Can the Knowledge-Capital Model Explain Sectoral Foreign Invesment? Evidence From Singapore

Using the knowledge-capital model, we compare factors affecting the inbound and outbound manufacturing and services investment between Singapore and a sample of industrialized and developing countries. The nature of Singapore's two-way investment with the industrialized nations is essentially skill seeking, while with the developing countries it is low wage seeking with the exception of inbound services investment, which is skill seeking. During 1994-2003 time period, Singapore's skill abundance relative to all parent countries, increased annual average inbound investment in manufacturing and services by US$8.15 billion and US$ 15.19 billion respectively.

Labor Skills and Foreign Investment in a Dynamic Economy: Estimating the Knowledge-Capital Model for Singapore

Singapore is an interesting example of how the pattern of foreign investment changes with economic development. In this paper, we analyze inbound and outbound investment between Singapore and a sample of industrialized and developing countries over the period 1984-2003. We find that SingaporeÂ’s two-way investment with industrialized nations has shifted into skill-seeking activities over the period, while SingaporeÂ’s investments in developing countries have increased sharply and become concentrated in labor-seeking activities. SingaporeÂ’s increasing skill abundance relative to all countries in our sample accounted for 41 per cent of average inbound stocks during the period, i.e. US$18 billion annually; the corresponding figure for outbound stocks was 40 per cent, i.e. US$5.51 billion annually.

Labor skills and foreign investment in a dynamic economy : estimating the knowledge-capital model for Singapore

Singapore is an interesting example of how the pattern of foreign investment changes with economic development. The authors analyze inbound and outbound investment between Singapore and a sample of industrialized and developing countries over the period 1984-2003. They find that Singapore’s two-way investment with industrialized nations has shifted into skill-seeking activities over the period, while Singapore’s investments in developing countries have increased sharply and become concentrated in labor-seeking activities. Singapore’s increasing skill abundance relative to all countries in the sample accounted for 41 percent of average inbound stocks during the period, that is, US$18 billion annually; the corresponding figure for outbound stocks was 40 percent, that is, US$5.51 billion annually.Debt Markets,Non Bank Financial Institutions,Investment and Investment Climate,Economic Theory&Research,

The contribution of skilled immigration and international graduate students to U.S. innovation

The impact of international students and skilled immigration in the United States on innovative activity is estimated using a model of idea generation. In the main specification a system of three equations is estimated, where dependent variables are total patent applications, patents awarded to U.S. universities, and patents awarded to other U.S. entities, each scaled by the domestic labor force. Results indicate that both international graduate students and skilled immigrants have a significant and positive impact on future patent applications, as well as on future patents awarded to university and nonuniversity institutions. The central estimates suggest that a 10 percent increase in the number of foreign graduate students would raise patent applications by 4.7 percent, university patent grants by 5.3 percent, and nonuniversity patent grants by 6.7 percent. Thus, reductions in foreign graduate students from visa restrictions could significantly reduce U.S. innovative activity. Increases in skilled immigration also have a positive, but smaller, impact on patenting.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Teaching and Learning,Tertiary Education,Environmental Economics&Policies,Gender and Education

Underreporting of gender-based violence in Kerala, India : an application of the list randomization method

This paper analyzes the incidence and extent to which domestic violence and physical harassment on public/private buses is underreported in Kerala, India, using the list randomization technique. The results indicate that the level of underreporting is over nine percentage points for domestic violence and negligible for physical harassment on public/private buses. Urban households, especially poor urban households, tend to have higher levels of incidence of domestic violence. Further, women and those who are professionally educated tend to underreport more than others. Underreporting is also higher among the youngest and oldest age cohorts. For physical harassment on public/private buses, rural population -- especially the rural non --poor and urban females—tend to underreport compared with the rural poor and urban males

Impact of the Indian food and nutrition policy on foodgrain consumption and imports

The effects of India\u27s food and nutrition policies on foodgrain consumption and imports are evaluated by state for 1956-85. The public foodgrain distribution system (PDS) and its interrelations with the consumption of foodgrains in the commercial market are emphasized. For all India, subsidized rice accounted for 6% of total consumption in 1957 and rose to 19% in 1986. Subsidized consumption of wheat rose from 39% to 46% during the same period. Only wheat and rice are subsidized through the PDS. Millet and sorghum consumption showed a steady decline in most states. There was considerable year-to-year variability among states in rice and wheat retail prices and consumption. The zoning policy accentuated the variability by forbidding private interstate movement of foodgrains. The policy prevailed in various forms between 1962 and 1977. Urbanization significantly affected the distribution of wheat and rice through the PDS, although there was considerable variation among states. This finding is consistent with the general policy of distributing subsidized rice and wheat primarily in the urban areas. The single exception is Kerala, in which both rural and urban areas are well-served by the PDS. The previous year\u27s commercial market consumption was important only for wheat. In the rice and wheat commercial markets, the factors significantly associated with consumption were adjusted income (income less expenditure on subsidized foodgrain) and issues through the PDS. Subsidized grain substituted to some extent for commercial market purchases in most states. For all India, the replacement of subsidized rice for commercial market rice was estimated to be more than 50 percent and for wheat about 35 percent. Income considerably influenced the consumption of rice and wheat in the more prosperous than in the less prosperous states. For millet and sorghum, the retail prices of subsidized rice and wheat and income were the significant factors affecting consumption. In most states considerable substitution was found between millet and sorghum and subsidized foodgrains. Sorghum was considered an inferior good. Income had a larger positive influence on millet consumption in the less prosperous than in the wealthy states. For the country as a whole, imports of rice and wheat were both inversely related to import prices and positively related to income. Other factors were not found to be significant

Estimating the Knowledge Capital Model for Foreign Investment in Services: The Case of Singapore

Singapore's inward and outward investments with industrialized countries in both manufacturing and service sectors were skill seeking while outward investments to developing countries were labor seeking. Applying the Knowledge-Capital model, it was found that services Foreign Direct Investment is sensitive to skill differences. A tenpercent decline in skill differences with industrialized countries resulted in a 4.25 percent rise in inbound manufacturing and 1.48 percent rise in inbound services investments. Meanwhile, a ten-percent increase in skill differences with developing countries resulted in a 30 percent rise in outbound manufacturing and 0.38 percent rise in services investments. Furthermore, when services are distinguished by skill-intensity, the impact of relative skill endowments on inbound Foreign Direct Investment in skill-intensive services is significantly different from the impact on other services. However, when services are disaggregated by "proximity" needs, we do not find any significant difference in the impact of relative skill endowments on Foreign Direct Investment