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91. Socio-Economic Effects of Chinese Agricultural Investments on the Environment and Local Livelihoods in Uganda

Author:
Ramathan Ggoobi and Julian Barungi
Publication Date:
01-2016
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE)
Abstract:
7he nature and signifcance of &hinaȺs engagePents with $frican agriculture continues to be hotly debated in the media, academia and policy circles around the world. Although China has been engaged in Uganda’s agriculture for more than 40 years, the recent jostle for agricultural land by private Chinese investors is Pystifying and Mustifes the need to conduct a scientifc study to provide clear evidence before the issue gets bundled into the messy anecdotal media inquiry. 7he priPary oEMective of this study was to profle &hinese investPents in Uganda’s agriculture sector and establish their socio-economic effects on the environment and local livelihoods. The analysis was done on the basis of the 6ustainaEle 5ural /ivelihood $pproach 6858/$ which uses fve key criteria for the analysis of sustainable livelihoods i.e. gainful employment; poverty reduction; well-being and capabilities; livelihood adaptation, vulnerability and resilience; and natural resource base sustainability.
Topic:
Agriculture, Development, Environment, Investment, and Sustainability
Political Geography:
Uganda, Africa, China, and Asia

92. Functional Distribution of Income and Economic Growth in the Chinese Economy, 1978-2007

Author:
Ricardo Molero Simarro
Publication Date:
02-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
School of Oriental and African Studies - University of London
Abstract:
This paper seeks to analyse the relationship between functional distribution of income, aggregate demand and growth in Chinese reform economy. For this purpose the Bhaduri-Marglin Model is used, stating the theoretical possibility of both profit-led and wage- led growth regimes. Subsequently, the principal literature on the evolution of factor‟s shares in China is reviewed. The statistical series for the period 1978-2007 are reconstructed in order to carry out our analysis of the relations between capital‟s share and investment, on one hand; and labour‟s share and consumption, on the other. Supported by the Model‟s preliminary estimations, it is argued that Chinese growth has been largely profit-driven. Finally, the implications are presented vis-a-vis concerning Chinese economic prospects.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Reform, and Investment
Political Geography:
China and Asia

93. Continental Drift: China and the Global Economic Crisis

Author:
Sangaralingam Ramesh
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
School of Oriental and African Studies - University of London
Abstract:
The economic prosperity associated with the Coastal regions of China has not ‘trickled’ down to the Western and Central regions sufficiently enough to eliminate the disparities in income between the regions. Indeed, the disparities between China’s Coastal regions and its other regions continue to deepen. In the Mao period, central planners held the mistaken belief that investment in the railways and development of heavy industry in the interior parts of China would bring prosperity. In the reform period and beyond, the focus of economic development in China has been to take advantage of China’s low labour costs. In the earlier part of the reform era the focus of economic reforms centred on the development of Special Economic Zones (SEZ’s) .In the second phase of reform policies were centred on the High Technology Development Zones [NHTIDZ’s].A characteristic feature of both SEZ’s and NHTIDZ’s is that they represent a concentration of infrastructure within a predefined spatial area. The current global economic crisis has presented China with a unique opportunity to deepen the economic transformation of the coastal regions by shifting the focus of economic development to its interior regions. Indeed, the government’s efforts to stave off the effects of the global crisis on the Chinese economy by attempting to maintain economic growth above 8% by utilising an expansive fiscal stimulus has had the effect of initiating the transformation of the interior Chinese economy. This then represents China’s third stage of economic development since 1949. This paper will examine the factors leading to China’s third stage of economic development which has resulted from the global economic crisis – the Continental drift of the economic development of China.
Topic:
Infrastructure, Global Financial Crisis, Investment, Stimulus, and Prosperity
Political Geography:
China and Asia

94. China’s Stock Market: A Marriage of Capitalism and Socialism

Author:
Sonia M. L. Wong
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Cato Journal
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
The rise of China’s stock market during the 1990s was nothing short of breathtaking. For more than 30 years after 1949, China was a centrally planned economy in which virtually all enterprises were state owned or collectively owned. Investments were centrally planned and funded by government fiscal grants as well as by loans from the state-owned monobank system as dictated by the government’s central credit plan. In the late 1980s, as part of enterprise reforms that took place during China’s gradual transition to a market economy, local governments in China started experimenting with selling shares of collectively owned enterprises directly to domestic individuals in order to raise equity capital. Curbed trading of enterprise shares soon began and was quickly followed by over-the-counter (OTC) trading in more organized but still informal exchanges. In 1991, two stock exchanges, one created by the Shanghai municipal government and the other by the Shenzhen municipal government, were launched, with the central government’s formal approval. Between 1992 and 2003, the market raised a total of 796.79 billion yuan of equity capital. At the end of 2003, China’s stock market had 1,287 listed enterprises and more than 70 million investor accounts (CSRC 2004).
Topic:
Economy, Investment, Socialism, State Capitalism, and Stock Markets
Political Geography:
China and Asia

95. Does China Save and Invest Too Much?

Author:
John H. Makin
Publication Date:
07-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
China’s current saving and investment levels are extraordinary— both in terms of its own history, but also by comparison with the current and historical experience of high-saving countries like Japan. The International Monetary Fund’s 2005 World Economic Outlook places China’s gross saving at 50 percent of GDP with gross capital formation, not far behind, at 45 percent of GDP (IMF 2005: 96–97). High levels of saving and investment are usually seen as a good thing. For a developing economy, such as China, a high level of domestic saving and investment means that residents are forgoing current consumption in order to add to the capital stock, thereby increasing growth and labor productivity. For a developed economy like the United States, while absolute levels of saving and investment may not match those in developing economies, a high level of saving and investment would mean that residents are financing most of the increase in the capital stock and are thereby positioning themselves to benefit from future returns earned by the enlarged capital stock. The reality for the United States over the past half-decade—a sharp rise in imports of foreign savings—means that returns from growth in the capital stock are increasingly earmarked for payment to foreign investors. Despite the satisfaction with which most commentators view its high levels of saving and investment, particularly since 2002, China has displayed increasing signs of overinvestment. As used here, the term overinvestment refers to a capital stock either too large or too poorly allocated to generate positive returns at the margin. Misallocated capital and excess capacity in the domestic sector implies a rapid increase in nonperforming loans, which are largely held by China’s state banks. Excess capacity in the tradable goods sector implies a tendency to undervalue the exchange rate in order to maintain the growth of demand for exportables.
Topic:
Economy, Economic Growth, Investment, Currency, and Savings
Political Geography:
China and Asia