Developing East Asian Countries Research Articles

When social status gets in the way of reproduction in modern settings: An evolutionary mismatch perspective

AbstractLow fertility is a growing concern in modern societies. While economic and structural explanations of reproductive hindrances have been informative to some extent, they do not address the fundamental motives that underlie reproductive decisions and are inadequate to explain why East Asian countries, in particular, have such low fertility rates. The current paper advances a novel account of low fertility in modern contexts by describing how modern environments produce a mismatch between our evolved mechanisms and the inputs they were designed to process, leading to preoccupations with social status that get in the way of mating and reproductive outcomes. We also utilize developed East Asian countries as a case study to further highlight how culture may interact with modern features to produce ultralow fertility, sometimes to the extent that people may give up on parenthood or even mating altogether. Through our analysis, we integrate several lines of separate research, elucidate the fundamental dynamics that drive trade-offs between social status and reproductive effort, add to the growing literature on evolutionary mismatch, and provide an improved account of low fertility in modern contexts.

МЕСТО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ В ПОЛИТИКЕ «МЯГКОЙ СИЛЫ» РОССИИ: СТРАТЕГИЧЕСКИЕ НАПРАВЛЕНИЯ И ИНСТРУМЕНТЫ

The author attempts to study the place of education in Russia's “soft pow-er” policy. In order to achieve this goal, a survey was conducted among undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students at the leading Russian universities with the largest number of foreign students. In particular, the satisfaction of foreign citizens with living conditions, education, facilities and equipment of the universities was analyzed. In addition, it was found that when choosing a country (university), the citizens of the CIS countries, to a greater extent than the Chinese and Indians, were guided by the feedback of university graduates, advice from their close environment, and the conventional media (television, radio, and the press). It was also found that foreign students, when choosing a university in Russia to enter, rely on the resources of their family or family group (economic, symbolic, cultural, social capital), that is, they act rationally. If students cannot afford to be educated straight away at a prestigious university in the Russian Federation, they first enter the university in Russia that they can, and then plan to continue their studies at the master's or postgraduate level of the desired university. It has been proven that applicants from wealthy families are guided by the university's rating when choosing a university. Applicants from families that belong to the group of moderate means, when choosing a university, focus on such institutions of higher education, which are easy to enter, just to leave their country and never to return. It has also been found that applicants from neighboring countries seek higher education in Russia, as many of them know Russian, but do not know English, Portuguese, German, French at the appropriate level and cannot afford to study at the highly ranked Western universities and in developed East Asian countries. Most applicants evaluate the quality of education by the level of GDP growth, the higher the GDP growth, the more willing they are to enroll in universities in a given country.

East Asian low marriage and birth rates: The role of life history strategy, culture, and social status affordance

Although economic development is broadly associated with low fertility, countries with a predominantly East Asian cultural population exhibit the lowest fertility rates in the developed world. This study (N = 243) examined social status affordance (SSA) as a novel factor underlying cultural variations in marriage and childbearing attitudes. Drawing from a life history perspective, we argue that SSA reflects the availability and ease of attaining social status from the environment, which then influences people's reproductive motivations. We found that strong competition for prestigious jobs in developed East Asian countries, which is hypothesized to be an outcome of their collectivistic nature and the importance they place on endowed social status, was associated with reduced SSA and, in turn, less favorable attitudes towards marriage and preference for less children. These effects were driven by men, primarily. We conclude with a discussion of the implications and suggestions for further research.

2017 Global Conference on Polymer and Composite Materials (PCM 2017)

PCM2017 PrefaceThe 2017 Global Conference on Polymer and Composite Materials (PCM 2017), sponsored by Wuhan Advanced Materials Society, was held from May 23 – 25, 2017 in Guangzhou, China. The technical program consisted of 4 international keynote speakers, 62 invited speakers, 40 oral presentations, and a poster session with 42 works. The conference had parallel sessions with dedicated selected subjects related to Polymers and Composite Materials.The present issue of IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) records the proceedings of PCM 2017 and contains 50 specially selected manuscripts submitted to the PCM2017 conference. The electronic submission and handling of manuscripts via the conference website, including the selection of reviewers and evaluation of manuscripts, were identical to the procedures applied to manuscripts submitted as regular contributions for international per-reviewed publications.The organization of this conference and the preparation of proceedings volume would have been impossible without the tremendous efforts and dedication of many individuals, especially from Ms. Yajun Ye, who oversaw the organization of the conference and the program, and a large team of reviewers with their timely submission of quality reports. We express our sincere thanks to all authors and presenters for their contributions. We also thank very much our sponsors for their generous support.The 2018 Global Conference on Polymer and Composite Materials (PCM2018) will be held during April 10-13, 2018, in Kitakyushu City, Japan. This is the best period to catch the Sakura Season in Japan. Located in the west of Japan, the city is situated conveniently close to many rapidly developing East Asian countries. With views over the Sea of Japan and the Seto Inland Sea, and with forty percent of the city's area comprised of rich forest, it is a city blessed with an abundance of nature. Being one of the four main industrial areas of Japan, Kitakyushu City has made great contributions towards the modernization of Japanese industry. Kitakyushu City's many notable attractions include Kokura Castle, the port town of Mojiko Retro, the Hiraodai Limestone Plateau (one of the three major karst plateaus of Japan), and many leisure facilities. Kitakyushu City also has a vast menu of appetizing dishes, such as Kokura beef, and Yaki-udon, as well as many other delicacies harvested from the mountains and sea.All participants are welcome to the renewed and vibrant PCM2018! More information will be available at the conference website: www.cpcmconf.org.Prof. Dr. Esteban BroitmanGeneral Chairman PCM2017Linköping, Sweden, June 2017

The Role of Production Networks in the Development of China and Other Developing East Asian Countries

Production networks have played important role in East Asian countries being the world’s factory and entering the process of convergence with the developed countries. Though there has been a rapid spread of production networks in all regions of the world, the East Asian model has its distinctive characteristics in terms of significance in the regional economy, geographic extensiveness involving a large number of countries in the region and degree of sophistication in both intra firm and arm’s length relationships across different firm nationalities. This does not, however, mean that the process has contributed to a decrease in the region’s dependence on the global economy. This work analyzes the strategies that have contributed to development of the developing East Asian countries and importance of the regional production networks. It is also revealed in this article that the dependence on EU and the US increase, despite the convergence between East Asian and developed countries, as clearly observed during 2008 global crisis. In this study, FDI inflows statistics of the UNCTAD, competitive industrial performance index of the UNIDO and GDP per capita and growth rate statistics of the World Bank and the statistics of other international institutions have been used.

Industrialization and poverty reduction in East Asia: Internal labor movements matter

A number of developing East Asian countries have achieved both rapid economic growth and poverty reduction by effectively utilizing global value chains. An essential, but often neglected, condition for their economic development is smooth labor movements from the rural to urban sectors. This paper demonstrates that such labor movements have played an important role in the process of industrialization with global value chains. After conducting some international comparisons, we examine the case of Thailand for its massive labor movements until the mid–2000s as well as discussing stagnant moves in recent years.

BRIDES FOR SALE: CROSS‐BORDER MARRIAGES AND FEMALE IMMIGRATION

Developed East Asian countries import a large number of women from abroad as brides every year, although such cross‐border marriages virtually did not exist 20 years ago. With a theoretical framework and empirical evidence, we argue that developed Asian countries' demand for foreign brides is the consequence of improvement in women's economic status and gender‐discriminative household arrangements that insufficiently incorporate women's improved status in marriage. We offer sets of empirical evidence in line with our argument, using various macro‐ and microlevel datasets. (JEL A12, J12, J61)

Beyond Economic Interests: Attitudes toward Foreign Workers in Australia, the United States and East Asian Countries

We compare attitudes toward foreign workers between two wealthy Western and four developing East Asian countries, using data from the 2006 and 2008 Asian Barometer surveys to test hypotheses on economic interests, cultural supremacy, and global exposure. Respondent majorities in all six countries expressed high levels of restrictivism. Regression model results indicate a consistent cultural superiority influence across the six countries, but only minor effects from economic interest factors. Mixed outcomes were noted for the global exposure variables.

Materialistic Desires or Childhood Adversities as Explanations for Girls' Trading Sex for Benefits.

This study investigates whether high school and younger South Korean girls trade sex with middle-aged men for benefits due to cultural emphasis on materialism/consumerism, childhood adversities, or both. This form of prostitution, referred to as "compensated dating," is common in economically developed East Asian Countries, where there is debate about its causes. Purposeful sampling was used to select a diverse group of 25 girls who described involvement in compensated dating, and a life calendar method was used to guide the interview. The rich data were subjected to thematic analysis to show the nature of prostitution involvement, precursors, and motivations. Data analysis revealed that sole reliance on materialistic desire as an explanation of prostitution obscures the influence of peer pressure and family dysfunction. Findings suggest the need for social services rather than punitive responses to girls involved in compensated dating.

Does Finance Really Matter for the Participation of SMEs in International Trade? Evidence from 8,080 East Asian Firms

This paper studies factors associated with firm participation in export markets, focusing primarily on firm size and access to credit, based on a survey sample comprising observations of 8,080 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) (with fewer than 100 employees) and non-SME firms in developing East Asian countries across sectors. The main findings suggest the interdependent relationships between export participation, firm size, and access to credit. SMEs participating in export markets tend to gain more access to credit, while potential scale economies (firm sizes) of SMEs are positively associated with participation in export markets. The estimation results also point to the supportive influences of foreign ownership, worker education, and production certification on export participation, and the positive effects of financial certification, managerial experience, and collateral/loan value on access to credit for SMEs.

Amebiasis in HIV-1-Infected Japanese Men: Clinical Features and Response to Therapy

Invasive amebic diseases caused by Entamoeba histolytica are increasing among men who have sex with men and co-infection of ameba and HIV-1 is an emerging problem in developed East Asian countries. To characterize the clinical and epidemiological features of invasive amebiasis in HIV-1 patients, the medical records of 170 co-infected cases were analyzed retrospectively, and E. histolytica genotype was assayed in 14 cases. In this series of HIV-1-infected patients, clinical presentation of invasive amebiasis was similar to that described in the normal host. High fever, leukocytosis and high CRP were associated with extraluminal amebic diseases. Two cases died from amebic colitis (resulting in intestinal perforation in one and gastrointestinal bleeding in one), and three cases died from causes unrelated to amebiasis. Treatment with metronidazole or tinidazole was successful in the other 165 cases. Luminal treatment was provided to 83 patients following metronidazole or tinidazole treatment. However, amebiasis recurred in 6 of these, a frequency similar to that seen in patients who did not receive luminal treatment. Recurrence was more frequent in HCV-antibody positive individuals and those who acquired syphilis during the follow-up period. Various genotypes of E. histolytica were identified in 14 patients but there was no correlation between genotype and clinical features. The outcome of metronidazole and tinidazole treatment of uncomplicated amebiasis was excellent even in HIV-1-infected individuals. Luminal treatment following metronidazole or tinidazole treatment does not reduce recurrence of amebiasis in high risk populations probably due to amebic re-infection.

The Incompatibility of Materialism and the Desire for Children: Psychological Insights into the Fertility Discrepancy Among Modern Countries

We examined factors related to attitudes toward marriage and the importance of having children in both the US and Singapore. Path analysis indicated that life dissatisfaction leads to materialism, and both of these factors lead to favorable attitudes toward marriage, which leads to greater desire for children. Further analysis indicated this model was effective in explaining the difference in desire for children between Singaporeans and Americans, whereby Singaporeans have lower life satisfaction, higher materialism, and lower attitudes toward marriage and children. Materialistic standards of success were also related to the emphasis women placed on potential marriage partners’ earning capacity. As Singaporean women had higher materialistic standards, they also placed higher emphasis on potential mates’ earning capacity. Results suggest a consideration of psychological variables such as life satisfaction, materialism, and mate preferences may lead to a better understanding of larger-scale socioeconomic issues, including low fertility rates among developed East Asian countries.

Global Production Networks in Electronics and Intra-Asian Trade

The growth of East Asia’s intra-regional trade is driven largely by increased component trade within global electronics production networks. Data on both electronics trade and production elucidate a pattern of specialization in which upper- and middle-income countries produce sophisticated components and lower-income countries assemble lower value-added final goods. There is evidence of increasing sophistication within the electronics sector by the Newly Industrialized Economies and to a lesser extent by ASEAN countries. Despite the marked increase in intra-regional trade, developing East Asian countries remain heavily dependent on developed-country markets. When Western export demand rapidly contracted during the 2008-2009 economic crisis, these specialization patterns led the rapid diffusion of the business cycle shock throughout the East Asian region.

The impact of production fragmentation on skill upgrading: New evidence from Japanese manufacturing

This paper examines the hypothesis that industries engaged in international fragmentation of production experience greater skill upgrading using a panel data set of Japanese manufacturing over the period 1980–2000. The novelty of the study comes from the use of a newly constructed index using trade data on parts and components to measure intra-industry variations in the degree of international vertical specialisation (fragmentation intensity of trade). It also employs a methodology designed to embody peculiarities of Japan's fragmentation trade pattern. While the findings of existing studies are inconclusive, it is found that the expansion of fragmentation trade with developing East Asian countries has had a significant impact on the skills composition of Japanese manufacturing employment. At the same time, fragmentation trade with high income countries has had a skill downgrading effect. J. Japanese Int. Economies 22 (4) (2008) 545–565.

Impact of China's WTO Accession on East Asia

China's World Trade Organization (WTO) accession will have major implications for China and present both opportunities and challenges for East Asia. Ianchovichina and Walmsley assess the possible channels through which China's accession to the WTO could affect East Asia and quantify these effects using a dynamic computable general equilibrium model. China will be the biggest beneficiary of accession, followed by the industrial and newly industrializing economies (NIEs) in East Asia. But their benefits are small relative to the size of their economies and to the vigorous growth projected to occur in the region over the next 10 years. By contrast, developing countries in East Asia are expected to incur small declines in real GDP and welfare as a result of China's accession, mainly because with the elimination of quotas on Chinese textile and apparel exports to industrial countries China will become a formidable competitor in areas in which these countries have comparative advantage. With WTO accession China will increase its demand for petrochemicals, electronics, machinery, and equipment from Japan and the NIEs, and farm, timber, energy products, and other manufactures from the developing countries in East Asia. New foreign investment is likely to flow into these expanding sectors. The overall impact on foreign investment is likely to be positive in the NIEs, but negative for the less developed East Asian countries as a result of the contraction of these economies' textile and apparel sector. As China becomes a more efficient supplier of services or a more efficient producer of high-end manufactures, its comparative advantage will shift into higher-end products. This is good news for the poor developing economies in East Asia, but it implies that the impact of China's WTO accession on the NIEs may change to include heightened competition in global markets.

Financial integration and consumption risk sharing in East Asia

This paper estimates the degree of consumption risk sharing and analyzes the channels of consumption risk sharing among the 10 East Asian countries. Estimation results show that a bulk of cross-sectional variance of GDP, about 80 percent, is not smoothed within the region which suggests that the degree of consumption risk sharing is far from complete and very low in the region. Capital markets play a minimal role and credit markets provide a positive but limited role. These results imply that the market channels do not function well in smoothing idiosyncratic output shocks. To be consistent, we also found that the potential welfare gains from consumption risk sharing within East Asia are quite large. Compared to the OECD countries, the degree of risk sharing achieved is lower and the potential gains are larger in the East Asian countries, but the degree of risk sharing and the potential gains are similar in relatively more developed East Asian countries.

Spatial Disparities in Developing East Asia: a survey

Intra‐country regional disparities and centre‐region relations are important issues in developing East Asian countries. Most governments are experimenting with decentralisation initiatives, some of which are quite radical. There is disaffection towards centralised capital city control in several countries, most notably in Indonesia, where the possibility of further territorial fragmentation cannot be discounted. Rapid economic growth is inevitably uneven in its sub‐national impacts. Some regions—usually those with better connections to the international economy—grow faster than others. In the wake of the 1997/98 economic crisis, fiscally constrained governments find it increasingly difficult to finance fiscal equalisation mechanisms and other measures designed to assist poor regions. Paradoxically, as international boundaries become increasingly porous and blurred, regional identities and aspirations are more sharply defined.

The role of direct foreign investment in developing east asian countries

purpose of this paper has been to provide an overview of the role and extent of foreign investment in East Asian developing countries. We have not been concerned with the costs and benefits of DFL Rather, we have attempted to integrate the scattered and limited information on DFI into recent empirical research on the subject. Many of the issues concerning DFI can be examined only through detailed case studies, and our paper is intended to be complementary to such research. Several conclusions emerge from our study. First, DFI constitutes a substantial but still relatively minor source of the total resource inflows to the region, and a very small proportion of total domestic investment. Secondly, although there have been changes in the“packaging” of capital and technology inflows, these changes do not appear to be as great as is sometimes suggested. Thirdly, there are significant differences in the nature and extent of DFI among the investing countries. Fourthly, the importance of DFI varies markedly within the manufacturing sector, and these variations can be explained, at a general level, with reference to the theory of DFI. Fifthly, the phenomenon of intra-firm trade in manufacturing does not appear to be particularly important in the case of United States investment, but it is significant in the rapidly expanding Japanese investments abroad.