Foreign Direct Investments in Emerging Asia: An Evaluation of Pandemic and Policy Shocks

Foreign direct investments (FDI) play an integral role in the growth story of Emerging Asian economies. As an essential source of foreign capital, FDI bolsters the path to economic recovery from recessions, including the one caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This book is a collection of essays investigating the reconfiguration of FDI flows to the Emerging Asian economies of ASEAN, China and India following the pandemic and FDI policy reforms.

This book broadly covers the trends in greenfield FDI flows to Emerging Asia in the context of three pertinent themes. Part I explores the rebalancing effects in global FDI flows after the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the experience of Emerging Asian economies. We also evaluate the nature of the pandemic’s impact on existing FDI linkages between China and ASEAN. Part II delves into the implications of a cross-border policy framework such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In particular, we examine ASEAN trade activity after China's investments through BRI. We further discuss the future of BRI in ASEAN economies amid the emergence of global competitors. Part III of the book zooms in on the effectiveness of domestic FDI policy reforms. We discuss the cases of Indonesia Special Economic Zones and the Make in India initiative.

This book is written for scholars, policymakers and industrial practitioners who wish to gain more knowledge on the recent FDI dynamics of Emerging Asia.

Paul Cheung is Director of Asia Competitiveness Institute, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. He leads a team of researchers examining socioeconomic development trends and prospects of Asia and the Pacific. He was previously the Director of the United Nations Statistics Office. At the UN, Professor Cheung facilitated the development of the global statistical system. He supervised a programme of work that included tracking global data flows and setting global statistical standards. Professor Cheung also served as Chief Statistician of Singapore and the Director of Population Planning Unit, concurrent with his teaching responsibilities at National University of Singapore. Professor Cheung received many national and professional awards for his work around the world. He did his post- graduate studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Ammu George is Research Fellow at the Asia Competitiveness Institute, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. She holds a PhD in Economics from Nanyang Technological University. Her research interests are mainly in international macroeconomics, banking and monetary policy. Her research papers have been published in journals such as Energy Economics and Economic Modelling. Previously, she worked as an economist with Ernst & Young and Willis Towers Watson.

Xuyao Zhang is Senior Research Fellow and Assistant Director (Programmes) at the Asia Competitiveness Institute, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Dr Zhang received his PhD in Economics from NUS. His research focuses on industrial organisations, applied game theory and public economics. In particular, he is interested in technology transfers and anti- trust policies. He studies the optimal environmental taxation on the pollution problems in the presence of corruption. He also works on the benefits of research joint ventures with technology transfer. At ACI, he supervises all the Competitiveness Projects (ASEAN, China, India and Indonesia). He also works on policy- related projects, such as the Greater Bay Area Project, Singapore SMEs’ Innovation Capability and Welfare Spending and Budget Sustainability Project.