Information Technology and Australia’s Productivity Surge

This paper finds that the rapid update of information and communication technologies contributed to Australia’s strong productivity performance in the 1990s and the contribution to labour productivity growth was at least as strong as it was in the US. Australia generated a productivity improvement of 1.1 per cent from information and communication technology use and other factors.information technology - communications - productivity - IT - ICT - capital - computer - growth accounting

Macroceconomic Impact of Direct Foreign Investment in China 1979-93

Direct foreign investment (DFI) has played an important role in the economic development of China in the past 15 years. It contributed to the Chinese domestic capital formulation and industrial growth, and promoted export expansion and employment creation. This paper provides an empirical investigation of the impact DFI on these macroeconomic variables of China. The regression analysis using pooled time-series and cross-section data shows that DFI positively affected the domestic capital formation and economic growth in the coastal region of China. In addition, DFI added a dynamic force to the industrial growth and exports of China. At the same time it created new employment. The Chinese experience in using DFI would be of valuable implications for other developing countries

Foreign Direct Investment and Regional Export Performance in China

This paper investigates the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the export performance of China at the provincial level. First, it presents a theoretical discussion of the impact of FDI on foreign trade, and then an empirical study of the impact of FDI on the export performance of regions in Chin. It has been found that the impact of FDI on exports differs across three macro-regions in China. The effect is stronger in the coastal region than in the inland regions. Although FDI shows a positive and significant impact on exports from the central region, its impact on the western region is found to be insignificant. Copyright 2001 BlackwellPublishers

Entry Modes of Multinational Corporations into China's Market: A Socioeconomic Analysis

The rapid economic growth of China makes it a fast expanding market in the world, which attracts increasing number of multinational corporations (MNCs) to invest. How to enter this huge and newly liberalised market and what entry mode should be taken, are key questions which need to be answered before any investment takes place. This paper is a study of the entry modes of MNCs in the particular Chinese institutional and business environments within the transaction cost analytical framework. It provides not only theoretical discussion but also an empirical investigation ofMNCs entry modes in China. The main findings of this study are: (1) the entry modes vary according to investors' sociocultural backgrounds, the technology intensity of projects and locations. The multiple regression results indicate that cultural proximity, technology content and liberalised economic environment positively affect foreign equity share in foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs). (2) For investors with sociocultural distance from China, a joint venture is the most suitable mode to enter into Chinese market. This is particularly true for investments using standardised technologies, and for investments based on natural resources or oriented the domestic market