Werner Pascha

The role of regional financial arrangements and monetary integration in East Asia and Europe in relations with the United States

Abstract Regional financial arrangements and monetary integration in East Asia and Europe have made considerable progress in recent years. This paper discusses whether governments in both regions, Japan and Germany as the most advanced regional economies in particular, can use the new dynamics as levers to raise their status vis-à-vis the United States. It will be argued that activities are defensive rather than offensive, aiming at protecting the respective region from financial risk. Japan, in particular, would find it difficult to raise its status vis-à-vis the United States significantly by promoting regional financial and monetary integration, principal reasons being actor heterogeneity, the role of China, hesitation to bear burden and risk, and the historical legacy of a bank-oriented system.

Institutional Variety in East Asia

This illuminating book broadly addresses the emerging field of ‘diversity of capitalism’ from a comparative institutional approach. It explores the varied patterns for achieving coordination in different economic systems, applying them specifically to China, Japan and South Korea. These countries are of particular interest due to the fact that they are often considered to have developed their own peculiar blend of models of capitalism.

South Korea’s Economic Policy Response to the Global Financial Crisis

The aim of this chapter is twofold. First, it traces how the Republic of Korea (South Korea) has handled the 2008 crisis so far. The first year of the crisis, i.e. September 2008 to September 2009, is taken as the principal reference period. The appropriateness of economic policy measures is its major concern. Second, it searches for some connection between the 1997-8 Asian crisis and the 2008-09 global financial and economic crisis. The first two parts of the chapter traces Koreas economic situation when it faced the crisis and see how Korea was affected by the global financial crisis, which was to turn into a major global economic crisis. It next traces policy responses and shows how they resonated with the performance of the Korean economy. As a fourth step, it looks at the political boundary conditions. The chapter concludes by looking for connections between the two major crisis. Keywords:1997-8 Asian crisis; 2008-09 global financial crisis; economic policy response; political-economic boundary; South Korea

Introduction: Korea as a Newly Advanced Economy and the Role of Technology and Innovation

After the devastating years of the Financial Crisis in the late 1990s, many observers have been surprised how quickly Korea 1 has regained lost ground and consolidated its status as a newly advanced economy. Surveying key economic data in ten year cycles, the 1997/98 crisis as well as former unsettling periods like the early 1980s vanish into disappearance (see table 1). Progress in GNP per head, for instance, looks like an unbroken chain of successes since the 1950s.

Japan’s Venture Capital Market from an Institutional Perspective

Can Japan mobilise enough venture capital to finance its promising venture firms and to support its advance into high-tech? This is one of the most important strategic issues facing the Japanese economy. Where are the bottlenecks; what can be done to overcome remaining problems? In the following section, we will first present some stylised facts to substantiate the contention that Japan does have a problem. Afterwards, we will introduce the theory-based viewpoint based on institutional economics1 and show why Japan still has difficulties to effectively process venture capital. We survey changes taking place and look for open policy questions.

Japans nationales Innovationssystem im Wandel

Für die Innovationsfähigkeit eines Landes und seiner Industrien ist das Zusammenspiel verschiedener institutioneller Strukturen von großer Bedeutung. Japan gilt als Paradebeispiel für ein erfolgreich auf die Aufgaben einer nachholenden Industrialisierung hin konfiguriertes „nationales Innovationssystem“. Den Bedingungen eines heute technologisch zur Weltspitze zählenden Landes wird dieses Gefüge jedoch nicht mehr voll gerecht. Der Beitrag untersucht die Ausgestaltung des japanischen Innovationssystems und zeigt Reformoptionen auf.

The Asian Development Bank in the Context of Rapid Regional Development

Regional development banks are a frequently overlooked layer of institutions among international organizations. However, their financial power is considerable. Through 1995, the respective regional banks including their soft loan windows have approved loans totaling

Coordination between Inertia and Dynamic Development: An Overview of Issues and Contributions

78on for Latin America and the Caribbean,

Gesamtwirtschaftliche Megatrends und die Aussicht auf dynamische Zukunftsindustrien in Japan

57on for Asia,

Zehn Jahre APEC

30bn for Africa, and