Asian Growth Research Institute Repository (AGI) / リポジトリ
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Multinational Enterprise Growth and Vietnam's Employment and Wages in Manufacturing and Trade Industries: Did Takeovers Play a Role?
Get PDFThis paper examines how foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs) have grown in Vietnam’s manufacturing and trade industries, and tries to shed light on how MNE takeovers of Vietnamese firms have affected employment, and wages between 2000 and 2012. Although the scale of MNE activity has been substantial and grown in recent years, there are substantial discrepancies in measures of MNE shares from alternative sources and uncertainty over the actual share of MNEs in Vietnamese production or employment. On the other hand, the number of MNE takeovers has been very small and they appear to have played only a small role in changes of MNE shares. Rather, changes in MNE shares have resulted primarily from the entry and exit MNEs and changes in the scale of MNE activity.working pape
Are the Japanese Unique? Evidence from Household Saving and Bequest Behavior
Get PDFIn this paper, we attempt to shed light on whether Japanese households are rational or if their behavior is influenced by culture and social norms by examining their saving and bequest behavior. To summarize our main findings, we find that Japan’s household saving rate showed great volatility, was often low and even negative, and was high only during the 25-year period from around 1960 until the mid-1980s (if we exclude the war years) and that we can explain the high level of, and trends over time in, Japan’s household saving rate via various socioeconomic and policy variables. This seems to suggest that the Japanese are not a saving-loving people and that their saving behavior is not governed by culture and social norms. Moreover, the bequest behavior of the Japanese suggests that they are less altruistic toward their children and less reliant on their children than other peoples, suggesting that the alleged social norm of strong family ties in Japan is largely a myth, and the Japanese do not appear to be appreciably more concerned about the continuation of the family line or the family business than other peoples, suggesting that the influence of the “ie” system is apparently not so pervasive either. However, we argue that these findings do not necessarily mean that culture and social norms do not matter.working pape
Staffing Strategy of Japanese Companies in China (JCC): Selection of Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Get PDFHRM practice is regarded as a source of sustained competitive advantage for organizations and a key of success for global business of MNCs. Effective staffing strategy become important for Japanese MNCs' selection of top management like Chief Executive Officer (CEO). This paper is based on the underlying factors affecting the staffing decision, and tries to verify whether or not several hypotheses apply to Japanese companies in China (JCC). According to the date analysis with 1914 samples of JCCs from the statistical date by "The 21st Century China Research Institute", the result told us the majority of JCCs adopting Japanese as their CEO, regardless of a diversity of conditions, except for the locational disadvantage of inland regions and the joint decision making due to contractual alliance of joint undertakings. The impact on the effectiveness of global management due to over reliance on staffing from headquarters cannot be neglected. Managerial implications of the staffing strategy of Japanese MNCs are discussed for the purpose of improving their global HRM practices.working pape
Multinational Enterprises and Vietnam’s Exports: Comparing Economy-wide and Firm-level Evidence
Get PDFThis paper examines the role of foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs) have played in Vietnam’s exports in 1995-2014. Economy-wide estimates suggest MNE share of Vietnam’s export grew from about one quarter to about two-thirds during this period. MNE shares of GDP were much smaller (6 to 18 percent); correspondingly export-production ratios were much (4.7 to 9.6 times) higher in MNEs than in the non-MNEs sector. If comparisons are limited to formal enterprises, wholly-foreign MNEs (WFs), which account for the vast majority of MNEs in Vietnam, tend to have relatively high export propensities and account for the vast majority of MNE exports. These data thus suggest that MNEs, and particularly WFs, make unusually large direct contributions to exports in Vietnam compared to other economic activities. On the other hand, these compilations cannot establish if export propensities differ significantly among ownership groups after accounting for other, related firm-level and industry-level characteristics. Most importantly, this paper highlights several substantial problems revealed by compilations of the firm-data which much be addressed before more reliable, rigorous analysis of the firm-level data will be possible.working pape
Foreign Workers, Foreign Multinationals, and Wages by Occupation and Sex in Malaysia’s Manufacturing Plants during the mid-1990s
Get PDFThis paper investigates the effects of foreign worker shares and MNE ownership on wages paid to males and female in five occupation groups in Malaysian manufacturing plants during 1994-1996, an important period coinciding with the end of the decade-long economic boom that preceded the Asian financial crisis. Random effects estimates of Mincer-type equations by occupation group and sex in large samples of all industries and in seven industry-level samples both suggest that use of foreign workers generally had insignificant effects on plant wages for most occupation-sex-(and industry) combinations. When significant, these estimates suggested that plants with relatively large shares of same sex-same occupation foreign worker shares tended to pay relatively high wages to relatively high wages to high-wage workers but relatively low wages to low-wage workers. The few significant effects of foreign workers of the different sex and same occupation and in different occupations were less systematic. Conditional MNE-local wage differentials were almost always positive when significant. Results from large samples of all industries combined indicate a strong tendency for MNEs to pay relatively high wages. However, allowing all slope coefficients to vary among seven industry groups suggests that MNE-local differentials were almost always insignificant in three industries and consistently significant in only one.working pape
北九州の人口動態と都市構造に関する研究
Get PDF北九州市は人口減少社会に突入しており，なおかつその高齢化率や人口減少率は日本の大都市の中で最も高い。したがって北九州市にとっては，ライフラインの維持問題やフードデザート（買物難民）問題などを解決するだけでなく，地域の生産性を高めさらには地域の持続可能性を高めるためには，その都市構造を集約されたコンパクトなものとすることが重要な課題となっている。
そのような背景のもとで，長期的な地域の将来像をイメージしながら，地域の人口変動をどのように誘導するかというビジョンを策定する必要があるだろう。そのためには，人口密度を高く維持するべき地域はどのような地域なのか，または地域の人口密度を高く維持するにはどうすれば良いのか，といった知見が求められていると言える。
本研究では，このような課題を鑑み，北九州市を事例として，人口密度の変動に関する分析を行った。
第 2 章では，地域の生産性に関連する DID（人口集中地区）人口密度に着目し，北九州市のDID 人口密度の変化について分析した。北九州市の DID 人口密度は，1985 年以降減少を続けており，2010 年における DID 人口密度は政令指定都市の中で最も小さい値となっている。ただしその特徴は 2000 年を境に 2 つに分かる。すなわち 2000 年までは DID 人口がそれほど増加しないにも関わらず DID 面積が増加したため DID 人口密度が減少していたが，それ以降は以降は DID 面積の増加はほとんどなく主に DID 人口の減少によって DID 人口密度が減少していることがわかった。
第 3 章では，北九州市の町丁字別人口密度の変化に関する空間統計分析を実施した。北九州市の人口のうち，過去 5 年間で市外からの転入もしくは市内での転居を経験しているのは，全体の 3 割にものぼることがわかった。集約型都市構造を目指すためには，これらの人々が転入あるいは転居するタイミングで，積極的にアプローチする必要があるし，またその効果は小さくはないと考えられる。
さらに，小地域人口統計を用いて，北九州市への転入者および市内での転居者の密度と統計的に分析し，転入転居者が多い地域は，傾斜が緩やかで，医療機関や学校へのアクセスが良好な地域であること，また容積率や用途地域といった都市計画の規制にも影響を受けていることがわかった。一方でこれまでの「まちなか居住推進地域」指定は人口密度への貢献が肯定されず，今回の分析結果からは，まちなか居住を推進するために，どのようなインセンティブが効果的なのか再考する必要があるといえる。一方で高齢化率や持ち家世帯比率が高い地域は転入転居者が少ないという結果が得られた。北九州市は政令市の中でもっとも高齢化が進んだ地域であるが，土地への愛着や経済力などから高齢者は若年者に比べて転居をしない傾向があると考えられる。
以上の分析からは，DID 人口密度が減少を続ける中で，地域を持続可能にするための集約型都市構造を目指すためには，具体的な施策が考えられるのかまでは明らかにできなかったものの，詳細な統計データに基づいて北九州市の集約型都市構造に関する現状を定量的に評価した。research repor
Evaluating Regional Emissions Trading Pilot Schemes in China's Two Provinces and Five Cities
Get PDFWith the highest energy use and greenhouse gas emissions around the world, China has begun to adopt comprehensive approaches to control its CO2 emissions and fight climate change. China has committed to reduce its carbon intensity by 40% to 45% compared to 2005 levels by 2020. In 2011, China initiated the development of seven regional carbon trading scheme (ETS) pilots in two provinces (Guangdong and Hubei) and five cities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing and Shenzhen) and has embarked on an ambitious pathway for establishing a national carbon market in 2017. This paper provides an overview and analysis of China’s carbon emission trading market. A background and design characters of China’s seven ETS pilots are introduced. Market performance and compliance are summarized. Linkage existed in China’s carbon emission trading market is identified.working pape
Experiences with Foreign Workers in Singapore and Malaysia: What are the Lessons for Japan's Labor Markets?
Get PDFSingapore and Malaysia have a long history of relying heavily on foreign, immigrant workers in both high-skilled and low-skilled occupations. Ancestors of large portions of the local population in both countries were also immigrants. Correspondingly, economic policies have been designed to manage high levels of migration and foreign workers. In contrast, Japan limited both immigration and foreign workers quite strictly through the 1980s. Since the 1990s, however, the ratio of the stock of net inward immigrants to total population has grown much more rapidly in Japan than in Singapore or Malaysia, largely because the rapidly aging population and changes in worker preferences have resulted in strong demand for immigrant labor. Since the 1990s, Japanese policies have actively sought to entice highly skilled foreign workers and students to work and/or study in Japan. The primary purpose of this policy-oriented paper is to review the substantial economic literature on experiences with foreign workers in Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia and its implications for Japan’s labor markets and related policies.working pape
Why Do Children Take Care of Their Elderly Parents? Are the Japanese Any Different?
Get PDFIn this paper, we conduct a theoretical analysis of why individuals provide are and attention to their elderly parents using a two-period overlapping generations model with endogenous saving and a “contest success function” and test this model using micro data from a Japanese household survey, the Osaka University Preference Parameter Study. To summarize our main findings, we find that the Japanese are more likely to live with (or near) their elderly parents and/or to provide care and attention to them if they expect to receive a bequest from them, which constitutes strong support for the selfish bequest motive or the exchange motive (much stronger than in the United States), but we find that their caregiving behavior is also heavily influenced by the strength of their altruism toward their parents and social norms.working pape
A Possible Explanation of the 'Exchange Rate Disconnect Puzzle': A Common Solution to Three Major Macroeconomic Puzzles?
Get PDFMeese and Rogoff (1983) and subsequent studies find that economic fundamentals are apparently not able to explain exchange rate movements, but we argue that this so‐called “Exchange Rate Disconnect Puzzle” arose because researchers such as Meese and Rogoff (1983) did not use the right fundamentals and because they did not allow for the forward‐looking nature of exchange rate determination. Further, because they apparently were not aware that financial markets by themselves could not equalise interest rates across countries, they did not properly appreciate that the exchange rate is strongly influenced by agents’ expectations of aggregated differences in local returns. Thus, we believe that the same underlying explanation provided by Ford (2015) and Ford and Horioka (2016a and 2016b) for the Feldstein‐Horioka (1980) Puzzle and the PPP Puzzle‐‐namely that financial markets alone cannot achieve net transfers of financial capital and cannot equalise real interest rates across countries‐‐also helps explain why previous attempts to connect changes in the exchange rate to economic fundamentals have not been successful, and so can also be said to contribute to solving the Exchange Rate Disconnect Puzzle.working pape