Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Government Reform, and Their Role in Economic Development and the Rise of the Middle Classes in East and Southeast Asia
Sajjad Kaveh(1*), Hadi Noori(2), Arya Shafeghat Roodsari(3), Shukoofeh Goodarzinezhad(4)
(1) 
(2) 
(3) 
(4) 
(*) Corresponding Author
Abstract
Since the 1990s, East and Southeast Asian countries have experienced significant economic growth, leading to the expansion of the middle classes. Some scholars have attributed this economic development to cultural and political factors such as technocrat leaders, ethnic tolerance, or even Confucianism. Other researchers have only mentioned economic variables, such as free market, regional unions, and export-oriented policies. This paper does not rule out the role of these factors in the economic development of those regions, and by using a combined approach based on recent data, the authors argue that attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) and government reforms have been the most important factors influencing economic growth as well as the significant expansion of the middle classes in East and Southeast Asian societies.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Ali, Shimelse & Dadush, Uri. (2012). A new measure of the global middle class. Retrieved from https://voxeu.org/article/new-measure-global-middle-class
Amadeo, Kimberly. (2019). China's Economic Growth, Its Causes, Pros, Cons, and Future. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/china-s-economic-growth-cause-pros-cons-future-3305478
Amin, Samir. (1976). Unequal Development: An Essay on Social Formation of Peripheral Capitalism. New York: The Harvester Press.
Amini, Armin & Shokrollahi, Samira. (2012). Globalization and economic development in Vietnam. International Commerce, Economics and Policy, 03, No. 01, 161-205. Doi:10.1142/S1793993312400066
ASEAN. (2017). ASEAN Economic Integration Brief. Retrieved from https://asean.org/storage/2017/11/AEIB_2nd-edition.pdf.
ASEAN. (2017). ASEAN Economic Integration Brief. Retrieved from https://asean.org/storage/2019/06/AEIB_5th_Issue_Released.pdf.
ASEAN.(2018). ASEAN Business Guide: The Economy of ASEAN and The Opportunities They Present. Retrieved from https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/la/pdf/2018/08/asean-business-guide-2018.pdf.
ASEAN.. (2015). ASEAN: The EAC Is Here, Finally. UOB Global & Markets Research. Retrieved from https://www.uobgroup.com/assets/pdfs/research/ASEAN-Focus_4q15.pdf.
ASEAN. (2018). ASEAN Investment Report: Foreign Direct Investment and the Digital Economy in ASEAN. Retrieved from https://asean.org/storage/2018/11/ASEAN-Investment-Report-2018-for-Website.pdf.
ASEAN. (2018). ASEAN Statistical Yearbook. Retrieved from https://asean.org/?static_post=asean-statistical-yearbook-2018.
Baran, Paul. (1958). the Political Economy of Growth. New York: Monthly Review Press doi: 10.1017/S0003055400232267
Benson, Michaela. (2014). Trajectories Of Middle Class Belonging: The Dynamics of place Attachment and Classed Identities. Urban Studies, 51(14). doi:10.1177/0042098013516522
Brueckner, Markus, Dabla-Norris, Era, Gradstein, Mark, … Daniel. (2017). The Rise of the Middle Class and Economic Growth in ASEAN. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, 56 (8068), 48-58.
Cumings, Woo. (2007). The Role of Government in East Asian Economic Development. Comparative Institutional Analysis (2nd ed) Oxford Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198294917.001.0001
Diaconu, Laura. (2014). The foreign direct investments in South-East Asia during the last two decades. Procedia Economics and Finance.doi: 10.1016/S2212-5671(14)00554-1
Duara, Prasenjit (2018). Nationalism and development in Asia. United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research. doi: 10.35188/UNU-WIDER/2018/537-4
Embong, A. (2002). State-led Modernization and the New Middle Class in Malaysia. United Kingdom, Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/9781403914286
Eshe, Nelson. (2019). Inrich countries, the middle class is getting smaller and smaller, generation by generation. Retrieved from https://qz.com/1592826/the-middle-class-is-shrinking-generation-by-generation/.
Fernandes, Leela. (2006). India’s New Middle Class (Democratic Politics In An Era Of Economic Reform). University Of Minnesota Press.
Financier Worldwide Magazine. (2015). FDI in Asia. Retrieved from https://www.financierworldwide.com/fdi-in-asia#.XZ3Qe2YlHIX.
Fouad Khater, Akram. (2001). Inventing Home (Emigration, gender & The Middle Class in Lebanon, 1870-1920). University Of California.
Glazer, Nathan. (1999). Two Cheers for 'Asian Values'. the national interest. Retrieved from https://nationalinterest.org/article/two-cheers-for-asian-values-514
Gold, Thomas. (1986). State and the Society in the Taiwan Miracle. New York.
Gottschlich, Pierre. (2011). Indias Middle Class: New Forms Of Urban Leisure, Consumption And Prosperity. Reviews: Arnold Bergstraesser Institute.
Hamel, Kristofer & Tong, Baldwin. (2019). Look East instead of West for the future global middle class. Retrieved from https://oecd-development-matters.org/2019/05/07/look-east-instead-of-west-for-the-future-global-middle-class/.
Hassall, Graham. (1991). Nationalism and ethnic conflict in the Pacific islands. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/293737775_Nationalism_and_ethnic_conflict_in_the_Pacific_islands
Hagen, Everett. (1986). The Economics of Development. Richard d Irwin.
Hawes, Gary & Liu, Hong. (1993). Explaining the Dynamics of the Southeast Asian Political Economy: State Society, and the Search for Economic Growth. Cambridge University.
Heffner, Heather. (2015). “A Dragon Risen From A Shallow Stream”: The South Korean Middle Class frame Through Narratives Of Loss, Progress And Return. Alternatives: Global, Locla And Political, 40(1). doi:10.1177/0304375415581256
Hill, Hal. (2013). The Political Economy of Policy Reform: Insights from Southeast Asia. Asian Development Review, 30 (1), pp. 108-130. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2260123
Hsu, Sara. (2016). Economic Reform in Asia China, India, and Japan. United Kingdom, Edward Elgar Publishing.
Holcombe, Randall G. (2013); South Korea's economic future: Industrial policy, or economic democracy?. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. United States of America, Elsevier, 88(C), p 3-13. doi: 10.1016/j.jebo.2011.07.021
Inkeles, Alex. (1974). Becoming Modern: Individual Change in Six Developing Countries. Social Forces, 55(2) Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
Islami, Saeed. (2014). Asia Minor Tigers. Quarterly Journal of Politics, Third Summer, 2016, No. 10, 19-35. Doi http://ensani.ir/fa/article.
International Growth Center. (2010). Economic Growth and Structural Change in South Asia: Miracle or Mirage?. London, International Growth Centre. Retrieved from http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/36389/1/Economic_growth_and_structural_change_in_South_Asia.pdf.
Jabbour, Elias and Alexis, Dantas. (2017). the political economy of reforms
and the present Chinese transition. Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, 37(4). doi: 10.1590/0101-31572017v37n04a08
K. Spencer, Michael. (2019). The Middle Class is Shrinking. Retrieved from https://medium.com/utopiapress/the-middle-class-is-shrinking-c5fd0ea05af8.
Jinguo, Wang. (2000). The Role of Confucian Values in East Asian Development: Before and After the Financial Crisis. Journal of International and Area Studies. 7(1), pp. 115-135. doi jstor.org/stable/43107028
Jullens, John. (2014). Lessons from the East Asian Development Model.PwC. Retrieved from https://www.strategy-business.com/blog/Lessons-from-the-East-Asian-Development-Model?gko=60f9c
Keiichi, Tsunekawa & Yasuyuki, Todo. (2019). Emerging States at Crossroads. Springer Singapore.
Kimura, Fukunari. (2011). Production Networks in East Asia: What we know so Far. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228270241_Production_Networks_in_East_Asia_What_We_Know_so_Far.
Kharas, Homi &Gertz, Geoffery. (2010). Chinas Emerging Middle class (Beyond Economic Transformation). Washington DC, Brookings Institution Press.
Krause, Eleanor & Sawhill, Isabel V. (2018). Seven reasons to worry about the American middle class. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/social-mobility-memos/2018/06/05/seven-reasons-to-worry-about-the-american-middle-class/.
Kwong Ko, Lap & Tang, Tanzy. (2018). Economic Success in East Asia and in Hong Kong. Asian Business Research. July Press Pte. Ltd. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324891465_Economic_Success_in_East_Asia_and_in_Hong_Kong
Lajčiak, Milan. (2017). East Asian economies and their philosophy behind success: Manifestation of social constructs in economic policies. Journal of International Studies, 10(1), pp. 180-192. doi:10.14254/2071-8330.2017/10-1/13
Landsberg, Martin. (1979). Export-led Industrialization in the Third World. Review of Radical Political Economics. Sage Publications Inc.
Leftwich, Adrian. (2000). States of Development: On the Primacy of Politics in Development. Polity.
Lerner, Daniel. (1958). The Passing of Traditional Society: Modernizing the Middle East. Macmillan Pub Co.
McClelland, David. (1961). The Achieving Society. Martino Fine Books.
Mungiu-Pippidi, Alina & Mindruta, Denis. (2002). Was Huntington Right? Testing Cultural Legacies and the Civilization Border. International Politics, 39(2), pp. 193-213. United States, Kluwer Law International. doi: 10.1057/palgrave.ip.8897387
Naqibzadeh, Ahmed & Sadeghizadeh, Salman. (2009). Causes of Economic Development in Southeast Asia. Journal of Politics, 41(1),pp. 335-347. doi: https://jpq.ut.ac.ir/article_29737.html
Nath, S. K. (1962). The Theory of Balanced Growth. Oxford Economic Papers. England, Oxford University Press.
Nurkse, R. (1971). The Theory of Development and the Idea of Balanced Growth. Developing the Underdeveloped Countries, 7, pp. 115-128. London, Palgrave Macmillan.
Padilla, Hoang Thuy. (2012). Parental School Choices In Marked-Oriented School Systems: Why Middle Class Asian Immigrants Self-Select Into Specialized Academic Programs. United States, ProQuest LLD.
Pattison, Liz Bentley. (2016). Factors Explaining the Rapid Economic Growth of China In Recent Decades. England, Tutor2u. Retrieved from https://www.tutor2u.net/geography/reference/factors-explaining-the-rapid-economic-growth-of-china-in-recent-decades.
Pham, Hung Hung. (2012). ‘The Developmental State,’ the evolving international economic order, and Vietnam. United Kingdom, University of Birmingham.
Pourrestami, Nahid. (2013). "Factors Affecting Economic Convergence in the East Asian Region". Journal of Economic, 15(57), pp. 39-74. doi: http://joer.atu.ac.ir/article_1647.html
Raka, Ray. (2008). Indias New Middle Class: Democratic Politics In An Era Of Economic Reform. Contemporary Sociology, 37(2). doi:10.1177/009430610803700213
Rodan, Rosenstein P. N. (1961). Notes on the Theory of the ‘Big Push’. Economic Development for Latin America London, Palgrave Macmillan.
Roughneen, Simon. (2019a). Has Asia’s middle class creation peaked?. Hong Kong, Asia Times Holdings Limited. Retrieved from https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/04/article/has-asias-middle-class-creation-peaked/.
Roughneen, Simon. (2019b). Southeast Asia bucks trend of sinking global foreign investment. Hong Kong, Asia Times Holdings Limited. Retrieved from https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Southeast-Asia-bucks-trend-of-sinking-global-foreign-investment.
Sarel, Michael. (2006). Growth in East Asia: What We Can and What We Cannot Infer. IMF Working Paper, 95/98. International Monetary Fund.
Seriatos, Gerasimos. (2015). Foreign Direct Investment and the Chinese Economy: Theory and Impact. United States, City University of New York (CUNY) Academic Works.
Schrager, Allison. (2017). The good news about the hollowing out of America’s middle class. Quartz Media, Inc. Retrieved from https://qz.com/1005068/the-upper-middle-class-is-the-new-middle-class/.
Schibotto, Emanuele. (2015). The importance of leadership for Asia’s development. Geopolitica. Retrieved from https://www.geopolitica.info/importance-of-leadership/
Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Executive Yuan, Republic of China. (2018). Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of China. . Retrieved from https://eng.dgbas.gov.tw/public/data/dgbas03/bs2/yearbook_eng/Yearbook2017.pdf.
Szakonyi, Mark. (2014). Asian Middle Class Growth Full Of Promise, Challenges.. New York, JOC Group Inc. Retrieved from https://www.joc.com/international-logistics/distribution-centers/asian-middle-class-growth-full-promise-challenges_20141015.html
The Business Times. (2015). Middle class, Free trade, Investments and US exports. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1662720570?accountid=26226.
The Gold Coast Bulletin. (2012). Middle class and Tourism. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1124542233?accountid=26226.
The Nation. (2014). Middle class and Costs. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1562267782?accountid=26226.
The World Bank/China. (2017). China Economic Update - December 2017: Growth Resilience and Reform Momentum. World Bank. The World Bank Group. . doi: 10.1596/29059
Thomsen, Stephen. (1999). Southeast Asia: The Role of Foreign Direct Investment Policies in Development. OECD Working Papers on International Investment 1999/01. France, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. doi: 10.1787/431857742281
Tökölyová, Tatiana. (1999). Transnationalism in the Pacific Region as a Concept of State Identity. Journal of Nationalism, 11(1). doi: 10.1515/jnmlp-2017-0001
Torll, Takashi. (2003). The Mechanism for State-Lead Creation of Malaysia’s Middle classes: The Developing Economies.
Wang, Zhi & Wei, Shang-Jin. (2009). Value Chains in East Asian Production Networks— An International Input-Output Model Based Analysis. Washington DC, U.S. International Trade Commission. Retrieved from https://usitc.gov/publications/332/EC200910C.pdf
Weber, Max. (2016). The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism. eBooks.com. Retrieved from https://www.ebooks.com/en-ua/95652307/the-protestant-ethic-and-the-spirit-of-capitalism/weber-max.
Wessel, Margit Van. (2004). Talking About Consumption (How an Indian Middle Class Dissociates from Middle-Class Life). Cultural Dynamics, 16(1). Doi:10.1177/0921374004042752
Willige, Andrea. (2017). 5 charts that show what is happening to the middle class around the world. World Economic Forum. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/5-charts-which-show-what-is-happening-to-the-middle-class-around-the-world.
Wong, Peter. (2017). Made in Asia for Asia: How the rise of its middle class is remaking the world economy. South China Morning Post. Retrieved from https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2087687/made-asia-asia-how-rise-its-middle-class-remaking-world.
United Nations. (2019). Special Economic Zones. World Investment Report 2019. New York, United Nations. Retrieved from https://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/wir2019_en.pdf.
Woodward, Ian. (2003). Divergent Narratives In The Imagining Of The home Amongst Middle Class Consumers (Aesthetics, Comfort And Symbolic Boundaries Of The Self And Home). Journal Of Sociology, 39(4). SAGE Journals. doi:10.1177/0004869003394005
Yusof, Ayisy. (2018). Malaysia's 2020 economic growth to be a tale of two halves: Analysts. New Strait Times. Retrieved from https://www.nst.com.my/business/2020/03/570879/malaysias-2020-economic-growth-be-tale-two-halves-analystDOI: https://doi.org/10.22146/ikat.v4i1.54726
Article Metrics
Abstract views : 2693 | views : 2288Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2020 sajjad kaveh, Hadi Noori, Arya Shafeghat Roodsari, Shukoofeh Goodarzinezhad
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.