Econ 274 Class Notes September 30, 2015
• Geopolitics:
– 9 Dotted Lines: areas that would seem to be naturally part of (variously) Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines (and Japan) that are claimed by China. lots of issues with the Law of the Sea, China’s historical position is weak but they have established physical possession by building outposts on atolls in the Spratly and Paracel island groups, many parts of which are not permanently above sea level.
– Vietnam versus China: Womack book: Womack, Brantly. 2006. China and Vietnam: The Politics of Asymmetry. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press. [in Leyburn].
> lots of fascinating issues, Vietnam ended up having much more functional ties with China after the war.
> the war also stimulated China to reorganize the People’s Liberation Army to separate out their legacy components from growing their own food and so on to create a “modern” army.
• Growth: India versus China blog post discussion
– gY = gTFP + α gK/L + (1-α)gH [H is education per worker]
– big differentials between them: more capital, more TFP and in general more education in China
» impact of education would be greater if could separate education for urban versus rural, urban workers in China [and probably in India] are significantly better educated, with levels rising faster
» several other things they do are quick fixes to make their methodology comparable for the two countries [we didn’t discuss]
• Discuss Sancha on Friday