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Previous studies of East Asian welfare regimes focus on similarities between social security schemes. In contrast, this paper explores cross-national variations in public–private pension mixes in six welfare states: China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. Our research echoes the pension policy analysis of international organisations but takes a step forward with emphasis on the historical and institutional characteristics of the respective pension systems. The analysis identifies three institutional patterns. First, the statist pension system (Taiwan and China) primarily relies on public pensions to provide old-age security, with private pensions playing a rather minor role. Second, in the dualist pension system (Japan and Korea) both public and private pensions work in parallel to ensure retirement income, though a clear security gap exists between workers in the formal and informal economies. Finally, the individualist pension system (Hong Kong and Singapore) is characterised by genuine fully funded individual accounts, emphasising citizens' own responsibilities for ensuring old-age security. These three types of pension systems demonstrate distinct institutional characteristics and policy outcomes, illustrated by the juxtaposition of their institutional structures as well as by the comparison of key indicators collected from government reports and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development statistics. The paper concludes with a theoretical reflection of East Asian pension policies and a diagnosis of the distinct challenges confronted by each of the various pension patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critically reviews the national innovation systems of the four little tigers in East Asia, namely Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea, in fostering R&D and technological research. A national innovation system is characterised by the interactions between the state, industries and universities in promoting innovation. This article attempts to explore such interactions in the four societies, paying particular attention to the role of higher education. Specifically, university–industry collaboration is the main body of analysis. Drawing from comparative perspectives, this article finally maps out the national innovation systems of East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the impact of profitability, stock price performance and growth opportunity on the capital structure of firms in Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. In contrast to Kayhan and Titman (2007), it is found that firms in these three Chinese-dominated economies strongly prefer debt to equity or internal fund financing. They also take advantage of stock price appreciation by issuing more shares. An adjustment model for debt ratios is estimated. The results suggest that the leverage ratios of these firms slowly adjust toward their target levels. Deviations from the target due to the pecking order and market timing effects are found to be significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to develop an integrated policy index system using a Surface Measure of Overall Performance ( SMOP) approach to comprehensively evaluate and compare the policy input and social output of the retirement payment system in urban and rural China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. With this, a tool may be developed to help insightfully examine the old-age income policies and appropriately, and perhaps theoretically in the future, categorize the types of retirement provisions or social security policies as a whole in the East and West. The results indicate that, particularly in urban China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, a low level of de-familization and medium and high levels of gender equality are the common features of these five pensions in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. Furthermore, it is found that the retirement provisions in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan can well be divided into two groups based on the level of pension right protection and illustrate different characteristics between them accordingly. In addition, policy implications and suggestions for further reforms of these retirement payment schemes are elaborated in the light of the findings of this policy index system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines generalized trust and trust in institutions in Confucian Asia, covering six countries namely, China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam, and one dependent region, Hong Kong. Using data from the 2006 AsiaBarometer Survey, our study affirms the reliability and validity of using a two-item scale to measure generalized trust. Our analysis suggests that due to demographic differences, there are variations in the level of generalized trust of countries in Confucian Asia, despite the fact that these societies share a similar background in Confucian philosophy. The relationships between generalized trust and political trust, and between generalized trust and trust in public institutions, are weak but positive. The positive relationship between generalized trust and trust in economic institutions is only significant for some of the economies, while trust in international institutions has the weakest relationship with generalized trust for all societies. We conclude the paper with research implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper used public data of the last ten years from the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics to analyze vessel tonnage structures of FCFs in detail. The recursive residual GM(1,1) model of Grey theory was used to compare the growth trends of vessel tonnage structures of FCFs with the rest of the world. The results show vessel tonnage structures of China and Taiwan are consistent with the world trend in which national flag vessels are reduced, while foreign flag vessels are increasing, In the next three years, vessel tonnages of China and Singapore are expected to increase rapidly, whereas much slower growth is expected in Taiwan: on the other hand, a slight decrease is forecasted for Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the mandated reporting of key performance indicators by public agencies to public accountability authorities in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The author suggests that the existence of these indicators in public agencies' annual reports and budget papers does not necessarily lead to their effective use for decision making. The actual utilization of these indicators for making decisions should be described as careful and cautious. They are still affective because they give symbolic benefits to the government.

This paper examines the time-series behaviour of house prices for the four Asian markets, namely, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Taipei, by using structural time-series methodology. The paper assumes two types of trend models to characterise and compare the long-run movement of house prices. It also examines the cyclical pattern hidden in the series. The long-run trend rate in these markets ranged between approximately 1.6 and 3.2 per cent per annum. Hong Kong, Singapore and Taipei have relatively higher figures, which could be expected in light of the rapidly growing economies. Surprisingly, their cyclical patterns were fairly similar, although causes of the cycles differed. The markets were found to have stochastic cycles of around one year, two to four years and seven to ten years, which were consistent with previous findings on real business cycles commonly observed internationally in other macroeconomic time series. However, the found stochastic nature suggests all these markets are not in a steady state and is still changing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biotechnology, the surging wave of economic development in the world, prompted Newly Industrialised Economies (NIEs) in Asia to emulate developed countries in biotechnology development. The stakes are however high and the uncertainty about return on investment has provoked a careful assessment of national scientific and technological strengths. With a focus on Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan, this paper reviews the current market conditions and key factors that may advantage the development of biotechnology industry in the NIEs. It is argued that co-evolution of scientific and technology capabilities are essential, and the NIEs will have to leverage their comparative advantages in technological capabilities and should focus on core competencies in the already locally established biotechnology areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This opening article has three main objectives. First, it seeks to present a general description of the three island states covered by the essays in the volume. Second, it attempts to set the general theoretical framework within which notions of identity may be discussed based on the peculiar geopolitical and social characteristics of islands and as a sociolinguistic enterprise. Third, but not least in significance, it presents a brief but critical summary of each of the essays in the volume. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The role of smoking in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) remains uncertain, especially in endemic regions. We conducted an individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies to investigate the associations between smoking exposure and risk of NPC.Methods: We obtained individual participant data of 334 935 male participants from six eligible population-based cohorts in NPC-endemic regions, including two each in Guangzhou and Taiwan, and one each in Hong Kong and Singapore. We used one- and two-stage approaches IPD meta-analysis and Cox proportional hazard models to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of NPC for smoking exposure adjusting for age and drinking status.Results: During 2 961 315 person-years of follow-up, 399 NPC evens were ascertained. Risks of NPC were higher in ever versus never smokers (HRone-stage = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.07-1.63, P = 0.0088; HRtwo-stage = 1.27, 1.01-1.60, 0.04). These positive associations appeared to be stronger in ever smokers who consumed 16+ cigarettes/day (HRone-stage = 1.67, 95% CI = 1.29-2.16, P = 0.0001), and in those who started smoking at age younger than 16 (2.16, 1.33-3.50, 0.0103), with dose-response relationships (P-values for trend = 0.0028 and 0.0103, respectively). Quitting (versus daily smoking) showed a small reduced risk (stopped for 5+ years: HRone-stage = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.60-1.39, P = 0.66; for former smokers: HRtwo-stage = 0.84, 0.61-1.14, 0.26).Conclusions: This first IPD meta-analysis from six prospective cohorts in endemic regions has provided robust observational evidence that smoking increased NPC risk in men. NPC should be added to the 12-16 cancer sites known to be tobacco-related cancers. Strong tobacco control policies, preventing young individuals from smoking, would reduce NPC risk in endemic regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Very low fertility rates can be found in many high-income Pacific Asian societies, such as Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan. Governments in these territories have already taken pronatalist policies but with only modest effects, especially when measured by overall total fertility rate. Mistargeting has been cited as a potential explanation for this impact. To explore this notion in greater depth, we first identify the potential target groups that are most influential in changing the TFR for the five societies, based on a stochastic model and fertility elasticity analyses. Then we examine the targeting of current pronatalist policies, especially financial incentives and marriage policies. The analyses show that marriage rates, especially among women aged 25–29 are the most influential factor in shaping contemporary TFRs. Third and higher order births are insignificant in changing the fertility trajectories for all the five places. Besides, there are also territory-specific patterns. For Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, first births (especially among women aged 30–34) are the second most influential factor; for South Korea, second births (especially among women aged 30–34) actually play a very important role, next only to marriage; for Japan, first- and second births are much less influential while marriage is an overwhelmingly essential factor of fertility. Furthermore, the review of financial incentives in these places reveals the mismatch between the targeting suggested by our analysis and the targeting implied by current policy measures. The mistargeting, piecemeal measures and the low level of financial support may be partly responsible for the ineffectiveness of the governmental action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The equivalent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) by Mahayana Buddhists with vegetarian diets is quantitatively evaluated. The Buddhists in seven Mahayana-dominated countries or regions, i.e., China, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, are studied. Assessments of the vegetarian population among these Mahayana-dominated countries or regions are performed. Correlation formulas based on data from a national survey are developed to quantify the GHGEs of various dietary groups by using the meat consumption as the only required input. To demonstrate its reliability, the prediction from the formulas developed is first compared with the results of a food production-and-consumption study using a different approach. Then, the formulas are used to assess the GHGE reduction due to Mahayana Buddhists with vegetarian diets. The assessment indicates that Mahayana Buddhists with vegetarian diets account for the equivalent GHGE reduction of 48.83 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, which is a huge amount and is equal to 11.3 or 8.9% of the GHGEs from France or the UK in 2012, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: High‐quality research is the foundation of occupational therapy and physical therapy/physiotherapy. A bibliometric study on the research productivity of occupational therapy and physical therapy/physiotherapy scholars in different Western and Asian countries/regions could provide a snapshot of current research achievement in rehabilitation science. Method: On the basis of an understanding of the leading role of rehabilitation research in Western countries and a recognition of achievements made by Asian occupational therapy and physical therapy/physiotherapy scholars, the current bibliometric study examined the research productivity of occupational therapy and physical therapy/physiotherapy professors and associate professors from four Western countries (Australia, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom) and five Asian countries/regions (Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea). The h‐indices of these scholars were retrieved online and aggregated to quantify the research productivity of institutions and countries/regions. Results: Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and the United States were identified as countries/regions with higher research productivity in occupational therapy and physical therapy/physiotherapy. The institutions were ranked on the basis of the median h‐indices of their professors and associate professors; the top 20 productive institutions with occupational therapy programmes had a median h‐index of 17.5 or higher, whereas the benchmark of the top 20 institutions with physical therapy/physiotherapy programmes was 25. Conclusion: Professors and associate professors in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and the United States are productive in occupational therapy and physical therapy/physiotherapy research. The number of faculty members and university connections are regarded as important for research achievement. Recommendations for various levels of collaboration are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the development of koro’s epistemic status as a paradigm for understanding culture-specific disorders in modern psychiatry. Koro entered the DSM-IV as a culture-bound syndrome in 1994, and it refers to a person’s overpowering belief that his (or her) genitalia is retracting and even disappearing. I focus in particular on mental health professionals’ competing views of koro in the 1960s—as an object of psychoanalysis, a Chinese disease, and a condition predisposed by culture. At that critical juncture, transcultural psychiatrists based outside of continental China—namely, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore—appropriated ideas from traditional Chinese culture to consolidate the clinical diagnosis of koro as culture-bound. This new global meaning of koro was made possible by a cohort of medical experts who encountered the phenomenon and its sufferers in Sinophone (Chinese-speaking) communities, but placed their contributions within the broader contours of the global reach of Anglophone psychiatric science. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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We apply recursive VAR/VECM as well as panel data models to examine whether oil price shocks have any significant impacts upon the Asian small open economies. We found no significant impacts on Real Gross Domestic Product (RGDP), regardless of model specifications. However, we detected positive significant effects on unemployment after three time lags and significant contemporaneous effects on CPI in panel regressions contrary to previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Childbearing behavior in East Asian countries has changed rapidly during the past half century from an average of five to seven children per family, to replacement-level fertility, and subsequently to unprecedentedly low levels, the lowest in the world. This article analyzes fertility trends in Hong Kong, Japan, singapore, south Korea, and Taiwan using cohort fertility data and methods, then examines social and economic causes of the childbearing trends, and surveys policies pursued to reverse the fertility trends. Postponement of childbearing started in the 1970s with continuously fewer delayed births being 'recuperated,' which resulted in ultra-low fertility. A rapid expansion of education and employment among women in a patriarchal environment has generated a stark dilemma for women who would like to combine childbearing with a career. Policy responses have been slow, with a more serious attempt to address issues in recent years. Thus far public and private institutions are not devoting sufficient attention to generating broad social change supportive of parenting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As in Western populations, the prevalence of obesity has been increasing rapidly in Chinese populations in recent years, but if the same criteria to define obesity are used, it is still much less common in Chinese than in Caucasians. For BMI greater or equal to 30kg/m2, recent estimates suggest the prevalence ranges from 3 to 6% in different adult Chinese populations compared with figures of approximately 33% in the USA. However, it is generally accepted that the Chinese and other Asian populations have a greater amount of body fat than Caucasians at the same level of BMI or waist circumference, and that the prevalence of metabolic risk factors for cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular events start to increase at lower values of the obesity indices in Asians compared with Western people. Therefore, lower cut-off criteria have been proposed to define obesity in Chinese populations and if the cut-off value for BMI greater than or equal to 25kg/m2 is adopted, the overall prevalence of obesity in Chinese adults is approximately 21.8% in mainland China, 21.0% in Hong Kong, 25.1% in Taiwan and 27.8% in Singapore. In China, obesity is more common in the North than the South and, as in most other countries, it is more common in urban rather than rural communities. This rapid increase in obesity along with diabetes and the associated risk factors is likely to fuel a major increase in cardiovascular disease in Chinese populations in the very near future with major public health and economic consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the influence of economic and political factors that contribute to the convergence and/or divergence in value priorities of five East Asian societies—China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. We find that political and social-economic factors influence the values orientations of managers within this region. However, economic development level is an insufficient explanation for values convergence without consideration of the societal context and cultural traditions in which that development occurred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adopting homothetic variable returns to scale functional specifications, this study identifies the returns to scale in the aggregate production functions of four East Asian newly industrialized economies–Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan–and the Group of Five economies based on a maximum likelihood estimation. The study finds evidence of increasing returns in the early developmental stage of the East Asian economies. Separating out the scale contribution from the non-scale factor contributions, the decomposition of the sources of East Asian economic growth differs significantly from the conventional constant returns to scale results, indicating that the role of technical progress is overestimated when constant returns to scale is assumed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an outbreak of a completely new infectious disease like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), estimation of the fatality rate over the course of the epidemic is of clinical and epidemiological importance. In contrast with the constant case fatality rate, a new measure, termed the‘realtime’ fatality rate, is proposed for monitoring the new emerging epidemic at a population level. A competing risk model implemented via a counting process is used to estimate the realtime fatality rate in an epidemic of SARS. It can capture and reflect the time-varying nature of the fatality rate over the course of the outbreak in a timely and accurate manner. More importantly, it can provide information on the efficacy of a certain treatment and management policy for the disease. The method has been applied to the SARS data from the regions affected, namely Hong Kong, Singapore, Toronto, Taiwan and Beijing. The magnitudes and patterns of the estimated fatalities are virtually the same except in Beijing, which has a lower rate. It is speculated that the effect is linked to the different treatment protocols that were used. The standard estimate of the case fatality rate that was used by the World Health Organization has been shown to be unable to provide useful information to monitor the time-varying fatalities that are caused by the epidemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Asian countries that have experienced economic growth over the past 50 years including Hong Kong, China; Japan; Singapore; South Korea and Taiwan. With the exception of Hong Kong, the economic success of the Asian countries has been attributed to the interventionist framework. Export-orientation is one strategy that is most associated with the success of the five Asian countries. The export-oriented strategy helped the five Asian countries in many ways. The ensuring growth of employment enabled the country to save and accumulate capital for reinvestment. The export-oriented strategy also positively affects the competitive advantages of the country. There are other non-economic factors, such as culture, the need to survive, strong government, historical factors and even luck, that could have helped in the development process of these countries. Policy-makers must know how to use the total-systems approach to solving economic problems. In other words, policy-makers must know how to analyse their economies as complex systems.

This article presents a background on the social security system in Hong Kong, China. The social security system of Hong Kong is very different from those in Singapore or Taiwan. No contributory social security scheme has been introduced, although this has been the cause of considerable debate. During the 1950s, when the Central Provident Fund was formed in Singapore, the general British government policy applied also to Hong Kong. But the concept of creating a fund in Hong Kong was rejected, due to the instability of a territory which had taken in more than a million immigrants from China in a short space of time. In 1948 the Social Welfare Office was formed in Hong Kong as a sub-department of the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs.

Established theories of welfare and industrialization have been abstracted from the historical experience of the Western countries and no attempt has been made to assess their empirical validity with reference to the newly industrializing countries (NICs) of the Third World. Reviewing the industrial development and social services of Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan (the four little tigers) it is argued that social policy development in these countries cannot be attributed to the effects of the conditions of industrialization in which political elite respond proactively to the demands of industrial change. Instead, social policy in the Asian NICs is largely incremental in character and the consequence of a variety of causal events which are not accounted for by established theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is too often analyzed without regard to the example of other developing countries. A discussion of development models suggests that China's situation can fruitfully be analyzed as similar to that of the four "Little Dragons" (Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong), and to Japan in an earlier era. Because of the unusual size of Hong Kong and Singapore, and the special political status of Hong Kong, most attention is focused on China, Taiwan, and South Korea. Various implications for management and the external environment for management are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weekly changes for the period 1980 to 1994 in six major stock indices (the US, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong) and the World Index are examined. Also examined are the corresponding foreign exchange rates between the US and these five countries. Using spectral analysis, techniques of nonlinear dynamics and ordinary least squares regression, evidence of varying levels of market integration are documented. Some of the time series examined exhibit nonlinear dependencies [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extension of the research on the day-of-the-week effect to the stock markets of Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand and Taiwan is presented. These small-sized markets are still much neglected. We find that there is a day-of-the-week effect in all these markets except Taiwan. These four markets have negative mean returns on Monday or Tuesday and high positive returns on Friday. Further analysis with four subperiods of data reveals that the weekly seasonal patterns appear to be period specific. The US stock market has little contribution to the day-of-the-week effect in these four markets. Thin trading does not seem to have a significant impact on the day-of-the-week effect in the Singapore market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article a study on the impact of the per capita income differentials on Newly Industrialized Countries (NIC) trade patterns and revisits the Linder hypothesis on international trade. The study applies a gravity-type trade model to analyze the validity of the Linder hypothesis from the perspective of NIC for the period 1980-1999, focusing on Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan.