International and Area Studies Commons^™

Do Rural Land Markets Increase Inequality? Evidence From A Chinese Province, Qian Forrest Zhang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Using a 2001 provincial survey, we find that disparities in land-rights distribution have greatly increased in rural China, and the growth of land markets is directly responsible for that. The land markets tend to concentrate land in those who can more efficiently use it. This translates disparities in land-rights distribution to magnified inequality in farm income. However, such widening disparities caused by land markets have compensatory effects on overall rural inequality, as land markets tend to bring up families who would fall at the bottom of income distribution in the absence of such markets. Expansion of markets, in this case, …

Facing China: Taiwan’S Status As A Separate Customs Territory In The World Trade Organization, Pasha L. Hsieh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

On Nov 11, 2001, in Doha, Qatar, the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) unanimously approved Taiwan's application for WTO membership, just 24 hours after approving China's admission. Taiwan's choice as the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, abbreviated as Chinese Taipei, in the WTO, instead of its official name, Republic of China (PRC), shows its reluctant compromise with political reality. The PRC's claim that accession procedures applying to Taiwan and Hong Kong should be identical erroneous because, under international trade law, the ROC is the automatic government acting on behalf of Taiwan and …

Restitution, Tiong Min Yeo

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Little of significance was decided on the law of restitution in 2004. There was nevertheless a smattering of cases dealing with points relevant to the principles of the law of restitution, sometimes directly, and sometimes indirectly.

Defining (Multiple) Selves: Stories From The Field, Chang Yau Hoon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The ‘Self’ in late-modernity is never singular but multiplies across different discourses, practices and positions. It is constructed through difference. It is only through a relation to the ‘Other’ that the ‘Self’ can be defined. This paper endeavours to map the endless negotiations of my ‘Self’ as male Australian academic of Chinese descent, a Malaysian citizen, a Bruneian resident, and an Indonesian specialist, over a period of fieldwork in Jakarta in 2004. It discusses how I defined my multiple ‘Selves’ to different individuals and communities, how they in turn defined me, and how these constructions were always shifting. Depending on …

Religious Processions: Urban Politics And Poetics, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this paper, I will explore the ways in which processions, by their very visibility, foreground the relationships between the secular and the sacred, while contributing to a construction of identity and community, and simultaneously surfacing fractures therein. Using the example of multireligious yet secular Singapore, I will examine (a) the state's management of religious processions, including the regulation of time and space for such events, as well as regulations over noise production; (b) the tactics of adaptation, negotiation and resistance that participants engage in at an everyday level in response to the state's ideologies, policies, laws and strategies; (c) …

Introduction: Regional And Subregional Cooperation And Integration In East Asia, Mya Than

Asian Review

No abstract provided.

The Future Of East Asian Regionalism: Forging A Common Vision, Richard W. X. Hu

Asian Review

No abstract provided.

Energy Competition And Cooperation In The Bimstec Region: Potential And Prospects For Myanmar, Myat Thein, Myoe Myint

Asian Review

This paper explores the prospects for Myanmar to contribute towards energy cooperation in the region while at the same time promoting sustainable development at home. Myanmar has large unused reserves of renewables, especially hydropower and biomass. Natural gas contributes to export earnings, but oil imports are growing. India and China have large appetites for energy. Myanmar, along with Bhutan, Nepal, and Bangladesh, have unused potential which could contribute to export earnings and growth through export to these large neighbors. However the development of these reserves requires regional cooperation, especially for investment in distribution grids. Currently Myanmar's energy policy is unfocused. …

Notes For Contributors

Asian Review

No abstract provided.

Chechnya, Kelley Laird

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The root of animosity between Russians and Chechens extends for more than a century, beginning when Chechens opposed Russia’s conquest of the Caucasus between 1818 and 1917. Tension reached an apex in the 1940s when Stalin deported thousands of Chechens to Siberia and East Asia in fear that they would collaborate with German Nazis.

Strategic Management For Economic Development: Remaking The Singapore 'Model', Caroline Yeoh, Wilfred Pow Ngee How

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The dynamics of international economic competition have far-reaching policy implications for both developing and developed countries. Established industrial and trade policy regimes in most countries are under tremendous strain, and this applies even to the dynamic Newly Industrialising Economies (NIEs). The outward-oriented development strategies of the Asian NIEs, which once seemed unbeatable, have run up against protectionist barriers in the developed countries, and increasingly, against competitive pressures from other up and coming developing countries. Governments in these NIEs have had to re-examine accustomed policies and strategies, and search for alternative strategies and programs, in order to re-position their economies for …

Ownership Structure, Investment Behaviour And Firm Performance In Japanese Manufacturing Industries, Eric Gedajlovic, Toru Yoshikawa, Motomi Hashimoto

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Using data spanning the 1996-98 fiscal years of 247 of Japan's largest manufacturers, we empirically evaluate the extent to which a firm's investment behaviour and financial performance are influenced by its ownership structure. To do so, we examine six distinct categories of Japanese shareholders: foreign investors, investment funds, pension funds, banks and insurance companies, affiliated companies and insiders. Our findings strongly indicate that the relationship between the equity stakes of a particular category of investor and a firm' s financial performance and investment behaviour is considerably more complex than is depicted in simple principal-agent representations. Such a result emphasizes the …

Critical Thinking Straight From The Heart, Seow Hon Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The state of the hearts of our young people, specifically whether they have the moral courage to stand up for what they believe in, is in the spotlight again with this newspaper's upcoming Youthink pages intended to showcase their views. The Youthink pages might go some way to show if the concern with our youth is well-founded. An interesting issue is raised: What exactly is critical thinking?

A Hundred Flowers Bloom: The Reemergence Of The Chinese Press In Post-Suharto Indonesia, Chang Yau Hoon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Contract Law, Chee Ho Tham, Pearlie Koh, Pey Woan Lee

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The rudimentary principle that a contract is only concluded upon the unconditional acceptance of an offer was applied in Koon Seng Construction Pte Ltd v Siem Seng Hing & Co (Pte) Ltd [2005] SGHC 8, where the alleged contract failed in the absence of an unqualified acceptance.

The Contractual Basis Of The Enforcement Of Exclusive And Non-Exclusive Choice Of Court Agreements, Tiong Min Yeo

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article argues that, although choice of court agreements can be viewed from a procedural or contractual perspective, the predominant approach in Singapore and English law in respect of the exclusive jurisdiction agreement has been to give primacy to the rationale of the enforcement of a contractual bargain, tempered by a judicial discretion in its enforcement within the procedural jurisdictional context. It is also argued that the only difference between exclusive and non-exclusive jurisdiction agreements lies in the content and scope of the agreement between the parties, so the same contractual approach (as tempered by procedural considerations) should be applied …

Statute And Public Policy In Private International Law: Gambling Contracts And Foreign Judgments, Tiong Min Yeo

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This note argues that because there is a legal distinction between the public policy defence to the enforcement of foreign judgments under the common law and the corresponding defence in the Reciprocal Enforcement of Commonwealth Judgments Act, the prohibition against the enforcement of foreign wagering transactions under Singapore law is no longer founded on public policy.

Western Corporate Forms And The Social Origin Of Chinese Diaspora Entrepreneurial Networks, Wai Keung Chung

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Politico-Economic Factors Associated With Interest In Starting A Business: A Multi-Country Study, Thomas Begley, Wee Liang Tan, Herbert Schoch

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Public health is a legal term of art referring specifically to delineated powers, duties, rights, and responsibilities. An emerging human rights conception of public health justifies government intervention. Intervention involves public officials taking appropriate measures including environmental regulations pursuant to specific legal authority, after balancing private rights and public interests, to protect the health of the public. This article is a critical analysis of the performance of the actors in maintaining environmental standards in India. Part II is a discussion on the source of environmental law in India. Part III discusses the performance of the legislature. Part IV evaluates the …

Regionalisation And Singapore's Transborder Industrialisation: A New Perspective On Suzhou Industrial Park, Xun Cai, Lu Gao, Caroline Yeoh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The dynamics of international economic competition have prompted governments to re-examine accustomed policies, and search for alternative strategies, in order to re-position their economies for the future. This paper takes a look at Singapore’s search for a competitive positioning in the global marketplace, and focuses on the city-state’s much-publicized, and controversial, flagship project in China, viz, the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP). This strategic initiative is premised on the perceptions that Singapore’s positive reputation with multinational corporations, and ‘guanxi’ (or connections) with regional governments, will give the regional sites a strategic advantage in the competition for foreign investments. Earlier studies have …

Bank Lending And Real Estate In Asia: Market Optimism And Asset Bubbles, Winston T. H. Koh, Roberto S. Mariano, Andrey Pavlov, Sock-Yong Phang, Augustine H. H. Tan, Susan M. Wachter

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper investigates the Asian real estate price run-up and collapse in the 1990s. We identify financial intermediaries’ underpricing of the put option imbedded in non-recourse mortgage loans as a potential cause for the observed price behavior. This underpricing is due to behavioral causes (lender optimism and disaster myopia) and/or rational response of lenders to market incentives (agency conflicts, deposit insurance, or limited liability of bank shareholders). The empirical evidence suggests that underpricing occurred in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Consequently, these countries experienced a more severe market crash than Hong Kong and Singapore, where underpricing was kept under control by …

Future Job Prospects In Singapore, Hian Teck Hoon

Research Collection School Of Economics

No abstract provided.

Future Job Prospects In Singapore, Hian Teck Hoon

Research Collection School Of Economics

What forces have shaped our nation’s employment and remuneration record so far? Where is Singapore’s unemployment rate headed? What should policy-makers do about it? These are the questions tackled in this paper.

The Creation And Economic Regulation Of Housing Markets: A Comparison Of The Experiences Of Singapore And Korea, Sock-Yong Phang

Research Collection School Of Economics

Privatization, creation of markets and economic regulation are terms that few would immediately associate with the housing sector. Mainstream housing markets in most of the free market economies of the developed world are regarded as competitive markets, with little need for economic regulation of the market. Regulations that attempt to control behavior directly are generally limited to policies relating to rent control, the provision of rental housing or rental allowances for lower income groups, as well as land use regulations and building controls.

The housing sectors of Singapore and Korea are highly unusual in the extent of government involvement and …

Review Of Roger Ames And David Hall, Daodejing: Making This Life Significant: A Philosophical Translation, Alan Kam Leung Chan

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Is there a need for another translation of the Laozi Daodejing? Although there are already over 100 translations in English alone, this present effort by Ames and Hall marks a welcome addition, in that it offers an engaging philosophical account of the Daodejing as chiefly concerned with “making this life significant.”

Effects Of Electronic Trading On The Hang Seng Index Futures Market, Joseph K. W. Fung, Donald Lien, Yiuman Tse, Yiu Kuen Tse

Research Collection School Of Economics

This investigation of the switch from open-outcry trading to electronic trading on the Hang Seng Index (HSI) futures contract reveals that the bid–ask spread narrows and the futures price plays more of a role in information transmission. Factors, such as anonymity in trading and fast order execution in electronic trading, attract informed traders to the futures market, enhancing the information flow. Our results provide support for the worldwide trend of transforming open-outcry markets into electronic trading platforms

Stereotypes And Prejudice: Intergroup Contact Between Americans And Japanese, Masami Ota

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The goals of this research were twofold. First, this research investigated the current stereotype content between American and Japanese people. Second, the relationship among orientation (individualism or collectivisim), intergroup friendly contact, and stereotype and prejudice variability was assessed. Results showed that both Americans and Japanese have positive stereotypes of each other, with Americans selecting the trait "intelligent" as the most common descriptor of Japanese people, and Japanese selecting the trait "pleasure-loving" the most common descriptor of Americans. Although orientation was not related to the frequency of intergroup contact, friendly intergroup contact was positively related to steretype variability and negatively related …

Folie Et Écriture Dans Calomnies De Linda Lê, Ching Selao

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

This article proposes to explore the many faces of madness through a reading of Linda Lê’s Calomnies, in which two narrative voices are presented. The following shall demonstrate how this novel reproduces a “romantic” perception of madness as encountered in Michel Foucault’s work. Although this narrative text introduces a mad narrator speaking in the “I” persona, it nonetheless points out the difficulties of letting madness speak for itself. These difficulties are also examined in this study.

Economic Transition And New Patterns Of Parent-Adult Child Coresidence In Urban China, Qian Forrest Zhang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This study uses national data from the 1996 Life History and Social change in Contemporary China survey (N = 3,087) to gauge the effect of the economic transition on parent-adult child coresidence in urban China. Previous studies find that, thanks to state actions, traditional patterns in coresidence persisted in post-Mao urban China. This study still finds high levels of coresidence. China's aging population, coupled with an underdeveloped social security system, means that the traditional role of family will remain strong. It also uncovers three new patterns, however, best explained as caused by changes in the economic realm. First, the coresidence …

Remembering The Future: Utopia, Empire And Harmony In 21st Century International Theory, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Using a comparative approach to international relations theory, this article examines how ancient ideas are being recycled to describe world order in the 21st century. In particular, it provides a thick description of three models of utopia in global politics - Great Harmony and Harmony-with-difference from China, and Empire from Hardt and Negri. Using an unexplored set of Chinese-language texts, the article first excavates how Communist Party intellectuals in China have been writing about the ancient Confucian ideal of Great Harmony as a way of promoting the Peoples Republic of Chinas role as a Great Power in the 21st century. …