the final Pleistocene-early Holocene in East Asia, West Asia, and North Africa. Each region shows its own characteristic line of development for the independent origin and growth of ceramic technology. The data correspond well to the model of multilinear culture-historical process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has rapidly re-emerged as a major regional power in East Asia. Although this represents a return to a long-established historical pattern, the ability of China's political elites to reassure nervous neighbours about the implications of its rise will be a major test of its evolving and increasingly sophisticated foreign policies. In this paper we focus primarily on China's regional engagement strategies, detailing the way such initiatives are understood in China, and the way they are received elsewhere. We focus primarily on the political and economic impacts of China's policies, and briefly consider their reception in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia. We highlight the different dynamics and issues that China's policymakers must consider in each area, and suggest that despite some difficulties and tensions, on balance, China's policies are proving surprisingly effective. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As one of the three major groups of gomphotheres, the Miocene Choerolophodontidae were long considered to have been distributed in Europe, Africa, and South Asia, with a few localities in East Asia, whereas choerolophodontids never extended into North America during the Miocene. In this paper, we report new Choerolophodon fossil materials from the early and middle Miocene of China, which suggest morphological similarities to the enigmatic North American Gnathabelodon thorpei. The new fossils were recovered from the lower Miocene of Linxia (C. guangheensis) and the middle Miocene of Junggar (Choerolophodon sp.) basins, suggesting the persistence of this genus in East Asia during the early–middle Miocene. The cheek tooth morphology of the new specimens resembles that of early–middle Miocene Choerolophodon from elsewhere (i.e., C. palaeindicus, C. kisumuensis, and C. chioticus), in addition to striking affinities with Gnathabelodon thorpei. The upper tusk and mandibular characters of G. thorpei, which include upwardly bent maxillary tusks without enamel bands, and elongated and trough-like mandibular symphysis without mandibular tusks, also support its relationship with the choerolophodontids. The occurrence of a possible member of Choerolophodontidae in the late Miocene of North America (i.e., G. thorpei) reveals intercontinental dispersals of choerolophodontids from East Asia across Beringia possibly between 16.0 and 11.0 Ma, at roughly the same time as other proboscideans, e.g., Mammutidae, Amebelodontidae, and Gomphotheriidae. Together, these new materials significantly revise previously established models of the geographic distribution, taxonomic diversity, and ecological adaptations of Choerolophodontidae within China and elsewhere across the Holarctic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews recent developments in regional financial and monetary cooperation in East Asia, and suggests some issues that could contribute to more constructive development in the future. The regional monetary and financial cooperation was originally motivated by the Asian financial crisis, but it has faced new challenges due to some recent events, such as the global financial crisis and global imbalances. We review recent developments of regional financial and monetary cooperation in East Asia, such as CMIM, ABMI and ABF, and regional surveillance mechanisms. We argue that there are several issues to be discussed in developing more effective regional financial and monetary cooperation: including developing CMIM to be effective in preventing future crisis, linking regional cooperation with global financial architecture properly, constructing effective surveillance mechanism, and strengthening regional policy dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Critics opine that social capital, despite its importance, provides little empirical insight because it is difficult to measure. This paper develops a broad measure of social capital, incorporating four major components: social trust, norms, social networks, and social structure. We constructed an index of social capital for 72 countries by extracting the principal components from 44 variables. Consistent with the social capital literature, the index of social capital is significantly associated with various social and economic indicators, such as income per capita, education, infant mortality, regulatory quality and even happiness. We compare the levels of social capital between East Asia and other world regions. The results suggest that although the level of social capital varies widely across countries, East Asia has markedly less social capital than Western Europe or North America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a general framework of patent protection which can be applied to most existing theories, and can be used to resolve various issues regarding the protection of information technology (IT)-enabled innovations, especially those involving business methods (BMs) and software. We suggest that one should consider that firms have many strategic choices or mixtures of appropriate combinations of innovations, examine different combinations of menu components rather than focusing on well-explored policies, revise market assumptions to make them more realistic and capture the complexity of policy-strategy assumptions by applying methodologies, such as experiments, system dynamics and intelligent agent theory. The work explores how these innovations are protected using the cases in the East Asian economy and find out that software and BMs are better protected in the nations that enforce strong patent rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and government. CSR is often viewed as self-regulation, devoid of government. We attribute the scholarly neglect of the variety of CSR-government relations to the inadequate attention paid to the important differences in the way in which CSR has ‘travelled’ (or diffused), and has been mediated by the national governance systems, and the insufficient emphasis given to the role of the government (or government agency) in the CSR domain. We go on to identify a number of different types of CSR-government configurations, and by following empirically the CSR development trajectories in Western Europe and East Asia in a comparative historical perspective, we derive a set of propositions on the changing dynamics of CSR-government configurations. In particular, we highlight the varied role that the governments can play in order to promote CSR in the context of the wider national governance systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

British-American press competition occurred in semi-colonial China in the early twentieth century, when the United States, as a rising world power, challenged the British monopoly by advocating an 'Open Door Policy.' While the British and American presses in China strengthened the cohesion of their respective expatriate communities, we maintain that these newspapers also contributed in a fundamental way to the colonial reconfiguration and power redistribution between Britain and the United States as they vied for influence with different ideas and practices of colonialism. The historical legacies of semi-colonialism are relevant to contemporary globalization where countries are growing more interconnected while constantly competing for power and privilege. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the current global financial crisis with the one that struck East Asia a little more than a decade ago. The analysis reveals some striking and surprising differences between the two periods. Whereas the first crisis had a catalytic impact on Asian regionalism this one may not. Despite East Asia generally and China in particular seeming to emerge stronger relative to the US from the current crisis, the impact of the second crisis on Europe reminds us that there is nothing inevitable about the course of regional integration. Not only are Europe's economic problems likely to diminish whatever enthusiasm there was for initiatives such as a common currency in Asia, but China may also find itself increasingly playing a global rather than a regional role. In short, crises can have very different impacts and provide an important insight into the interconnected dynamics of regional and global processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global financial crisis of 2008-09 presented a critical challenge to East Asian regional financial cooperation. Over a decade of efforts to reduce regional vulnerability to financial crisis and contagion were confronted with the worst global economic crisis since the 1930s. The results for East Asia were mixed. On the one hand, no economies were forced to submit to IMF-led bailouts, as had happened so painfully in 1997-98. On the other hand, the most highly-developed component of the project of ASEAN+3 financial regionalism - the Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI), which set up a system of emergency liquidity provision - appeared irrelevant, as the central banks of South Korea and Singapore prioritized the establishment of new swap agreements with the United States as a means of ensuring dollar liquidity instead of relying on their Chiang Mai partners. Nonetheless, in May 2009, the ASEAN+3 finance ministers agreed to a substantial expansion and 'multilateralization' of the initiative. This paper critically addresses whether CMI has been transformed into an 'Asian Monetary Fund' and argues that the events of 2008-10 make substantial additional movement in that direction unlikely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past 30 years academic leaders have advocated for the adoption of 'pedagogies of engagement' in the hopes of increasing student involvement and retention, as well as learning outcomes in higher education. More recently, universities in Asia have joined this movement, despite barriers arising from cultural norms and teaching traditions that reify knowledge and reinforce status differentiation between teachers and students. This paper explores the implementation of problem-based learning (PBL), one pedagogy of engagement in higher education in Asia. The research presents a longitudinal, mixed-methods case study of PBL implementation at a graduate school of business in Thailand. The data, collected over a seven-year period, suggest that implementation of a PBL track in the college's management curriculum was successful when judged on a variety of academic staff and student indicators. Although the capacity to generalise case study findings are inherently limited, the statistical analyses suggest that PBL can exert a positive impact on instructional effectiveness in an East Asian context known for its reliance on traditional approaches to teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how China's strategic motivations and calculations have both motivated and constrained its participation in East Asian regional cooperation. It argues that China's participation in regional economic and security cooperation is motivated first of all by the calculation of China's domestic interests to create a peaceful peripheral environment for its economic growth and political stability, particularly its frontier security and prosperity. The realist interests to enhance China's position in power competition with other major players in the region, particularly Japan and US, also play an important part in China's strategic calculation. These interest calculations, however, also set limits on China's participation in regional cooperation. These interest calculations have also shaped China's preference for an informal approach, emphasizing voluntarism and consensus building rather than legally binding resolutions, toward regional cooperation. This soft approach is a major barrier for many regional institutions to move beyond the stage of talking shops to effectively resolve conflicts in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introductory paper briefly outlines some of the major developments that are shaping the political-economy of the East Asian region. The implications of the rise of China and the possible decline of the US are considered, before introducing the individual contributions to this special issue. Este articulo de presentacion resalta brevemente algunos de los mayores desarrollos que estan dando forma a la economia politica de la region del Asia oriental. Antes de presentar las contribuciones individuales a este numero especial, se han considerado las implicaciones del ascenso de la China y el posible descenso de los Estados Unidos. [image omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The East Asian 'tribute system' from 1368 to 1841 comprised an enduring, stable, and hierarchic system, with China clearly the hegemon, in which cultural achievement was as important as economic or military prowess. Most significant is the recognition that the Chinese tributary order was in fact a viable and recognized international system with military, cultural, and economic dimensions that all intersected to create a very interesting and stable security system. Recently it has become fashionable in historical circles to question the viability of the tributary system in part because scholars have become increasingly aware of the realties behind Chinese rhetoric. However, more nuanced studies and new interpretations only serve to underscore the centrality of the system for its participants. This paper demonstrates that there is a hierarchical relationship-generated by a common culture defined by a Confucian worldview-in place in the context of China and the East Asian states and helps clarify the distinction between an international system based on polarity and an international society based on culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global financial crisis has shattered many illusions, one of which being that sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are properly treated as arms-length investment institutions subject only to global standards of good governance. In fact, in a number of East Asian countries SWFs have acted as 'insurers of last resort' for their nation-states underwriting financial stability and social welfare. In this paper, we explain how and why this came to pass, arguing that this role serves to sustain the legitimacy of the nation-state as well as justify the separation of SWF assets from the public interest in current consumption and spending. Focusing upon the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), we suggest that the prospect of recurrent financial crises was an important prompt for its establishment in 1981, reinforced by the experience of many East Asian countries in the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The formal constitution of the GIC, the mechanisms by which its reserves are returned to the government in crisis, and the role of different sections of the political elite in managing those assets are explained. Referencing the principles of best-practice fund governance and the Santiago Principles underwriting the legitimacy of SWFs, we also consider the governance of the GIC, especially as regards its investment processes. Implications are drawn for the experience of Western countries, particularly the UK and the USA, wherein the failure of their banking systems has put untold pressures on current and future living standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite diversity in market and policy frameworks, late twentieth century housing systems across industrialised economies in East Asia became increasingly focused on facilitating home ownership. Governments became characteristically interventionist in the housing sector, which was assumed to play broad economic, political and welfare roles. Despite the influence of the public sector, housing provision was largely commodified rather than de-commodified. Home ownership was perceived to enhance economic development, social solidarity and the asset base of family centred welfare provision. This view was bolstered by house price increases during an era of rapid economic growth. Expanding owner-occupied housing sectors ostensibly offset underdeveloped citizenship rights and public spending, and stimulated increases in middle-class home-owning households, who were provided an economic stake in 'developmentalist' government objectives. The Asian Economic Crisis of 1997/98 however, strongly impacted on property markets across the region leading to increasing divergence in approaches to home ownership and welfare provision. This paper examines housing systems and policy regimes in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong to illustrate new strategies that have emerged in the twenty-first century that reflect diversifying orientations towards housing policies and property-based welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article challenges the view that democratisation is a recipe for regional disorder in East Asia. This view is not supported by evidence. Critics of democratisation fail to consider a number of mitigating factors that may check the destabilising consequences of democratisation while accentuating its peace-causing effects. These factors are not necessarily other liberal forces, like economic interdependence, or regional institutions, although these do matter. Certain dynamics associated with democratisation, such as focus on economic rebuilding for regime legitimation, positive nationalism ('democratic pride'), involvement of civil society, etc., may lessen the potential for inter-state conflict. These mitigating factors do not necessarily correspond with the normative and institutionalist logic underpinning the democratic peace theory, and they have been largely overlooked by the critics of that theory. After identifying them, this paper shows that the East Asian experience does not show that democratisation leads to greater conflict between states. On the contrary, democratisation might create better prospects for cooperative peace in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been generally acknowledged that the development of East Asian social policy is driven by the imperatives of economic growth and political legitimization of authoritarian regimes. Drawing on the political economy perspective, this article seeks to account for the development of social security in Macao during the period 1998-2008. It has been found that the making of the social security policy over this period was marked by three regulatory roles of social policy with respect to promotion of economic development and restoration of the government's legitimacy: legitimization, reproduction and disciplinization. These regulatory roles were determined by the interplay of contingent political and economic forces at different historical moments. The paper provides empirical support for the political-economic account of East Asian social policy and, in turn, adds to the understanding of the nature of social policy in the region. [image omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines, at the aggregate level, the relationship between cost of children and number of children (as measured by the total fertility rate) in Japan and other East Asian countries, using a new methodological approach called National Transfer Accounts (NTA). The private and public direct costs of children are measured by private and public transfers flowing into the 'child' age groups from older age groups. The estimated elasticity between cost and number of children is high, and the elasticity between the human capital component of the cost of children, i.e. education and health costs, and number of children is even higher. This is consistent with the widely held view that in the highly success-oriented societies of East Asia, human capital is a very important factor in parents' family-size decisions. The estimated elasticities are measures of the trade-off between quality and quantity of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The composition of Greater China among the PRC, Hong Kong and Taiwan entails an emerging form of micro governance where an ecological evolution of sub-group interaction and crossover of economic and social activities has been generating a dynamic of change within the East Asian region. The constitution of Greater China by social, economic, political, business and even daily commuting creates some soul searching questions about the possible outcomes of their intense interaction. To what extent has integration been made within Greater China through these interactions? Is China the economic linchpin or does China need to cooperate in one way or another to facilitate the modes of economic development? What are the attitudes and strategies used by Hong Kong or Taiwan when confronted with such an economic cum social entity? More importantly, where, and, under what conditions, will the interactions among the PRC, Taiwan and Hong Kong lead to? In this paper, I am going to use a conceptual model which includes four interactions: integration, interdependence, identity and independence (Four Is) to capture the catalyst of change that collectively entails these intermingled economic, social and cultural elements. People who live in the vast context of this geographical region experience the change. Through daily interaction, they help write the context of change through business activities, investment, migration, trade, culture, academic exchange, political and social development along the Four Is. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This longitudinal study attempts to examine those effects and relationships of various performance measuring dimensions using the balanced scorecard conceptual framework on travel agencies under different strategic orientations in Taiwan. A three-stage research design is adopted to explore a valid and reliable e-commerce strategy performance measuring model for travel agencies. The research also uses the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to further empirically build up e-commerce cost leadership and differentiation strategy performance measurement models. The theoretical model identifies an underlying variable construct, dimensions, and their associated attributes which combine the traditional subjective or objective measures with operating measures of e-commerce strategy performances. According to this research, Taiwanese travel agencies consider five financial, three customer, four internal process, and three innovation and learning perspective indicators of performance measurement that also have cause-and-effect relationships among themselves under two different strategies. Finally, this paper proposes two optimal models that match the essential needs of e-commerce cost leadership and differentiation strategic development and overcomes the traditional performance measuring shortcomings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the sources of economic fluctuations in the four Asian newly industrialized economies (NIEs), namely Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. As small open economies, their macro-economic development is highly dependent on technology as well as markets of large countries. Using the common trends model, we examine the impacts of external supply shock, internal supply shock and trade shock on the key national macro-economic variables of these four economies, i.e. output, consumption, investment, export and import. Our empirical evidence suggests that supply-side disturbances, both the country-specific supply shocks and international supply shocks explain the bulk of fluctuations in output. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts an analytical framework centred on the relationship between the concept of viability and choice of development strategy. On the basis of a critical review on the mainstream literature in economic development, it presents the conceptual framework with an emphasis on elaborating the dichotomy of 'comparative advantage defying (CAD) strategy' versus 'comparative advantage following (CAF) strategy'. Empirical experiences of economic development in China and other East Asian economies in the contemporary era are discussed in the context of the conceptual framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Asian Development Bank (adb) has made increasingly important contributions to Asia's (and particularly East Asia's) regionalism over recent years, and especially since Haruhiko Kuroda became the Bank's president in February 2005. This paper argues that the adb's role here has become more significant because of the strong 'developmental' characteristics of East Asia's new regionalism. This is not least because, as a regional development bank, the adb has a predilection for linking development, regionalism and capacity-building together when promoting regional co-operation and integration (rci) in Asia. We may refer to this as 'developmental regionalism', where rci activities are particularly orientated to enhancing the economic capacity and prospects of less developed countries with the view of strengthening their integration into the regional economy, and thereby bringing greater coherence to regional community building overall. This analysis is partly based on field research undertaken by the author involving a series of research interviews conducted amongst adb officials and with outside analysts of the organisation. It first examines the evolution of the Bank's stance and policies on rci, and the impact made by President Kuroda and the newly formed Office of Regional Integration (orei) in this regard. The main developments of East Asia's new regionalism are then outlined from finance and trade perspectives. Thereafter, an evaluation is made of the adb's contributions toward the emerging developmental regionalism in East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a long tradition in business and economics to use frontier analysis to assess a production unit's performance. The first attempt utilized the data envelopment analysis (DEA) which is based on a piecewise linear and mathematical programming approach, whilst the other employed the parametric approach to estimate the stochastic frontier function. Both approaches have their advantages as well as limitations. This paper sets out to use an alternative approach, i.e. artificial neural networks (ANNs) for measuring efficiency and productivity growth for seven East Asian economies at manufacturing level, for the period 1963 to 1998, and the relevant comparisons are carried out between DEA and ANN, and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and ANN in order to test the ability of ANNs to assess the performance of production units. The results suggest that ANNs are a promising alternative to traditional approaches, to approximate production functions more accurately and measure efficiency and productivity under non-linear contexts, with minimum assumptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japanese foreign policy six decades after the end of World War II stands at a crossroads. The forces of globalization and the rise of the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) seem to herald the end of the unipolar post-Cold War international system and the emergence of a new era defined by multi-polarity and multilateralism. Such global trends are manifest most clearly in Japan's own backyard, where phenomenal region-wide economic growth, a gradual redistribution of power (in particular the rise of China and India), and the increasingly important role of multilateral cooperation and regional institutions are dramatically transforming East Asia. This trend shows no signs of slowing down, much less reversing itself; nor would it be in Japan's interest to pursue any policy that seeks to do so. Nevertheless, the transformation itself remains almost on auto-pilot, lacking a clear long-term guiding vision. After presenting a brief overview of Japan's past policy toward the region, the goal of this paper will be to articulate such a vision through a series of policy proposals through which to ensure future peace, stability, and prosperity in East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The West has been fascinated with East Asia for hundreds of years, but only over the past few decades has the region come under close cultural scrutiny as Western corporations made significant inroads into the region and realized the extent of East-West differences. This paper explores East Asia's cultural heritage and probes the religious roots that have influenced regional lifestyles for over 2000 years. Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist principles are examined and conceptual links established with East Asian lifestyles and management behaviors, many of which conflict with prevailing globalization trends towards societal efficiency and competitiveness. Some east-to-west transfers of managerial ideas demonstrate the potency of East Asian philosophies and suggest that East-West amalgams are contributing to optimal business solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about the role of East Asian markets on the forest industry of Canada. The second half of the 20th century saw a consolidation of western Canada's forest industry. Japan's forest product market had a strong influence on the development of the coastal industry of British Columbia. The economic downturn in Asia that occurred in 1997 and 1998 has limited the potential of western Canada to export forest products to the East Asia region, and therefore, there has been a decline in Asia's influence on the industry in that area.

This paper examines the role of FDI from the United States in the economic performance of East Asian NICs for 1966-2000. To this end, we draw our argument of the role of FDI from the modernization-dependency debate. Then, we test the economic effects of U.S. direct investment on economic growth in East Asian NICs using a neoclassical production function model that captures the economic impacts of both foreign and domestic investment on economic growth. Our empirical results show that U.S. direct investment has a positive and significant effect on economic growth in East Asian NICs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author tries to set up the framework for understanding the qualitative change of the nature of national policies for higher education through the increasing aspects as ‘industry’ in universities and other higher education sector. Based on this framework, the author analyses, comparatively, the national policies for higher education ‘industry’ in three East Asian countries: Malaysia, Singapore and Japan. Thorough the examination of the policy treatments of higher education ‘industry’ in those three countries, the author tries to argue the importance of balance between flexibility and consistency of the image and definition of higher education which is certainly getting a key position in knowledge economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies a stochastic frontier production model to the data from Penn World Table's 49 countries over the period 1965 to 1990, to decompose total factor productivity growth into technical change and technical efficiency change. Empirical results show East Asian countries led the world in productivity growth, mainly because their technical efficiency gain was so much faster than that of other countries. East Asian countries also registered rapid technical change, which was comparable to that of the G6 countries after the late 1980s. The results provide evidence that negate the hypothesis that East Asian growth was mostly input-driven and unsustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese economic reform process has engendered significant changes in the structure and management of work organizations. Central to the process has been the corporatization of the danwei, or state-owned enterprises (SOEs). This paper examines the progress made in the current round of state-enterprise corporate reform based on the Modern Enterprise and Group Company systems, and extends this to discuss the major social consequences of such large-scale enterprise restructuring. Drawing on interview data from eight large SOEs in the steel industry, we assess the extent to which the aims of reducing government interference in the running of SOEs, developing a sense of enterprise, and achieving cost reductions and productivity improvements through large-scale workforce reductions can be achieved in the present reform-induced climate of labour unrest and incipient political instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper re-assesses the prospects for greater exchange rate cooperation in East Asia in the wake of the Asian financial crisis of 1997–8. The crisis highlighted the inability of unilateral exchange rate mechanisms to deal adequately with the inflow of foreign capital and the absence of a common defensive mechanism to deal with speculative movements in exchange rates. Since 1997 there have been a number of initiatives to enhance monetary cooperation in the region including options for a common exchange rate system. We find that whilst a common monetary and exchange rate policy in East Asia is unlikely in the foreseeable future, until the net economic benefits of giving up unilateral exchange rate regimes are more apparent, a good case can be made for continuing to talk about such arrangements. In the early stages the prerequisites for exchange rate cooperation are not as demanding as for full monetary union, provided sufficient flexibility is built-in. Of the available options a solution along the lines of the former European Exchange Rate Mechanism might be politically the most appealing if the arrangements are flexible enough to leave countries initially with sufficient independence in macroeconomic policy, and it can build on European experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explains the relationship between Japan and its neighboring countries, and the influence of Japanese neo‐nationalism on the idea of an East Asian community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper models and tests the stability of the demand fur money in five East Asian countries—Indonesia. Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand—in the context of an open economy. The Johansen multivariate cointegration vector error correction analysis against quarterly data covering the period 1985:1–2001:4 was used. It was found that a stationary long run cointegrating relationship exists between broad money, real income, domestic interest rates. foreign interest rates corrected for exchange rate depreciation, and the expected rate of depreciation of the exchange rate. The results show that US Treasury bills rates and the foreign exchange rate vis-à-vis the US dollar play a significant role in the East Asian countries money demand relationship. This .suggests that currency .substitution vis-à-vis the US dollar may be an important consideration in the design and implementation of monetary policy in the East Asian countries. Furthermore, the results show that the Asian currency crises impacted the money demand functions negatively in these countries. CUSUM and CUSUMSQ stability tests show no evidence of parameter instability of the money demand functions in three of the fire countries throughout the period under investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Loaches of the genus Niwaella, family Cobitidae, are distributed only in East Asia. At present only in Japan and South Korea have fishes of the genus Niwaella been found. Herein we revise the genus Niwaella in China. Son and He (2001) transferred the species Cobitis laterimaculata to the genus Niwaella, but their specimens were not N. laterimaculata, but a new species, N. longibarba sp. n., collected from Cao'ejiang River, Huangzezhen, Chengxian County, Zhejiang Province. The new species is distinguished from N. laterimaculata by its colour pattern of a row of slightly large, and long, scattered dark brown vertical bars on the dorsolateral surface, two or three striations on the caudal fin, and long barbels and undeveloped mental lobes. In this paper we also describe another new species, N. xinjiangensis sp. n., collected from Xinjiang River, Guangfeng County, Jiangxi Province, May 1990, with diagnostic colour pattern of 17–20 large and long, dark brown vertical bars on the dorsolateral surface, a dark stripe or rounded black spots along the lateral midline and some blotches below the lateral midline; it is a large-sized species, with shorter barbels, and longer caudal peduncle. Thus five species of the genus Niwaella are known, three are endemic to eastern China and two are endemic to either Japan or South Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) represent a crucial force for cultural change in both education and society and possible transitions between old and new learning as well as social values. This is especially so in East Asia, where the young have informally embraced ICTs but learn in formal contexts often still dominated by traditional transmission models of learning rather than the new learner-centred theories which inform policy imperatives for innovation and reform. Educational contexts like Singapore and Hong Kong are particularly exemplary because they have been so progressive in policy initiatives for ICT integration and reform in formal education, imperatives which conflict in practice with still dominant traditional learning expectations, teaching practices and models of assessment. As typified by such contexts, this paper investigates how the pedagogical dilemmas of a tension between old and new models of learning need to be understood and approached in terms of related and overlapping institutional and social dilemmas of change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature of the East Asian terrorist threat is obviously most acute in Southeast Asia. In dealing with that threat there are three levels of action to pursue. The first relates to the domestic developments nations can all be expected to take individually within their respective countries. Secondly there's the broader international cooperation that nations undertake through organisations such as the UN, G8, ASEAN and APEC. The third area for action and cooperation is the support given directly to individual countries in Southeast Asia, and in particular, the aid and assistance to develop and enhance their own domestic capabilities to combat terrorism. The bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta emphasises that the priorities for assistance and cooperation are in the field of intelligence, namely to gain a better understanding of the terrorists and their motives and the requirement for the exchange of intelligence between regional countries. * This paper is an updated version of a presentation made to the 'International Counter-Terrorism Situation and Cooperation' Symposium, Beijing 11-13 May 2004. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the extent to which multinational corporations from developed economies and newly industrialized economies in east Asia (Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong) are hollowing out their mass production of standardized goods and transferring such production to the emergent economies of China and Malaysia. Based on data from sixty-one mini-case studies in two industries, garments and electronics, it argues that the HRM practices and policies being utilized in those overseas affiliates are functions of a number of factors, including corporate business strategies, corporate control mechanisms and host-country institutional HRM capacity. The research finds remarkable similarities in HRM policies and practices between the two countries, the two industries and between different corporate ownerships. The use of Taylorist forms of work organization and low-trust/low-investment HRM policies are part of corporate strategies of hollowing out, of poor host-country HRM capability and of tight control over affiliates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With an increasing regional integration and development, there are many competing ideas of, and proposals for, regional development in Asia. This article examines the historical evolution of the idea of regionalism, the meaning of Asian regionalisms, variations of Asian regionalisms and their impact on regional cooperation in East Asia. It discusses Mahathir's idea of neo-Asianism, Japanese new Asianism. Chinese ideas of regionalism, and variations of Korean ideas of regionalism. It also examines a normative basis of religionalism with special reference to the sovereignty question. The paper concludes that behind East Asian regionalism is nationalism which constitutes drilling force5 for regionalism; that two competing orders (Asia-Pacific regionalism versus pan Asianism) create different expectations and visions of how East Asia region should evolve and they are in tensions and lead to different directions; and that East Asia lacks a convincing and acceptable normative framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the ability of nonlinear and standard linear models to capture the dynamics of foreign exchanges rates in the presence of structural breaks. The analysis is conducted for three East Asian countries, namely Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand. It is shown that a Markov regime-switching model with shifts in the mean and variance (rather than a STAR model) is well suited to capture the nonlinearities in exchange rates. Such a model is found to outperform a random walk specification in terms of both in-sample fitting and out-of-sample forecasting. In order to evaluate competing forecasts, accuracy measures based on both the forecast errors and the variance forecast are used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of the economic and political crises that gripped parts of East Asia from 1997 onwards, much attention was given to the possible reform of the region's distinctive political practices and economic structures. Especially prominent in this debate were key international financial institutions (IFIs) like the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and - more subtly - the US Treasury Department. Yet many observers claimed that the IFIs themselves were in need of reform, as was the international financial architecture they helped create and manage. Significantly, however, no serious attempt has been made to reform the international financial system despite concern about its impact on the region generally and during the crisis in particular. This paper reviews the central issues in the debate over financial sector reforms, and argues that while further liberalization continues to be urged upon East Asia, substantial reform of the IFIs or the international financial sector is unlikely given existent patterns of political and economic interests, despite continuing doubts about their benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the potential of ASEAN Plus Three (APT) to catalyze a process of economic and political integration in East Asia. The analysis first illustrates APT participants' projected views of APT's opportunities and limitations and then assesses the motives and objectives driving APT cooperation. Following a review of the major achievements of APT, the study gives an outlook on APT's relevance and prospects. The findings of the article are that most APT states do not advocate ideas of distinctive pan-East Asian regionalism, but rather take an Asia-Pacific perspective. Only Malaysia and China appear to be promoting more exclusive forms of East Asian regionalism. Within APT, China is aggressively pushing a strong China-ASEAN axis, whereas Japan is seeking to balance China's efforts and step up its political and economic cooperative profile in the region. A look at the achievements of APT does not suggest a rapid spread of pan-East Asian regionalism. On the contrary, the proposed ASEAN-China FTA proposal has triggered fierce competition between Japan and China and thus divided APT even further. Moreover, it is not at all certain whether the ASEAN-China FTA plan is going to work out in the end, due to objections from various ASEAN members, including a somewhat capricious Malaysia. Whereas pan-East Asian integration efforts are unlikely, the APT process is attractive enough to keep Japan and China, who are competing for influence in Southeast Asia, committed to the APT process. Regardless of APT's internal fragmentation, its dynamic has already begun to change the political and economic landscape of East Asia. Thus, ASEAN has been able to enhance its leverage vis-à-vis Japan and China, profiting from their strategic opposition. Japan's reluctance to discuss trade liberalization with ASEAN members already appears to be crumbling, as it is struggling to preclude Chinese domination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a general perception particularly among the developing countries of East Asia that China's WTO membership would spell bad news for their exports. The ASEAN countries in particular are quite concerned about its likely negative impact on their export and growth potentials. In this light, the main objective of this paper is to empirically assess the trade implications of China's WTO membership for these countries. Only few studies, using a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) approach, have addressed the issue of China's WTO membership trade implications. Further, these studies have not adequately addressed the issue from the perspective of the developing countries of East Asia, particularly the ASEAN countries. Using the latest version of the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model and based on the latest tariff reduction commitments by China, the results showed that, contrary to the current perception and previous studies, almost all of the developing countries of East Asia are likely to benefit from China's WTO membership overall, after allowing for anticipated price adjustments. Without the price adjustments, the Philippines and Singapore would have come out as net losers. These findings have confirmed the need for economic and export restructuring among the ASEAN countries and the importance of accelerating their economic integration. They have also highlighted the importance of promoting trade and investment cooperation between China and ASEAN countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is increasingly apparent that the Asian economic crisis has also led to a serious ideological crisis in the West. Before the collapse there was broad agreement among Western orthodox economists that developing countries should pursue a set of economic policies, often referred to as the 'Washington consensus', which included financial sector liberalisation, privatisation of state-owned enterprises, fiscal discipline and trade, exchange rate and foreign investment deregulation. Since the collapse, however, this consensus has broken down. This paper examines the emergence of the new so-called post-Washington consensus, with its emphasis on governance and social capital. The lexicon of the new policy paradigm underlying this new consensus includes civil society, safety nets, and, especially, governance, to be added to the conventional Washington terminology of open markets, deregulation, liberalisation and structural adjustment. Our central thesis is that this new post-Washington consensus is an attempt to place more emphasis on the political and institutional foundations for programmes of structural reform. However, it is also a kind of politics of antipolitics that attempts to insulate economic institutions from the process of political bargaining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]