Four Asian Tigers' Political and Economic Development Revisited 1998-2017: From the Perspective of National Identity

Developmental state used to be and is still regarded as a very practical theory to explain why Four Asian Tigers-Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore enjoyed almost averagely double-digit economic growth rate each year from 1970 to 1990 as well as East Asian economic development. However, developmental state theory couldn’t tell why South Korea and Singapore’s economic development had done much better than Taiwan and Hong Kong’s in terms of GDP per capita after 2003 and 2004 respectively. The aim of the study is trying to use national identity perspective to explain why it happens like this, since Four Asian Tigers’ economic development more or less was troubled by national identity issue. The major difference between these two groups is that South Korea and Singapore have done better in dealing with national identity issue than Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Introduction

This book critically examines the roles played by developing countries, in partnership with major multilateral agencies and their bilateral counterparts, in addressing agricultural and rural development as a way to achieve economic transformation and food for all. The book explores the questions of what member nations of the United Nations, working with international organizations, have been able to achieve thus far in food and agriculture and in economic transformation; how they have responded to the rapidly changing external environment and factors internal to the organizations; and how well equipped they are to address future challenges of poverty, food security and nutrition, inequality, climate change, degradation of natural resources, and conflict, in the face of rapidly deteriorating natural resources and advancing science. Discovering the answers to these questions makes this discussion all the more urgent. Most importantly, we explore the roles of the traditional international organizations established in the post-Second World War period vis-à-vis new actors, philanthropists, and the private sector in contributing to growth and development. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the structural weaknesses among the mightiest economies of income inequalities, lack of universal access to health, and lack of trust in government. Smaller Asian Tigers—Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea—in addition to China, where the pandemic originated—had smarter responses, demonstrating their superior state capacity. What are the lessons of history for national, regional, and global governance?

World class universities and international student mobility: Repositioning strategies in the Asian Tigers

A major cluster of economic engines that have changed Asian higher education, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan have all developed high-income societies as well as world-class universities which linked local “knowledge economies” to global science and created hubs for international collaborations and mobility. However, there has been limited analysis of interdependencies between the rise of world-class universities and changes in the flows of international talent. This paper elaborates on the concept of higher education internationalization that aims at enhancing geopolitical equity in global mobility and re-positioning local students for improved access to the world-class excellence. The paper compares key themes and patterns that define the Tiger societies’ unique positions in the field of global higher education.

The impacts of Covid-19 pandemic on the smooth transition dynamics of stock market index volatilities for the Four Asian Tigers and Japan

This rapid propagation of the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) has caused the global healthcare system to break down. The infectious disease originated from East Asia and spread to the world. This unprecedented pandemic further damages the global economy. It seems highly probable that the COVID-19 recession changes stock market volatility. Therefore, this study resorts to the Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedastic (GARCH) model with a smooth transition method to capture the influences of the COVID-19 pandemic on the dynamic structure of the stock market index volatilities for some Asian countries (the Four Asian Tigers and Japan). The empirical results show that the shocks of the COVID-19 change the dynamic volatility structure for all stock market indices. Moreover, we acquire the transition function for all stock market index volatilities and find out that most of their regime adjustment processes start following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Four Asian Tigers except South Korea and Japan. Additionally, the estimated transition functions show that the stock market index volatilities contain U-shaped patterns of structural changes. This article also computes the corresponding calendar dates of structure change about dynamic volatility patterns. In the light of estimation of location parameters, we demonstrate that the structure changing the date of stock market index volatility for South Korea and Japan has occurred in late 2019.

The stewardship of ‘Taiwan’s Economic Miracle’ and its feedback on national cultural context

Poverty – prosperity leap debates have been rising steeply across the globe in recent decades. Taking Taiwan with its Li Kwohting’s legacies as a good illustration how the agrarian-based colony turned into the ‘Silicon Island’ for a comparatively small period the authors analyse the man-made policies on making the ‘Taiwan’s Economic Miracle’. The article studies a ‘twilight zone’ within the gap as well as both the prerequisites and outcomes of the ‘Taiwan’s Godfather of Technology’ stewardship. The paper also considers the factors which determine the rapid growth of Taiwan.Despite the almost universal characteristics of the East Asia countries, differences between them remain substantial. This circumstance gives the authors a room for speculations over the reasons of one country becoming the world leaders. The authors use the ‘Four Asian Tigers’ as Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan for comparison. China is also included in the comparative analysis for better understanding. The study showed that the success phenomenon of the country is being determined in the national cultural context, inside of which the economy develops. The Geert Hofstede’s Six Cultural Dimensions model was utilized for employing the indexes as follows: Power Distance, Collectivism vs. Individualism, Uncertainty Avoidance Index, Femininity vs.Masculinity, Short-Term vs. Long-Term Orientation and Restraint vs. Indulgence. The cultural dimensions typology of the Geert Hofstede helped to explain the national predominance for this or that economic and political initiatives of the government, the comparison showed that the core of nation’s prosperity development mechanisms is incorporated in the Taiwanese cultural code.

How does tourism development affect environmental pollution?

Tourism development has often been considered as a growth pillar over recent decades; however, studies on whether and how it can contribute to pollution reduction are scant. This study fills the research gaps by exploring the role of tourism development in pollution emissions by investigating two influencing mechanisms—the industry substitution effect and energy substitution effect—in the context of Asian Tigers. Several econometric techniques are used to show that a 1% increase in tourism development can lead to a 0.3862% decrease in carbon emissions. The results of multiple mediating effect analyses indicate that the tourism sector can curb carbon emissions by both replacing high-emissions industries and promoting the use of renewable energy; the effect of the former path is 4% greater than that of the latter. This study should serve as a reference by which policymakers can develop sustainable tourism and reduce pollution emissions.

Hybrid organizations as effective intermediate institutions: Evidence from Eastern Asia

Introduction: the article examines the impact of hybrid organizations on the economic dynamics of Eastern Asian countries. Objectives: to assess the effectiveness of hybrid organizations as intermediate institutions that promote economic development, to describe the transformation of hybrids as they are modernized. Methods: dialectical method, system analysis, case study method, induction method. Results: the positive role of hybrid organizations in catching-up economic development is revealed; it is shown that hybrids serve as intermediate institutions that either transform or hinder economic growth as modernization progresses; possible economic policies to support hybrids are described. Conclusions: hybrid organizations are common in many countries and regions with a predominance of traditional regulators which have managed to reach the development path of developed countries. Thus, hybrids are country specific for the “Asian tigers” – Japan (in the form of keiretsu), South Korea (in the form of chaebols), Taiwan (in the form of clusters) as well as for China (in the form of industrial areas). At the same time, in most cases, hybrid institutional agreements serve as intermediate institutions – relying on existing social ties, they promote economic growth, but as they modernize, they either undergo changes or hinder subsequent development. The analysis of the presented cases also shows that the state can contribute to the formation of hybrids in various ways – from creating infrastructure to supporting the export activities of firms.