IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chieco/v29y2014icp68-81.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

WTO accession, impediments to FDI, and the market opening of basic telecom services in China

Author

Listed:
  • Han, Shengfei
  • Wang, Wei

Abstract

This paper analyzes why no foreign direct investment (FDI) has entered basic telecom services in China despite relaxed government policies after the World Trade Organization (WTO) accession in 2001. A new indicator of barriers to FDI incorporating the policy and non-policy impediments has been developed with multiple sources of data including a first-hand survey and interview. Analytic hierarchy process has been applied to reduce arbitrariness in assigning weight to each impeding factor. Results indicate that there is no significant reduction in the actual level of openness to FDI in the sector over the past decade of post-WTO period, which is largely attributable to the recessive non-policy factors. Policy implications are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Han, Shengfei & Wang, Wei, 2014. "WTO accession, impediments to FDI, and the market opening of basic telecom services in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 68-81.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:29:y:2014:i:c:p:68-81
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2014.02.007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043951X14000224
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.chieco.2014.02.007?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xia, Jun, 2012. "Reprint of: Competition and regulation in China's 3G/4G mobile communications industry—Institutions, governance, and telecom SOEs," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 798-816.
    2. Olivier Boylaud & Giuseppe Nicoletti, 2003. "Regulation, market structure and performance in telecommunications," OECD Economic Studies, OECD Publishing, vol. 2001(1), pages 99-142.
    3. Joseph Francois & Bernard Hoekman, 2010. "Services Trade and Policy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(3), pages 642-692, September.
    4. Bernard Hoekman & Pierre Sauvé, 1994. "Regional and Multilateral Liberalization of Service Markets: Complements or Substitutes?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 283-318, September.
    5. Philippa Dee & Michael Ferrantino (ed.), 2005. "Quantitative Methods for Assessing the Effects of Non-Tariff Measures and Trade Facilitation," World Scientific Books, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., number 5663, January.
    6. Nora Dihel & Ben Shepherd, 2007. "Modal Estimates of Services Barriers," OECD Trade Policy Papers 51, OECD Publishing.
    7. Lim, Eng Kooi & Chen, Zhiqi, 2012. "The impact of trade liberalization in telecommunications services: The case of APEC countries," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 274-281.
    8. Konan, Denise Eby & Maskus, Keith E., 2006. "Quantifying the impact of services liberalization in a developing country," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 142-162, October.
    9. Jesper Jensen & Thomas Rutherford & Thomas Rutherford & Thomas Rutherford, 2006. "The Importance of Telecommunications Reform in Russia's Accession to the WTO," Eastern European Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(1), pages 25-58, February.
    10. Stephen S. Golub, 2009. "Openness to Foreign Direct Investment in Services: An International Comparative Analysis," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 1245-1268, August.
    11. Xiaobing Feng & Ilan Alon, 2011. "Changes in services trade barriers in banking and their impact: the case of the ASEAN+3," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 25(2), pages 103-115, November.
    12. Thomas L. Saaty, 1994. "How to Make a Decision: The Analytic Hierarchy Process," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 24(6), pages 19-43, December.
    13. Xia, Jun, 2012. "Competition and regulation in China's 3G/4G mobile communications industry—Institutions, governance, and telecom SOEs," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 503-521.
    14. Burnham, James B., 0. "Telecommunications policy in Turkey: Dismantling barriers to growth," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(3-4), pages 197-208, April.
    15. Nora Dihel & Ben Shepherd, 2007. "Modal Estimates of Services Barriers," OECD Trade Policy Papers 51, OECD Publishing.
    16. Rauf Gönenç & Giuseppe Nicoletti, 2003. "Regulation, market structure and performance in air passenger transportation," OECD Economic Studies, OECD Publishing, vol. 2001(1), pages 183-227.
    17. Xia, Jun, 2011. "The third-generation-mobile (3G) policy and deployment in China: Current status, challenges, and prospects," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 51-63, February.
    18. Novella Bottini & Mohamed Ali Marouani & Laura Munro, 2011. "Service Sector Restrictiveness and Economic Performance: An Estimation for the MENA Region," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(9), pages 1652-1678, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xia, Jun, 2017. "China’s telecommunications evolution, institutions, and policy issues on the eve of 5G: A two-decade retrospect and prospect," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(10), pages 931-947.
    2. Hongzhong Fan & Shah Muhammad Kamran & Mingliang Li & Qiliang Zhou, 2017. "Congestion costs and differences in the regional distribution of FDI in China," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1789-1809, July.
    3. Yao, Yao & Chen, George S. & Zhang, Lin, 2021. "Local financial intermediation and foreign direct investment: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 198-216.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ingo Borchert & Batshur Gootiiz & Arti Grover Goswami & Aaditya Mattoo, 2017. "Services Trade Protection and Economic Isolation," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 632-652, March.
    2. Fontagnã‰, Lionel & Mitaritonna, Cristina, 2013. "Assessing barriers to trade in the distribution and telecom sectors in emerging countries," World Trade Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 57-78, January.
    3. Mohamed Ali Marouani & Laura Munro, 2009. "Assessing Barriers to Trade in Services in the MENA Region," OECD Trade Policy Papers 84, OECD Publishing.
    4. Yaghoob Jafari & David G. Tarr, 2017. "Estimates of Ad Valorem Equivalents of Barriers Against Foreign Suppliers of Services in Eleven Services Sectors and 103 Countries," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 544-573, March.
    5. Ingo Borchert & Batshur Gootiiz & Aaditya Mattoo, 2014. "Policy Barriers to International Trade in Services: Evidence from a New Database," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 28(1), pages 162-188.
    6. Borchert, Ingo & Gootiiz, Batshur & Grover, Arti & Mattoo, Aaditya, 2012. "Landlocked or policy locked ? how services trade protection deepens economic isolation," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5942, The World Bank.
    7. Borchert, Ingo & Gootiiz, Batshur & Magdeleine, Joscelyn & Marchetti, Juan A. & Mattoo, Aaditya & Rubio, Ester & Shannon, Evgeniia, 2019. "Applied services trade policy: A guide to the Services Trade Policy Database and the Services Trade Restrictions Index," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2019-14, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    8. Ezzat, Riham Ahmed & Aboushady, Nora, 2018. "Do restrictive regulatory policies matter for telecom performance? Evidence from MENA countries," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 60-72.
    9. Pavel Ciaian & d'Artis Kancs & Jan Pokrivcak, 2008. "Comparative Advantages, Transaction Costs and Factor Content of Agricultural Trade: Empirical Evidence from the CEE," EERI Research Paper Series EERI_RP_2008_03, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.
    10. Lin, Trisha T.C., 2012. "Market competitiveness of mobile TV industry in China," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 943-954.
    11. Sajitha Beevi Karayil, 2021. "Movement of natural persons and the sieve of immigration policy: Evidence from United States," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 157(4), pages 853-879, November.
    12. Edward J. Balistreri & Zoryana Olekseyuk & David G. Tarr, 2017. "Privatisation and the unusual case of Belarusian accession to the WTO," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(12), pages 2564-2591, December.
    13. World Bank, 2009. "Tunisia's Global Integration : A Second Generation of Reforms to Boost Growth and Employment," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6298, December.
    14. Noha S. Omar & Khalid Sekkat, 2012. "Egypt Airline Passengers Market: Competition and Performance," Working Papers 669, Economic Research Forum, revised 2012.
    15. Rolf J. Langhammer, 2008. "Sectoral Distortions and Service Protection in Russia: A Comparison with Benchmark Emerging Markets and EU Accession Candidates," Eastern European Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(6), pages 70-83, November.
    16. Riham Ahmed Ezzat & Nora Aboushady, 2015. "Do Telecom Restrictive Policies Matter for Telecom Performance? Evidence from MENA Countries," Working Papers 949, Economic Research Forum, revised Sep 2015.
    17. Novella Bottini & Mohamed Ali Marouani, 2009. "An Estimation of Service Sectors Restrictiveness in The MENA Region," Working Papers 489, Economic Research Forum, revised May 2009.
    18. Reisman, Matthew & Vu, Danielle, 2012. "Nontariff Measures in the Global Retailing Industry," Conference papers 332292, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    19. Julien Gooris & Cristina Mitaritonna, 2015. "Which import restrictions matter for trade in services ?," Working Papers 2015-33, CEPII research center.
    20. Yenal Surec & Salih Katircioğlu, 2020. "The role of urbanization in the international trade of services," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(6), pages 943-951, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Basic telecom services; Impediments to FDI; China; Market opening;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:29:y:2014:i:c:p:68-81. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/chieco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.