Diasporas and Foreign Direct Investment in China and India

A comparative and historical analysis of foreign direct investment liberalization in China and India, explaining how the return of these countries' diasporas affects such liberalization.

Min Ye (Author)

9781107666108, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 April 2020

258 pages, 16 b/w illus. 3 maps 25 tables
23 x 15.3 x 1.5 cm, 0.5 kg

'Foreign direct investment has been a main driving force behind the rapid development of Asia's two giant economies, China and India. The Western nations, the usual FDI sources in the developing world, were not the FDI providers, however. What has fuelled the globalization of the two economies? In this comparative and historical analysis, Min Ye reveals that it was the FDI patterns of the Chinese and Indian diasporas that have given rise to the differing performance of the two economies. All those who would like to uncover the secrets of these two Asian economies and their linkages with the rest of the world should read it; it is also a valuable guide for the future of the two increasingly important Asian giants.' Zheng Yongnian, National University of Singapore

This book offers a comparative and historical analysis of foreign direct investment (FDI) liberalization in China and India and explains how the return of these countries' diasporas affects such liberalization. It examines diasporic investment from Western FDIs and finds that diasporas, rather than Western nations, have fueled globalization in the two Asian giants. In China, diasporas contributed the lion's share of FDI inflows. In India, returned diasporas were bridges for, and initiators of, Western investment at home. Min Ye illustrates that diasporic entrepreneurs helped to build China into the world's manufacturing powerhouse and that Indian diasporas facilitated their homeland's success in software services development.

Part I. Introduction and Theory: 1. Introduction: foreign direct investment in China and India
2. Social network theory: diaspora, domestic industry, and diffusion of FDI liberalization
Part II. Reform Stage I: 3. Diasporic entrepreneurs and diffusion of FDI liberalization in China
4. Deregulation without openness in India
Part III. Reform Stage II: 5. Deepening diffusion: zone fever and SOE reform in China
6. Transforming Indian business: the foundation and limitation of India's FDI liberalization
Part IV. Sectors: 7. China's electronics and automobiles
8. FDI liberalization in India's informatics and autos
9. Conclusion: state, diasporas, and development.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], International economics [KCL], Regional government [JPR], Central government [JPQ], Political structure & processes [JPH], Comparative politics [JPB]