Narrow Results

Whether foreign aid promotes or hinders democratic institutions has been debated with opposing views. This paper investigates short- and long-run effects of foreign aid on democratization in post-conflict Cambodia using autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing and Gregory–Hansen structural break testing approach for cointegration over 1980–2015 period. The findings reveal that net bilateral foreign aid per capita, aggregated and classified into purpose-based ‘governance aid’, ‘economic aid’, ‘other aid’ and ‘donor-specific aid’ from the US, EU, France, Australia and Japan, promote long-run democratization. In the short run, only governance and economic aid appear to have a consistent positive effect on democratization.

The Cambodian banking sector has rapidly expanded in recent decades, although there are concerns about the performance of Cambodian banks and the country’s banking sector. A paucity of empirical evidence to clarify the real issues in the banking sector also makes it difficult to formulate effective policy measures to address any potential problems. This study provides empirical evidence by estimating the cost function and efficiencies of 34 commercial banks over the period from 2012 to 2015. We find that the average cost efficiency scores range from 0.60 when measuring bank outputs as loan and deposit amounts, and 0.77 when measuring bank outputs as interest and non-interest income, suggesting that if they are operated more efficiently, they could cut costs by 40% in fund mobilization and 23% in profit making while keeping the same output level. We also find that the Cambodian banks have experienced an improvement in efficiency scores over the period for both aspects of banking activities. Furthermore, we find that expanding a branch network into rural areas is inefficient for bank management, and holding excessive liquidity is associated with higher efficiency, but diversification in bank business operations is negatively associated with cost efficiency of Cambodian commercial banks.

Encouraging informal firms to register with the government is a key policy issue for developing economies. However, the impact of formal registration on firm performance remains inconclusive. This paper constructs a nationally representative panel data set on registered and unregistered establishments in Cambodia by using the Economic Census in 2011 and the Inter-censal Economic Survey in 2014; the Economic Census surveyed all nonfarm establishments and enterprises without any establishment-size threshold, which served as a credible sample frame for the Inter-censal Economic Survey. To mitigate selection bias, I employ a difference-in-differences method combined with propensity-score matching and a propensity-score-weighted regression method. My results show that formalization has a significantly positive impact on sales, value added, and regularly employed workers, but yields little effect on labor productivity. While formal registration alone may not boost productivity, it can encourage the business growth of formalized firms by hiring more formal workers.

In Cambodia, artisanal mining has recently come to a social concern because of the possibility to cause environmental degradation and human health problems. The General Department of Mineral Resources of Cambodia is collecting environmental specimens in mining sites to watch the situation. This time, four water samples from Sampov Loon and one from Memong mining site were sent from the Department to Hiroshima University, Japan, and the samples were analyzed by means of PIXE at the University. A volume of 10 μl from each sample was separated and dropped onto 4 μm polypropylene backing foil. The measurement was carried out by using 2.5 MV single-ended Van de Graaff accelerator. A Si(Li) detector (active area, 80mm²; sensitive depth, 5mm; Be-window's thickness, 25 μm; resolution, 167 eV fwhm at 5.9 keV) was used for both of in vacuo PIXE and non-vacuum external beam PIXE measurement. A computer code PIXS was used for the quantification. The result indicates that there are at least two kinds of water in Sampov Loon and one of them possibly represents polluted condition.

For the past two decades, since the political situation became stable, Cambodia has recorded a very rapid economic growth rate. In the meantime, globalization has progressed both in terms of the expansion of international trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. This paper applies small sample cointegration tests and error correction models to reveal the determinants of Cambodia’s rapid economic growth. The cointegration test results support the existence of a long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables concerned. The error-correction models show that expansion of international trade values has caused the rapid economic growth in Cambodia, regardless of the measure of international trade used.

Australia Commences Drought Resistant Rice Research.

International Congress of Genetics in Australia.

Unidentified Worm-Like Cysts Found in Brain Stem.

China Sets Up Sperm Banks.

New Development of CAS.

Voyager Dayang Yihao Sets Sail for Oceanic Exploration.

Indian Government to Fight Spurious Drugs.

GEAC Blocks Commercial Bt Cotton.

Development of New Drugs Hampers the Production of Old Ones.

Japanese Government to Provide Financial Aid for Fertility Treatment.

SARS May Incur US$3 Billion Exports Loss.

Cambodia.

Canada.

China.

Hong Kong.

Taiwan.

Korea.

Macau.

Malaysia.

Singapore.

Thailand.

Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam (CLV) have come to be recognized as the new growth frontiers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc, especially since the 2000s. Though all the CLV countries were hit by the global financial crisis (GFC), there has been a sharp recovery in all the economies from around 2010 or so, partly aided by the rapid development of their financial sector. While this has formed the basis for optimism about the growth potential of these countries, there have also been concerns that these countries have been experiencing a period of excessive credit growth – an offshoot of rapid financial deepening – which in turn is hampering growth and aggravating financial instability. In light of this discussion, this paper examines the nexus between financial deepening and economic growth employing a Geweke causality framework with quarterly data for CLV countries from 1996 to 2010.

This paper examines how China has successfully translated its economic might into political clout in Laos and Cambodia. The country’s role as a major trading partner, foreign investor, and provider of aid to both countries has contributed substantially to their national development. This massive influx of Chinese investment and aid has also yielded positive results, as both countries have demonstrated a more accommodating attitude toward Beijing on a variety of issues. However, Chinese economic statecraft has had differing degrees of influence on the foreign policymaking of Laos and Cambodia, particularly with regard to their foreign policies toward Vietnam, a critical secondary state in Southeast Asia. While Cambodia has been less hesitant to bandwagon with China, Laos is still seeking to balance between China and Vietnam. This paper argues that Laos and Cambodia’s existing perceptions of Vietnam dictate in part how they respond to China’s economic inducements and affect the outcomes of Chinese economic statecraft.

The global burden of surgical conditions is becoming increasingly prevalent in the developing world. Hand surgery, in particular congenital hand surgery, presents with its own challenges, particularly the unique skill sets needed, multidisciplinary nature and heterogeneity of cases. The aim of this review article is to present our experience of practising congenital hand surgery in Cambodia, and to explore the feasibility of teaching this specialty in developing countries within a meaningful and sustainable framework. Since 2013, a group of hand surgeons and therapists have visited the Children Surgical Centre in Cambodia. A community-oriented curriculum was developed following the initial visits, with analysis of data and local surgeon’s skill sets. These were further refined using the Pareto analysis and selected competency procedures to develop entrustable professional activities (EPAs). Common paediatric hand cases were identified and taught to the local surgeons. Essential elements of this model include the need for measurable outcomes, clear curriculum goals, long-term partnerships and information technology support.

In ancient times, Cambodia was home to one of the largest city complexes on earth, Angkor. At its apogee in the 12th century, the whole city of Angkor expanded over $>170$ hectares and had a population of 1–2 million people, which was only equaled by that of Ancient Rome. Angkor subsequently declined but remained occupied until the 18th century, at the beginning of the French protectorate.

In modern times, Cambodia became embedded in the global conflict against the occupying Japanese troops during World War II. This was followed by a lasting war that engulfed the whole Southeast Asia area, but the toll paid by the population remained limited. In the second half of the 20th century, Cambodia suddenly became the site of an acute drama, one of the worst that the world has known since the Holocaust. The Khmer Rouge regime led to the collapse of the whole country’s social system and triggered a brutal rise in mortality—direct and induced—and gender imbalance. Together with increased mortality, which eradicated approximately a third of the country’s population, there was a profound drop in fertility.

The nearly total collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime after Cambodia was freed in 1979 was followed by an important rise in fertility leading to a rebound effect or “baby boom” during the 80s. Today, as in 1960 before the Khmer Rouge drama, global fertility rates in Cambodia are similar to those of its neighbor, Vietnam. Total fertility rates, which neared six children per woman in Vietnam and Cambodia in 1960, have, however, dropped in both countries and stand just at population replacement level.

Cambodia is among the countries with the lowest incidence rate of reported COVID-19 cases. However, the global economic turmoil is generating deep economic and social implications within its borders. This chapter discusses the emerging socioeconomic challenges along with the government intervention in response to the new scenario. The macroeconomic analysis covers the main channels whereby the Cambodian economy is deteriorating and discusses how the country’s rebound is subject to the performance of its major allies. Likewise, the chapter delves into the microeconomic effects, emphasising the subsequent social ramifications, especially among the most vulnerable demographics. It is argued that the current government measures are insufficient to mitigate the growing poverty levels and needs of the population.

In January 2014, a general strike brought one million workers on to the streets of Cambodia in support of wage rises in the garment sector. Dispersed using lethal force, the longer-term response of state authorities to workers’ increasingly vocal dissent was the passing of the Law on Trade Unions in 2016. Cambodia’s use of the law to stifle opposition exemplifies wider trends in Southeast Asia and beyond towards an authoritarian variant of neo-liberal development. Caricatured as the “return of the strongmen” in popular discourse, academic scholarship too tends to privilege a totalising and top-down narrative of this shift. In this chapter, I call for better appreciation of local geographies of authoritarian change and argue that an anti-geopolitics frame can help elucidate its ground-up dynamics. Drawing from data collected as part of a 3-year institutional ethnography of the trade union movement in Cambodia, I show how the Cambodian “crackdown” was shaped, provoked, and resisted by a hitherto marginalised and overlooked force in national society: garment workers. I argue that an anti-geopolitics approach can better elucidate the contingent nature of Southeast Asia’s authoritarian (re)turns, as this strengthening of the state simultaneously engenders its growing fragility by eroding the vestiges of façade democracy on which the regime’s legitimacy is based.

The authors have concerned in the assessment about Cambodian shoreline since 2008, and made many observations and made the geographical map, water flow mechanism, weather and etc. This study reports the observation result and feature of geography, tidal change and weather. And furthermore, this study simulate the tidal flow and wind-driven flow. Ultimately, this study try to know the flow mechanism of this region. Firstly, this study performed the field survey and got the information about the feature of the current, topography, the tidal level and the wind. Secondary, this study made the geographic data by the sonar data. Finally, this study did the numerical simulation about the tidal current and the wind-driven current, and tried to comprehend about the current mechanism in this region.