Yapa M.W.Y. Bandara

Trends, Patterns and Determinants of Australian Foreign Direct Investment

The aim of this paper is to present empirical evidence of the determinants of Australian foreign direct investment using hypotheses drawn from an investment demand model, new trade theory and institutional economics. The findings suggest that countries which are open, have a large domestic market, and have a similar language and culture to Australias attract most of its foreign investment. There is also evidence to suggest that countries in regional blocs tend to attract Australian investment, possibly opening up opportunities for investors to capture a large regional market. Although difficult to prove statistically, the findings also suggest that countries that are economically more stable and have strong institutional credibility tend to attract Australian investment.

Foreign Direct Investment in a Transition Economy: Lessons from the Experience of Mongolia:

This article presents an analysis of the trends and patterns of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Mongolia, a former centrally planned economy which embarked on economic reforms in 1990. Since then, there has been a dramatic increase in FDI inflow into the country. The volume of FDI rose from less than one per cent of GDP in 1991 to 80 per cent by 2010. These foreign-owned enterprises have made a significant contribution to the country’s export earnings, but their effects on employment-creation and hence poverty-reduction remains very small. This appears to be largely due to a heavy concentration of foreign firms in relatively capital-intensive mining sectors rather than labour-intensive light manufacturing. Further, there is evidence to support growing business confidence that Mongolia has a potential of FDI to become a major player in global commodity markets with its rich gold, copper, zinc, uranium, coal, molybdenum and oil reserves.

Globalization, Policy Reforms and Productivity Growth in Developing Countries: Evidence from Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s economic policy strategies radically moved away from inward-looking import-substituting industrialization to outward-looking export-oriented industrialization (EOI) in 1977. The EOI strategy was implemented through a broad agenda of reforms including trade liberalization, privatization of state owned enterprises and financial deregulation. These reforms had a profound impact on productivity in the export oriented production sector (primarily manufacturing) and laid the foundation for rapid growth and structural change. This study empirically analyzes the impact of policy reforms on the total factor productivity (TFP) of manufacturing industries in Sri Lanka. A balanced panel data set of all 27 manufacturing industries over 21 years is used. The industry heterogeneity effects are taken into account through the validation of a fixed effects model. The empirical results confirm, in general, that post 1977 pursuit of the EOI strategy has resulted in TFP growth. However, in an uncertain investment and economic climate due to the ethnic conflict that has engulfed Sri Lanka, TFP growth has reversed dramatically since 1994. The findings reinforce the view that in order to increase productivity and growth in developing countries in this era of Globalization the pursuit of open economy policies alone is insufficient. Fostering of a stable political environment is also necessary.

Modelling agricultural land use allocation in regional Australia

An analysis of the drivers of agricultural land use is important for policy makers as the issues of climate change and food security become increasingly prominent in the political landscape. This paper analyses the role of prices, total land holdings and climate on land use in Australia. The analysis relates to a unique comprehensive coverage of commodity types at a regional level. An explicit treatment of missing data and the novel use of cluster analysis is employed within a partial adjustment framework for modelling land allocation. The majority of commodity types across regions exhibit significant degrees of slow partial adjustment for land allocation, the frequency of slow adjustment is greatest with crops and livestock and weakest for vegetables. In general, relative own and cross prices, total land holdings and rainfall only have a minor impact on short‐term land allocations, however numerous individual commodity/regional combinations have identified significant short‐run impacts.

WTO accession and Socio-economic development in China

Introduction: Socio-economic development in China i?½ WTO accession and related issues. Education, environment and services: Reform of Chinai?½s economic system with WTO accession and its impact on tertiary education The relationship between economic globalization and higher education internationalization in China Green strategies for enhancing economic growth and ecological sustainability in Xinjiang province in China Services in China: Prospects for growth and implications for Australia. Finance and accountancy: Trend and pattern of Foreign Direct Investment in Chinai?½s economic boom FDI Spillovers - the strategy for Chinese economic development The convergence of International Financial Reporting Standards in China: A view on the influence of political ideology on Chinese accounting profession Accounting standards development in China. Socio-econimoc impacts: Socio-cultural challenges to economic growth in China i?½ looking ahead Community development in China: problems and prospects Concluding remarks.

Trade Liberalization and Import Intensity in the Mongolian Manufacturing

This article presents an empirical analysis of the consequences of trade liberalization on import intensity in Mongolia, a ‘least-developed landlocked country’ with weak institutions and severe infrastructure bottlenecks. The theoretical framework employed in modelling is based on industrial organization and international trade literature. Our results suggest that foreign investment stimulates import intensity possibly due to the prevalence of intra-firm trade between subsidies, while the protection of domestic market and state ownership reduces import intensity. There is no statistically significant evidence to suggest that import intensity is lower in unskilled labour-intensive industries. These findings have significant policy implications for further liberalization in order to improve Mongolia’s trade competitiveness.

The Economic Impact of Ecotourism on Regional China: Further Evidence from Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces

This article contributes to the literature on the economic impact of ecotourism in regional China with a focus on Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, which attract about 50 per cent of the total number of tourists visiting China annually. Our analysis suggests that tourism significantly contributes to value added, output, income and employment generation in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, although the level of contribution varies between the two provinces. For example, the impact of an additional tourist dollar would be higher in generating employment and household income in Yunnan province, while the same dollar has a higher impact in generating value added in Sichuan. While in both provinces international tourists generate much higher income per capita than their domestic counterparts, in comparison with Sichuan, Yunnan is considered to be better placed for further development of tourism, particularly ecotourism. The promotion of ecotourism in these provinces will also encourage the Chinese youth to stay in their own provinces rather than to migrate to export-processing provinces—a problem that has already created a concern among the Chinese policymakers.

BALANCING ACT: ADJUSTMENT OF CHINA'S ECONOMY TO SECURE SUSTAINABLE GROWTH

This paper uses income accounting techniques to assess, counterfactually, the implied impact over the last 10 years of a hypothetical government policy to constrain investment growth in order to raise the share of consumption in GDP and to bring about a balance on current account. We find that both target variables are very sensitive to changes in investment and that a policy of careful reform is called for. In the light of this finding, we review Chinese government policy pronouncements and activity with a view to assessing their appropriateness.