Effects of Economic Cooperation On Income Distribution : A Statistical Approach

1995 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 06630022
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Economic statistics
• Research Institution: SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO
• Principal Investigator: TERASAKI Yasuhiro SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO, SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, PROFESSOR, 経営学部, 教授 (90136622)
• Project Period (FY): 1994 – 1995
• Keywords: International Cooperation / Income Distribution / International Migration of Labor / Direct Investment / Aid

Research Abstract

Three types of economic cooperation, aid, direct investment and international migration of labor are investigated for their impact on income distribution. Findings are as follows ;
(1) People in a country with low income tend to move for overseas work toward a country with higher income in neighhorhood. Japan has become a target country since the late 1980s.
(2) Among Asian countries the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Indonesia send a large amount of labor to outside countries. In particular the size of remittances amounts to 5 percent of GNP in Sri Lanka.
(3) The remittances deteriorate the domestic income distribution in the Philippines.
(4) One million of people are employed in the Japanese firms in Asia. Absolute number of workers is large in Thailand, Korea and Malaysia but the number of workers relative to the whole work force is largest in Singapore.
(5) The number of jobs created by the Japanese firms is almost the same as the number of international migration in Asia.
(6) The Japanese aid is given to the countries with lowest income to contribute to the reduction of income differential. Contrary to the world deterioration of income distribution, income inequality among Asian countries are improved in the 1980s, owing to rapid economic growth in this area.