The spatial structure in the Asian new economy (525)

Theme Track: Sectoral Changes and New Markets - Special Workshop "The Spatial Implicationf of the New Economy"

Authors:
Heiduk, Günter ; Pohl, Nicole

There is some consensus that the production and use of new information and communication technologies (ICT) as well as innovation in this field lie at the heart of the New Economy. The analysis of the "spatial structure of the Asian New Economy", has to proceed stepwise:

In the first step, we discuss whether there is anything like an "Asian New Economy" and how the term can be interpreted. To draw an empirical picture of how countries and locations in Asia (or better their companies and cititzens) act as producers, users and innovators in ICT is our first task. Secondly, we analyze how these national and local patterns fit together to form the "Asian New Economy". In this paper, we conclude that the term is misleading: - because Asia is not a meaningful entity because its countries and regions do not share similar patterns that reflect how the New Economy shapes their development; - nor does the division of labor in "New Economy sectors" between Asian countries suggest that Asia is a relevant concept to analyze the New Economy; - and there is also little reason to believe that New Economy developments in Asian countries are interrelated in a meaningful way, as it was for instance suggested by the flying geese model for the Old Economy.

This result crucially shapes our second step of analysis: to analyze how the New Economy in Asian countries is reflected in spatial structures. To remain in the Asian context we make a selection of Asian countries that mainly includes China (plus Hong Kong), India, Japan, Singapore, Korea and Taiwan. Although we doubt that it makes sense to look for an Asian pattern, we will always try to point out in how far and why the patterns we observe are due to unique socio-economic conditions. We propose that a pure analysis of country level data is not sufficient to understand spatial structures in the New Economy. Instead, we discuss the following two economic geography aspects: - the importance of clusters in the New Economy of the countries selected; - how the use of and innovation in ICT impacts on global and regional linkages as expressed in flows of goods and information as well as the role Asian companies play in regional and global value chains.

To better understand the relevant dynamics, we evaluate different determinants for the evolution of the spatial structure of the New Economy: Among them is the ability of governments to built up national, regional and local infrastructures that make them particularly attractive for companies using and producing ICT. Alternatively, we propose that companies may be the ultimate driving forces in the New Economy and we discuss in how far this leads to particular spatial structures at all or rather suggests that the (multinational) company is the relevant space for New Economy activities.

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