Dependency,the state and class in the neoliberal transition of Taiwan

The remarkable economic growth in Taiwan has served as a model of the developmental state as well as a source of scepticism about neoliberal policy for many less developed countries. However, since the mid-1980s Taiwan has gravitated from its previous statist model to the universally embraced 'market-orientated' restructuring. This study seeks to explain this neoliberal transition. A disaggregated approach is employed to break neoliberalism down into three distinct dimensions: market openness, fiscal austerity, and privatisation of public sector enterprises. The analysis results confirm that: (1) Taiwan's trade dependency on the USA constituted a decisive factor in the state opening its domestic market; (2) distributional politics was forged in a new but weak democracy to incorporate more interest groups in the fiscal expansion of the post-authoritarian era; and (3) the slow but increasingly steady progress of privatisation plans was influenced not by a 'back-to-the-market' idea but by the statist legacy with which bureaucrats attempted to manage public sector enterprises even after they became de jure private firms. The theoretical implications of this transition are discussed in the conclusion.     

The adaptation of Taiwan's administrative organizations to its economic development

Since moving its seat to Taiwan in 1949, the government of the Republic of China has been able to resume its efforts towards national reconstruction on this island at an accelerated speed. Because of rapid political, economic, and social developments in recent decades, Taiwan's political environment is quite different from what it was previously. In changing from continental to island, national to local, and agricultural to industrial, the public's demands have changed significantly. Under Taiwan's current political and economic situation, what course of development should Taiwan's administrative organizations follow? What kind of self- adaptation to this changing environment should Taiwan's administrative system take? This article describes Taiwan's current administrative environment and operation from a physical and cultural setting. Its ways of adaptation are examined as well must be reasonable and rational. Restated, measures to change the quality of governmental services, governmental expense, the taxes the citizens pay, and the services citizens receive should be taken rationally (¹).     

Democracy,bureaucracy, and state capacity in Taiwan

Taiwan has long had a reputation for effective policy-making based on a highly skilled and educated bureaucracy. In addition, this capacity for technocratic leadership has not resulted in a huge, inefficient bureaucracy since the size of government remains comparatively small. This paper explores the implications of Taiwan's recent democratization for the effectiveness of the country's public administration. On the one hand, democratization reduced the power of regime conservatives, thereby expanding the role of technocrats in the government; on the other burgeoning corruption and policy gridlock have clearly undercut effective policy-making. Thus, the most fundamental challenge for public administration in Taiwan appears to be re-establishing the bureaucratic integrity of technocratic government.     

State policy and industrial promotion in Taiwan: an interrupted time series analysis, 1956-1994

Over the past decade, the statist perspective has been popular in interpreting the economic success of the East Asian countries. Proponents of this perspective discredit the neoclassical view that market forces alone were the most important dynamic behind these economic achievements. Instead, they credit the state as the key factor of East Asian economic success. This study employs an interrupted time series analysis to examine the validity of the statist perspective on Taiwan's industrial promotion policy. The results suggest that the government of Taiwan has been successful in upgrading the island's industrial structure. This finding supports the statist perspective on development. It does not, however, deny the utility of the neoclassical view since market forces also contributed to the growth of Taiwan's industrial structure.     

National Model of Technological Catching Up and Innovation: Comparing Patents of Taiwan and South Korea

This paper discusses different patterns of innovation and their institutional roots in Taiwan and South Korea. By using USPTO patent data as indicators of innovation, this paper finds that while individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) still account for a significant proportion of the patents in Taiwan, the large conglomerates are the major contributors of patents in South Korea. Moreover, although electronics is the sector that has gained most of the patents in both countries, Taiwan's patents are more dispersed while those of its South Korean counterparts are more concentrated. These differences come mainly from the institutional roots in their economic catching-up era.     

Economic development policy in Taiwan: achievements,challenges, and implications

This study examines Taiwan's economic development experience and identifies major achievements and challenges. The study first provides an overview of the past development record by analyzing several key economic indicators. It then explores major factors contributing to economic development, including general social background and supporting economic conditions as well as government development policy and activities. The paper especially focuses on changes and challenges resulting from the implementation of internationalization and liberalization of economic policy and the introduction of political democratization since the 1980s. The paper concludes with the implications of Taiwan's achievements and challenges.     

Taiwan's Quest for Independence: Progress on the Margins for Recognition of Statehood

This article describes many substantive transformations in politics, national self-identification, and economy Taiwan has undergone over the last decade and offers an alternative approach to expediting de jure state status. The transformations speak to significant progress ‘on the margins’ for attaining international recognition. The disjuncture between liberal democracies clinging to an antiquated ‘One-China’ foreign policy approach and the realties of the situation is widening. An alternative avenue to state recognition acknowledges advancements on the margins that justify Taiwan's recognition by others. At the same time, however, Taiwan must hold self-proclamation in abeyance until the breadth of recognition it receives becomes an irresistible force with which the PRC must reckon. The recent transformations coupled with mainland China's growing force projection capability indicate the time is ripe and appropriate to recognize Taiwan's statehood. The United States would be remiss in its avowed commitment and leadership responsibilities for democratic enlargement by not recognizing Taiwan.     

Competitive industrial policy and macro performance: Has South Korea outperformed Taiwan?

Taiwan adopted a competitive industrial policy before South Korea but pursued it more cautiously. According to orthodox theory, Taiwan's less interventionist policy should have increased its initial per capita income lead over South Korea. In fact, the income gap narrowed, and income distribution improved relatively in South Korea, casting doubt on the orthodox criticism of South Korean industrial policy. But some qualification of the South Korean success is in order. The South Korean gains were achieved at the cost of greater consumption fore gone and greater concentration of economic power than in the case of Taiwan. Moreover, the crucial post‐1985 Taiwanese economic slow down was partly due to economic maturation as well as to tardy financial reform and to the opportunities created by the Chinese diaspora for Taiwanese firms to invest abroad.     

The Institutional Settings for the Development of Public Services through State-Owned Enterprises in Brazil

The findings of this study make a timely contribution to the development of public services. Based on the institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework, this study analyzes under which institutional settings state-owned enterprises (SOEs) can be social and financial options for public service provision in Brazil. Applying a multi-case research design, this study’s findings show that SOEs can be a suitable option for Brazilian social and financial development when: markets are weak or noncompetitive; if few decisional players act; if political interference is minimized regarding operational decisions; and if corporate control is effective to avoid mismanagement and corruption. Brazilian SOEs are effective economic and social tools, but they need to peroxide value improve their corporate control (in the case of Petrobras) and strategic centralization decisions (in the case of Eletrobrás) .     

美国国会涉台立法的新进展及其影响——基于第111—115届国会涉台法案的分析

第111-115届国会期间(2009—2018),美国国会涉台立法进入了一个新阶段,其提出涉台法案的核心诉求与上一个十年相比,立法意图更加具有指向性——服务于美国对华战略,分别紧随奥巴马政府的“亚太再平衡战略”和特朗普政府的“印太战略”两大主题。美国国会在相关法案中核心诉求主要包括:强化与台湾的“军事关系”、促进提升美台关系实质、协助台湾争取“国际生存空间”。美国国会涉台立法产生了多方面的破坏性影响,一方面,对美国政府的涉台政策施加了“刚性”约束力,严重损害了中国的核心利益,增加了中国政府解决台湾问题的难度;另一方面,这些涉台法案助长了“台独”分裂活动,破坏了中美新型大国关系的构建。     

Between Neoliberalism and Difference: Multiple Practices of Property in Post-Soviet Russia

Two decades of aggressive neoliberalisation in Russia has failed to produce a uniform system of private property and profit-maximising enterprises. Instead, the complex interactions of multiple ‘practices of property’ that are pre-Soviet, Soviet and post-Soviet in origin, and not private property alone, have created a diverse economic landscape. Moreover, multiple practices of property have produced both capitalist economies (such as Moscow's early capitalist enterprises) and non-capitalist, ethically guided economies (such as the indigenous enterprises of Arctic reindeer herders). The persistence of alternative economic logics in Russia illustrates the limits of the role of private property in shaping the post-Soviet economy.     

From technological catch-up to innovation-based economic growth: South Korea and Taiwan compared

This paper sets out to analyse the divergent models pursued by South Korea and Taiwan in regard to technological catching-up and their ongoing transition towards innovation-based economies. It is found that South Korea's former high-debt and chaebol-dominated model inclined it to pursue a Schumpeterian scale-based technological development, while Taiwan's former pro-stability, small- and medium-sized-enterprise (SME)-based model tended to favour its emphasis on a neo-Marshallian network-based technological development. It will be argued that the state's approach to economic liberalisation and firms' demand for capital for technological upgrading are the major factors that have underpinned the adjustment efforts of these two countries.     

Populism in Taiwan: The Rise of a Populist-Democratic Culture in a Democratising Society

Taiwan's democratic transition has emerged alongside a rise of populism. Based on an analysis of post-electoral survey data, it is shown that populist resentments – embodied in such emotion-laden campaign issues as ethnic identity, national identity and a party's image of interest representation and clean politics – have been the most efficient vote-getting appeals in Taiwan's post-authoritarian electoral competition between two major political parties, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT). In Taiwan's democratic transition, mass demands for the ‘indigenisation’ of politics and the people's worry about an ever-increasing military threat from Mainland China have also popularised as well as polarised these populist appeals. As empirical data show, due to its position as the first Taiwanese party with a lion's share of populist advantages, the DPP was able to win the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. In sum, Taiwan's electoral politics in the past decade have given rise to a kind of ‘populist-democratic culture’, which inclines Taiwanese politicians to bring up populist issues rather than the rational policy debates of an electoral democracy.     

Development Strategy and Export-Led Growth: Lessons Learned from Taiwan's Experience

This paper investigates Taiwan's development strategy from both demand-side (policies that bias production incentives against domestic market demand and toward exports) and supply-side (policies that favour tradable against service or non-tradable sectors) perspectives. In the early stages of Taiwan's economic development, the strategy mix increased overall factor productivity by reallocating resources from the less productive (service or domestic) sectors to the more productive (manufacturing or exporting) ones and helped achieve the goal of reaching global markets through the exploitation of comparative advantage. However, as the Taiwanese economy developed, government intervention turns out to be ineffective because of how it distorts resource allocation, in particular a neglect of services sectors.     

中美贸易摩擦对台商经营及其投资布局影响的实证分析

中美贸易摩擦是在中国大陆快速崛起和世界经济大变局的背景下发生的。对台商问卷调查分析显示,大陆台商出口和经营业绩将受到较大影响,而且面对大陆经济高质量发展,台商转型升级进展缓慢。目前,虽然大陆仍是台商第一大市场和第一大的投资地,但是台商对东南亚地区的投资增长趋势明显,中美贸易摩擦可能加速台商重新布局。     

Public policy and management issues in Taiwan's development

This symposium examines the experience of Taiwan's development and focuses on the role of government and the importance of public policy and management to the development. The symposium introduction paper consists of three sections addressing the following issues. First, the introduction section offers reasons for studying Taiwan's development experience. The second section provides an overview of the literature related to the relationship between government and economic development. Finally, the last section summarizes the major issues and findings emphasized in each symposium paper.     

Economics of State-Owned Enterprises

State-owned enterprises (SOEs) account for a substantial proportion of gross domestic product, employment, and assets in many countries. Based on a review of the theory and empirical evidence, we develop a novel five-step framework that can guide policymakers and economic advisors in making decisions about maintaining and/or creating SOEs. The framework suggests that the use of SOEs should be limited to circumstances in which a market failure exists, less invasive forms of intervention such as regulation/taxes/subsidies and private-sector contracting are ineffective or not possible, and the welfare loss of the market failure exceeds the costs, distortions, and inefficiencies of SOEs.     

Network Governance of Private Sector Development Policy Implementation in Singapore

The discussion examines private sector development policy implementation in Singapore, examining the new role of the government's economic development agencies from the point of changing relationships among public and non-state actors in the policy arena. Singapore's model of private sector development consists of an exclusive network of partnerships among economic development agencies and between these agencies and private sector actors, such as business and organized labour, as integral policy stakeholders. As Singapore has moved within the past 15 years towards its articulated goal of becoming a knowledge-based economy and an industrial hub in the Asia Pacific region, the country's model of network governance is undergoing a gradual reconfiguration to include a greater role for local enterprises in the policy process. The changing institutional mechanics of network governance surrounding the new model of private sector development in Singapore are examined, along with the highlights of some implications surrounding this shift.     

Steering and Monitoring Model of State-Owned Enterprises

The aim of this study is to systematize the heterogeneous field of stated-owned enterprises (SOEs) especially for steering and monitoring purposes. Based on the existent literature and the heterogeneous field of the Finnish state’s share portfolio, we create a model for steering and monitoring purposes. In our model, the SOEs are grouped into categories according to how much the state as an owner is concerned with the social service assignment principle, strategic interests, or purely shareholder value interests. Consistency in the basis, extent, and listing status of SOEs for steering and reporting creates good preconditions for ownership policy decision-making and ultimately improves the outcomes of ownership policy and steering.