This paper examines the transformation of the Iranian economy through the Twentieth Century within a global context. At the start of that century, the Iranian economy had long remained stagnant, poor, and largely agrarian, with a marginal role in the world economy. By the turn of 21 century, Iran had transformed into a complex and relatively large economy with important consequences for the eco...

The paper focuses on institutional change and institution building as integral parts of economic transition in China. China’s success, particularly compared with other advanced transition economies, implies a puzzling observation: China did not apply theoretically-derived policy recommendations. Instead, authorities followed a gradual, pragmatic approach to reform, decentralize, and transform t...

The economic transition in China poses new questions in studying product demand. In this study, we investigate the demand pattern and structural changes during the economic transformation using annual data from the paper and paperboard industry in China. Instrumental variable estimations as well as cointegration analysis and error-correction models are applied to the analysis. Our results show ...

Development is a process that is full of uncertainties, and even more so is the process of transition from the planned economy to a market oriented one. Because of the uncertainties and country specificity, development must be a process of learning, selective adaptation, and augmentation and upgrade. This paper attempts to distill lessons from China’s reform and opening up process, and to inves...

Using a gravity model of trade and the U.S. and Chinese panel data, I present evidence that supports the views that linguistic links have become more important in foreign trade than geographical proximity and that linguistic influence on trade is more significant in China than in the U.S. The estimated result based on a broad panel of economies shows little overall relation between religious si...

This article aims to examine the trade effects of the South Asian FTAs including regional and bilateral ones with a focus on Sri Lanka, by applying a gravity trade model as an analytical framework. The study specifically targets the following three FTAs: the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) enforced in 2006, the India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA) in 2001, and the Pakistan-Sri ...

A Theoretical Model of the Chinese Labor Market This paper constructs a theoretical labor market model for China, and utilizes the model to examine the effects of various labor market policies on economic well-being. Two key features of the model are a segmented labor market involving three sectors – state-owned enterprises, private enterprises, and agriculture – and China’s unique household re...

Using a unique cross-national survey of publicly traded firms in Indonesia, Korea and Thailand, we provide the first systematic cross-national evidence on the incidence, diffusion, nature, and scope of Joint Labor-Management Committees (JLMCs) and shed light on the potential role of employee stakeholders in corporate governance in Asia. We find insofar as publicly traded firms in these three co...

We explain why China is a “chaotic” or “strange” attractor of FDI. It is an “attractor” because its FDI inflows increased steadily even though the world FDI inflows have decreased considerably in recent years. It is indeed “strange,” since its rates of FDI return are below the world average and predictions of its economic collapse are abundant. We find that Hong Kong and Taiwan are predominant ...

The purpose of this study is to empirically test the validity of Kaldor’s laws of economic growth in China between 1978 and 2004 and to provide an alternative explanation of sources of Chinese economic growth in a Kaldorian perspective. First, in a spatial econometrics perspective using a regional data set, the present paper empirically verifies that Kaldorian hypotheses on economic growth hold...